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Better Late Than Never: 10 Franchises That Returned After a Long Hiatus

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In honor of the October 28th release of Jigsaw – the highly anticipated return of the Saw franchise after seven years of dormancy – iHorror has decided to take a quick look at some other horror franchises that came back to life after a long period of inactivity.

The 10 resurrections listed below range from the successful to the abysmal, and are listed in order of shortest gap in time to longest. It should be noted that we’re only counting franchises that returned with a sequel or prequel to the previous film, not a remake or reboot that overwrote the existing continuity. Let’s get started.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) to Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

After the critical and commercial failure of the Myers-less Halloween III – horror fans love it now, but audiences then despised it – it took six years for Michael to return and reignite his stalled franchise. There was another six year gap between 1989’s terrible Halloween 5, and 1995’s also pretty terrible Halloween 6.

Saw VII: The Final Chapter (2010) to Jigsaw (2017)

The inspiration for this piece, next weekend will see Jigsaw’s twisted game return to theaters, just in time for Halloween. After a long period where a new Saw entry was released every single year, it’s now been seven since fans got another addition to Jigsaw’s complex puzzle. Here’s hoping it’s worth the long wait.

Jason Goes to Hell (1993) to Jason X (2002)

After New Line Cinema acquired Jason in the early 90s, the first thing they did was try and kill him off. Jason’s trip to hell stuck for awhile, with it taking nine long years for Mrs. Voorhees’ baby boy to return for more bloodshed in the super fun future-set sequel Jason X. The world needs more Uber Jason.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) to Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

After meta sequel New Nightmare masterfully brought creator Wes Craven’s journey through the Elm Street series to a close, it took nine long years for Robert Englund to get back under the Freddy make-up in order to beat the crap out of Jason. Sadly, this marked the end of Englund’s tenure as the Springwood Slasher.

Seed of Chucky (2004) to Curse of Chucky (2013)

It’s fair to say that most Chucky fans were unimpressed by 2004’s ridiculously silly Seed, which served as franchise creator Don Mancini’s directorial debut. Yet, nine years later, Mancini returned to helm Curse, which took Chucky back to his sadistic roots, and is in the opinion of some the best sequel in the series.

Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) – Omen IV: The Awakening (1991)

Here’s a clear example of when a franchise resurrection wasn’t for the best. The Final Conflict wrapped up the original Omen trilogy nicely, and featured a brilliant performance from a young Sam Neill as Damien. Ten years later, the made for TV Omen IV featured Lifetime movie level acting and scares.

Scream 3 (2000) to Scream 4 (2011)

After an 11 year hiatus, late horror master Wes Craven came back to try and revive the Scream series for a new generation of young moviegoers. Scream 4 came and went from theaters without much fanfare, although it definitely has its fans, and it’s nice to see Sidney, Dewey, and Gale back together again.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

After grindhouse classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre put director Tobe Hooper on the map, it took him a whopping 12 years to return to the world of the cannibalistic Sawyer clan. Audiences at the time weren’t exactly thrilled by how comedic TCM2 ended up being, but the sequel’s stock has increased since then.

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) to The Exorcist III (1990)

Exorcist II’s reputation as being perhaps the worst sequel in horror history precedes it, and while there might actually be worse sequels, it’s hard to think of a bigger drop in quality from a first film to a second. Thankfully, The Exorcist III would arrive 13 years later to prove that not all Exorcist sequels have to suck.

Day of the Dead (1985) to Land of the Dead (2005)

Unlike most series, long delays between entries in the legendary George Romero’s Dead franchise were the exception instead of the rule. There was a 10 year gap between Night and Dawn, and then a 7 year gap between Dawn and Day. The longest period of inactivity occurred between Day and Land, which came out a whole 20 years apart. Fueled by the success of Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of Dawn, Land saw Universal give Romero more money to work with than he would ever have before or since.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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