I was watching CHUD II: Bud the Chud on Showtime yesterday and started thinking how it really didn't fit in tone and/or subject matter with it's parent film.
Can anybody else think of any films that were supposed to be sequels that didn't fit correctly?
I know two more.
Return of the Living Dead III didn't follow in tone with parts I & 2
and
Halloween III: Season of the Witch was a story independant of Michael Myers.
Holloween 3 Season of the Witch is one of the most obvious I can think of.
It had absolutely NOTHING to do with it's predecessors.
I really think had they not called it a Halloween sequel it would have done well...at least it was original.
Return of the Living Dead 3 doesn't really fit. Friday the 13th 5 was a cheat, other than the nudity. Nightmare on Elm Street 2 seemed to be a step backward.
The whole Witchcraft series doesn't seem to fit together well.
How about THE STING and STING II?
I don't think that Jackie Gleason and Mac Davis quite fit in with Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
All the Howling sequels were completely different in tone from the original. Aliens doesn't really fit the style of the first movie. The Second Arrival, The Hidden II...
The Smokey & the Bandit without Burt Reynolds.
Rocky V and Jaws the Revenge both departed from the original formula pretty dramatically, and not in good ways.
I dunno..I think Aliens worked really well as a sequel to the original. Sure it was an action film but it had lots of little moments similer to part 1.
If anything stands out in the context we're talking about...
Halloween3(obvious)
nightmare on elm street 2
Texas chainsaw massacre 2
and evil dead 2 and 3 over the first film.
Never seen CHUD II, but I've always thought it must have some Canadian connection. I doubt many people outside of Canada would get the song reference in the title.
AndyC wrote:
> Never seen CHUD II, but I've always thought it must have some
> Canadian connection. I doubt many people outside of Canada
> would get the song reference in the title.
>
Alright, what's the reference?
I thought you'd never ask...
Bud the Spud, by Stompin' Tom Connors. For those not familiar, Stompin' Tom is sort of a cultural icon in Canada. He's a super-patriotic old country and folk singer who has wandered all over Canada with his guitar, playing in dives, working at various jobs, and writing songs about the places he's been. He has quite a loyal following. His music is great when you're getting drunk and rowdy, yet also appeals to intellectuals for its historical and cultural content. He even has an honourary doctorate. These days, he's settled down with the money he's made from albums and books and such, but he still does concerts (charges a hefty fee when he does, I'm told). I've seen him live on two occasions, and he puts on a hell of a fun show, although many of you Americans might not appreciate being a favourite target for his humour.
Anyway, Bud the Spud, one of his more popular songs, is about a potato truck driver from Prince Edward Island. I'm sure the lyrics can be found on the net, if anyone is curious.
Post Edited (11-11-03 19:01)
Let me ask you this?
Do the Matrix sequals really go together. The more I think about it, the more they seem like they are totally different story about the same sort of thing.
I will never understand how the ending of the first one with the phone call goes into the second, nor do I really understand how he ended up in the subway ath the beginning of the third.
I think this has to be the most famous discontinuity ever.
Others:
Cruel Intentions 2
Most of the James Bond sequals
Austin powers 3?????
The Grinch stole Christmas from the book????
The James Bond movies don't really need to fit together, because they're not really sequels in the strictest sense of the word, but separate stories about the same character. They can be watched in pretty well any order, and each one is able to stand on its own. Continuity isn't really an issue. I think this is one of the reasons why the series didn't take a huge dive early on, as most do. It wasn't trying to start with Dr. No and build the other movies onto that. Each one is fresh yet familiar. Bond himself is kind of like Dr. Who, in that he has, as a character, managed to endure through several different actors who all had a slightly different take on him. Unlike Who, nobody feels the need to tie it all together with an excuse such as regeneration.
And I wouldn't say explaining the joke in a title is a huge deviation from the topic, at least not compared to the way some threads drift on this board.
Cruel Intentions 2 was supposed to be a prequel that explains how the leading male character became such a dirt bag by the beginning of the first movie. While the prequel itself amounted to cinematic diarrhea, it actually did "make sense" in terms of the franchise (if that's the right word for these two pictures).
Cruel Intentions 2 was actually a TV show called Manchester Prep that never made it to air. They filmed some extra scenes to spice it up and released it as a movie.