As have most of the rest. Look at your average "horror franchise." In most cases, the original movie, the one that started it all, was a low-budget indie production that was, to be brutally honest, hardly a textbook example of good movie making. Certainly not good enough to be worthy of a dozen sequels, anyway. And you just can't base a multi-movie franchise on a foundation that wasn't all that solid to begin with without descending into self-parody sooner or later, whether intentionally or not.
The 'Halloween' franchise is perhaps the worst offender. Oddly enough, the often maligned third installment is the only one in the series that was actually true to John Carpenter's original vision, which was a series of movies based around the holiday itself, not around any particular character. However, studio executives, sensing they had a potential cash cow on their hands, stepped in and transformed the series into the continuing adventures of Michael Myers, thus ruining what could have been one of the few really worthwhile horror franchises.
reply
share
mmarcopolo
12 years ago
It's a shame that the producers can't keep the quality of the original movie's intention in most cases. For the record, I hate the blended horror/comedy genre. It defeats the purpose of a horror movie when you lampoon it with jokes and cultural gag references. I think it shows that people are more frightened by straight horror and prefer to be humorously entertained than fearful. I believe fear is the root of the problem in all horror genres now. This is why vampire movies are no longer scary like they once were. Now they're either stories of romance or action-packed vampire slayer movies. And zombie movies are now increasingly becoming comedies like Fido and Warm Bodies.
I didn't find JP2 that humorous but I do think some of the scenes like the creeper peering into the bus and selecting his next victim with a series of head nods and winks was chuckle-worthy but unnecessary. But it didn't hurt the movie like the way Freddy Kruger had become in later versions of Nightmare On Elm Street franchise. Besides it's almost natural to think if you're gonna have a movie involving a bunch of teens, you'll venture into a few comic moments anyway. Otherwise, JP2 was still way creepier than a lot of horror that's come out in the last decade.
reply
share