Movie Series You Didn't Know Kept Releasing Low-Budget Sequels

In today's franchise-hungry Hollywood, every successful movie has a sequel waiting to happen. But not all franchises are created equal: sometimes, studios just can't leave well enough alone, and they'll flog a film series for every last dollar it can produce in the lower-budget direct-to-video (or DTV) market. Sometimes actors from the first films stick around for the entire ride, though they're rarely the original leads—you're not seeing, say, Kevin Bacon popping up in Tremors 4. What you might see, on the other hand, are some surprising gems—among many, many more unbearable cash grabs. Let's run down some of the stranger series that have been out there under your nose, churning out sequels that you've never seen.

A divisive crucible of horror, Clive Barker's directorial debut Hellraiser has been called both "incredible, and incredibly disturbing" and a half-star earning "bankruptcy of imagination." Is it possible for both to be true? Regardless of the movie's quality (it's mostly fine), it's undeniably visually striking, debuting Pinhead and the Cenobites against a gnarly tableau of industrial hell. But if there's any debate about the quality of the original, there's little-to-none about the following eight (soon to be nine) sequels. They're awful in many ways. Want an anthology film that was edited into an incoherent mess? Try the fourth one, Hellraiser: Bloodline. An unrelated script that was grafted onto the series with little relation to what came before? Try Hellraiser: Deader. (Yes, "Deader.") The series didn't go direct-to-DVD and truly off the rails until the fifth installment, 2002's Hellraiser: Hellseeker, yet the sequels continue, with Hellraiser: Judgment set for release this year.

All you really need to know about the original Leprechaun, released in 1993, is that a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston is in it (a fact the marketing people got a lot of mileage out of on the film's eventual DVD release.) These movies have always been schlock amongst schlock, puzzling at best—have we ever found leprechauns to be scary?—but they at least deserve credit for hitting every single horror movie trope setting along the way. The Leprechaun goes to Vegas. The Leprechaun goes to space. The Leprechaun went to "the hood," and actually, it was pretty good. (The Leprechaun then went "back 2 tha hood," and it was not.) A seventh installment, the only one yet to arrive without original star Warwick Davis, crawled out of the DTV gutter for a brief theatrical release and universal critical rejection in 2014. But bad reviews have never stopped this inexplicable series before; with a track record of such bad reviews, it's basically right on track.

The influence of George Romero's black-and-white 1968 Night of the Living Dead simply cannot be overstated. It spawned direct sequels and imitators, spinoff series and foreign adaptations, and that's just in its own franchise. As a larger piece of cultural art, it's gargantuan, informing almost every trope we still adhere to in the ever-vibrant zombie genre that continues with shows like The Walking Dead (and its own spinoff) up to this day.

As to the shape of the series? It's a mess, but this being the internet, it's a mess that people picked through until it made sense. John D'Amico with Smugfilm and Alex Carter with Den of Geek have both produced slightly-different, equally exhaustive flowcharts of the sequels, remakes, and re-edits that make up the Living Dead series all around the world. That's right, flowcharts: not lists. These are wheels within wheels we speak of now, ladies and gentlemen. Not these straight lines and trilogies you've grown accustomed to. Because this is zombies. baby! This is chaos. We don't need a logical throughline. We don't need a budget. And the best part is? Lots of these movies are actually pretty damn good.

So, talking about this franchise thing. It's all marketing, right? It's all about name recognition, branding, business school 101. And Dr. Dolittle as a property is a pretty good example. It sprung from a series of children's books written beginning in the 1920s, all the way up to 1952. While many TV shows and radio plays were produced about the story, a simple thing about a human doctor who prefers to speak to animals, the franchise went modern when was adapted for a 1967 musical film, which was later remade in its most currently well-known iteration, Eddie Murphy's 1998 version. That one did well enough to produce a theatrical sequel, still with Eddie Murphy, in 2001. But after that, the wheels came off and the cart kept rolling, with original cast member Kyla Pratt continuing on as the titular Doctor in a third and fourth and... fifth DTV sequel in 2009. After eight years on the shelf, this franchise seems ready for an Ace Ventura, Jr. reimagining. Do it, you guys. Do it.

If the Brendan Fraser Mummy trilogy was like the hit TV comedy ensemble Friends, then the spinoff mythology series it gave birth to, The Scorpion King, is like the Joey of Egyptian-flavored early-2000s action-horror. Introduced in 2001's The Mummy Returns, the Scorpion King was a hulking silent heel played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the early stages of his acting career, back when people still weren't sure what he was capable of. Though the movie wasn't reviewed well, the Rock earned positive notices as a "Conan with charisma" figure, and has built a career in Hollywood off that underestimated reputation ever since. Surprisingly, the franchise he kicked off is still chugging along as well, with artwork that seems to get more busy, more golden, and more like a Mortal Kombat knockoff with every successive go.

What with franchise flagship The Mummy coming back in remake form this year, could we also see a reinvigoration of the Scorpion King franchise? And wouldn't it be just a little bit better for the world... if we didn't?

The original "Home Alone" is a cherished Christmas film beloved by audiences. Everything about the first film fell perfectly into place, written and directed by cinema legends John Hughes and Chris Columbus, featuring both a young charismatic Macauley Culkin and an unforgettable score from composer John Williams. Somehow, these creators were even able to recreate the magic with the sequel "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York." Unfortunately, "Home Alone" was not a gift that kept on giving.

Many fans of the holiday classic may be unaware that the "Home Alone" franchise now extends across six movies — some more forgettable than others. 1997's "Home Alone 3" was fortunate enough to feature a script from John Hughes, but was otherwise a broad departure from the originals. Where the made-for-television "Home Alone 4" went wrong was in its decision to recast original characters like Kevin McCallister and the Sticky Bandits without anybody from the original films taking part in the production, and the fifth film was equally forgettable. When Disney got their hands on the franchise, more effort was put into the streaming sequel "Home Sweet Home Alone." Unfortunately, the critically-panned sixth installment ultimately destroyed the chances of the potential Ryan Reynolds-led, cannabis-infused "Home Alone" remake, "Stoned Alone."

Fans of the science fiction film "Starship Troopers" may be unaware of how old the franchise actually is. The source material for the man vs. alien epic was a 1959 novel written by Robert A. Heinlein, while the first adaptation of the story was a 1988 six-part anime. Meanwhile, the 1997 film has built a legacy of controversy, analysis, and debate. Regardless of it all, "Starship Troopers" has become an unstoppable franchise that extends to today, with a reboot rumored to still be in development.

There is a surprising amount of "Starship Troopers" content available, including video games, an animated series, and five feature-length films. The first two sequels, "Hero of the Federation" and "Marauder," were direct-to-video projects that didn't make much of an impression. However, the third installment managed surprisingly decent reviews, thanks to the return of Casper Van Dien as John Rico. Two additional animated films, "Invasion" and "Traitor of Mars," are must-watches for only the most die-hard of fans. Meanwhile, a still-live website for the franchise indicates that there is more on the horizon for the "Starship Troopers" collection.

The story of what happened at 112 Ocean Avenue has become more than a legend: It's a paranormal dynasty that has outgrown its humble beginnings. The original story, as fictionalized in Jay Anson's 1977 novel "The Amityville Horror," involves a young family moving into a colonial home in Amityville, NY, who are quickly being forced to abandon it after being terrorized by paranormal activity. The original book received its own literary sequels, but nothing compares to the number of movies spun off from the haunted residential home.

The original "The Amityville Horror" movie was released in 1979, and since then, there has been a smorgasbord of remakes, sequels, and satires. There are so many "Amityville" features that it is nearly impossible to keep track, with IMDb, Wikipedia, and Rotten Tomatoes each offering different counts. However, there are at least 62 films attached to the legend, with a minimum of nine released in 2022 alone. Obviously, some are less faithful to the source material than others, such as "Amityville: Karen," about an entitled "Karen" who becomes possessed by the paranormal house, or the 2023 "Amityville Shark House." Regardless, it is safe to say that low-budget "Amityville" movies are, and may forever be, a consistent element of the B-grade horror subgenre.

Who doesn't love a story about a troublesome yet lovable Saint Bernard who wins over the hearts of its adoptive family while causing chaos around their home? What if they made that into eight movies? And what if the dog landed an acting job, uncovered lost treasure, and was voiced by Tom Arnold? The "Beethoven" franchise has certainly grown bigger than a cumbersome pet since its humble beginnings in the inaugural 1992 family comedy.

Originally written by celebrated filmmaker John Hughes — under a pseudonym because he didn't even want to be associated with the project — "Beethoven" was a charming film that managed to rake in the money. So, of course, Hollywood had to suck the beloved franchise bone dry. It could be argued that "Beethoven's 2^nd" was a faithful and worthwhile sequel, but things definitely went downhill from there. The third installment featured a cross-country road trip, followed by a fourth movie involving a collection of new pet friends, and by the seventh film, Beethoven was being voiced by Tom Arnold and helping to fly Santa's sleigh. Much like the dog that dragged Charles Grodin across the first film, "Beethoven" is out of control.

"Deepest. Bluest. My hat is like a shark's fin," are the unforgettable lyrics to LL Cool J's accompaniment song to his 1999 feature "Deep Blue Sea." If that doesn't scream "build a multi-film franchise" to you, then you just haven't been paying attention. "Deep Blue Sea" was another moderately successful '90s movie that is perhaps best remembered for the scene where Samuel L. Jackson is eaten by a gigantic shark. And for the longest time, the film remained a standalone embraced by action fans. However, Hollywood can't seem to leave well enough alone, and in 2018, they began building a franchise out of the shark movie. Because as we all know, shark tales are B-movie gold.

"Deep Blue Sea 2" and "Deep Blue Sea 3" are both direct-to-video films that carry on the story of the genetically modified sharks established in the first movie. Surprisingly, the sequels are adored by fans and critics alike. Specifically, the R-rated "Deep Blue Sea 3" has earned itself a respectably "fresh" Rotten Tomatoes score — although they did miss a real opportunity to call it "Deep Blue Three." Reports of a fourth film in the franchise have yet to be announced, but you know that somebody out there has to be planning a way to pick up this franchise for a collection of further features — especially if LL Cool J will sign on to reprise his role as Sherman "Preacher" Dudley.