03x01 - Sequels That Don't Suck

[bunniefuu]

- Everyone knows
that sequels suck.

[cat roars]

- By definition alone,
they're inferior films.

- Or do they?

- What I love about sequels is

the characters are all
established,

we know who they are.

So let's just get into it.

- As great as Anthony Perkins
is in "Psycho,"

I think he's even better
in "Psycho ."

- I'm Norman.
Norman Bates.

- "Nightmare on Elm Street "
is my favorite one.

- Man, it's so good.
- It wasn't just scary

it was funny.
- This is it, Jennifer,

your big break in TV.
- [screams]

- I think people know when
they see the Chucky movie,

you know what
you're going to get.

- I love "The Purge" franchise.

You want to understand
how this even all started.

- "Gremlins ," I think

might possibly be
the best sequel of all time.

- [laughs]
- It takes everything

that you love about
the first film,

and it cranks it up
to a whole other level.

- Horror movie sequels
do not suck.

Horror movie sequels
are actually fantastic.

And sometimes they're even
better than the originals.

[eerie music]

♪

[chainsaw roars]

♪

- Damien.

- Horror sequels.

They can be fun.

But usually, they're a long
way from being great.

It's really hard to pull off
a good horror sequel.

There's so many of them
that suck.

- [screaming]

- But then there are a few that
actually really don't suck.

And it's all the more
impressive when you can go

from "Alien," which
is one of the most iconic

movies in cinema,
and come out with "Aliens."

- Come on, come on!

- Sometimes sequels fall far
short of the original.

And sometimes they amp up
the body count

and are even better.

The tradition of
the great horror sequel

goes all the way back

to James Wales'
"Bride of Frankenstein."

- I always loved "Bride
of Frankenstein," you know,

just the fact that it picks up
right where the original movie

left off, I think really
has a lot of power.

Like wait a minute, so okay,
so the windmill burns down

and then what happens?

So you feel like you're
getting a continuing saga.

- Well, you can use
a sequel to enhance and...

And build on something

that you did in the first one.

- Groovy.
- Or you can take it

in a different direction.
There's a million things you

can do if you got some
good piece of material

that warrants being revisited.
- I've got to remain logical.

- I like making sequels because

I don't have to
explain anything.

I can just start from the get-go

and do some new adventure.

- For a sequel that delivers
on all levels,

there's no better example than
the greatest slasher sequel

of all time.

[eerie music]

- "Nightmare on Elm Street :
The Dream Warriors"

is like the peak

of the "Nightmare on Elm Street"
series.

- It's just jam-packed
with cool stuff.

- There's certain films
that it's almost like

the second movie wasn't
so great or wasn't as good

as the first one, and then
the third one reinvents

the franchise
and becomes a masterpiece.

- Well, you're right.

Now "Dream Warriors"
managed to click

into the mythology
of the first one...

- Freddy's home.
- In a way that was exciting

for audiences, but it also
seemed on a slightly bigger

canvas and you were
surprised by the bigness

and the sense of fun.

- For "Dream Warriors,"

series creator
Wes Craven returned

as producer and co-writer.

He brought back his beloved
heroine, Nancy Thompson.

- [screams]

- You.
- Oh, my God.

- I think Wes really believed

that Nancy was kind of
the best aspect

that we all have inside of us.

That she is the kind of person
who faces fear head on

and doesn't avoid the thing
that's endangering their lives.

But just goes straight at it.
- Krueger's back.

- Fred Krueger is dead.

- I loved that they brought
her back.

I loved how they brought her
back and that she was there

to sort of help the children.

And in a sense,
she's there to save them.

- Now a grad student studying
dream psychology...

- I have had some experience
with pattern nightmares.

- Nancy comes home to help
a new generation of teens

targeted by the dream k*ller,
Freddy Krueger.

♪

The Elm Street parents,
clueless as ever,

have put the tormented teens
in a mental institution.

- You're k*lling us!
- Ah.

- But they have a secret w*apon,

newcomer Kristen,
played by Patricia Arquette,

has the power to bring people
into her dreams.

- Nancy.
[chuckles]

- For the first time,

Freddy's victims have safety
in numbers.

♪

- [grunting]

Led by Nancy, they form a g*ng
of freedom fighters.

- They're able to take on these,
like, superhero personas

in their dreams
and fight back against Freddy.

So like one of the them becomes
this super cool punk chick.

- Let's dance.

- The kid who's in
the wheelchair is, like,

able to walk.

It's about wish fulfillment
as well as, you know,

being m*rder*d.

- But the teens soon discover
Freddy has his own bag

of new tricks.

♪

- Freddy is in the imagination
of the person he's haunting.

And the imagination is larger
than life, it's kicked up,

it's surreal.
[screams]

- There's a massive worm-like
creature that is gruesome

but also perverted.

And I think that's just
what makes it all the better.

It's horror, like, be weird.

- This film has some
of the more spectacular

and memorable deaths.

- The scene where the guy's
veins are being ripped out

with Freddy playing him
like a little puppet

and then slicing those veins,

and he falls to his death;

that's an amazing k*ll.

- [screaming]

- The thing that made "Nightmare
on Elm Street " stick out

so much is that it was
the first entry into fun Freddy

before he became silly Freddy.

So he was still scary in this,

but having a bit more time
to quip.

- What a rush.

There were scenes in
where I would be really bad,

really evil.

And then
they would add a one-liner.

Sorry, kid,
I don't believe in fairy tales.

- [screaming]

- That, all of a sudden,
becomes scarier,

of this guy just like,
not only is he gonna k*ll you,

but he's gonna have
a little too much fun doing it.

- [screaming]

- I altered one line to
play a little better as Freddy.

And it's become a fan favorite.

Welcome to prime time, bitch.

- [screaming]

- Wes would tell you
that he's a little upset

with the exploitation
of the humorous part

of Freddy's personality.

And I back him on that.

But Wes is responsible for that.

Wes created a character
that cracked wise.

I'm your boyfriend now, Nancy.

But the fans loved that, and
that's one reason we exploited

the humor so much
is because the fans,

you know were just crazy
for Freddy's personality.

- Great sequels make
bold choices.

"Nightmare " saves
its biggest shock for last.

- Whatever happens,
stay together.

- It's so heartbreaking
because he... he tricks Nancy

after he's already
wreaked havoc on her dad

in the real world, and
he reenters the dream world

in the form of her dad.

Then he lulls her into this

state of, like, comfort
and familiarity.

- I'll always love you.

- And then Freddy Krueger's
there again.

[laughs]
He'll get ya.

[scary music]

♪

- Die.
- [screams]

- Nancy dying in part
was hard to take.

I mean she was the O.G.

So you never want
the O.G. to be k*lled off.

But I didn't see it coming.
I didn't think... I thought

for sure Nancy would never die.

- And I think that's something
that the fans needed

and the story needed, and
I think that bringing her back

and bringing
that story full circle,

helped make Freddy Krueger
who he is today.

- Some sequels reinvent
the franchise.

And some...

[phone rings]

Dig even deeper
into the formula.

- It's happening again,
isn't it?

- Hello?
- [screams]

- [screams]

- For a sequel to be great,
you have to give the audience

what they're expecting,
just not in the way they think

they're gonna get it.
You gotta be like a magician.

You know the trick's coming,
I'm telling you the trick's

coming, I'm telling you
the trick's coming,

and then you still do it,
and they go "Wow.

I didn't see that coming."
- [screams]

♪

After the massive success
of "Scream,"

the pressure was on director
Wes Craven, and writer

Kevin Williamson to come up
with another magic trick.

- How do you make a sequel
to a horror movie

that's about horror movies?

It's a film commenting
on itself essentially

all the way through.
And the answer is,

of course, you make
a sequel that's about sequels

to horror movies.
- Sequels suck.

- No.
[indistinct arguing]

- By definition alone,
they're inferior films.

- So it does a good job of
honoring the first movie,

but also having its own
identity making fun of sequels.

- It's been two years since
the Woodsboro murders,

Neve Campbell returns as
Sidney Prescott,

now in college.

- Hello?
- Hello, Sidney.

- Sidney really starts the movie

with some post-traumatic stress.

- Who is this?

- You tell me.

♪

- Cory Gillis.
[beep]

- Sidney seems to be coping

until a sneak preview of "s*ab,"

a movie based on the events
of the first "Scream,"

ends when someone
dressed as Ghostface

goes on a k*lling spree.

- One of the things I think
horror does really well

is when an old nightmare
comes back.

And it comes back
in a worse way.

And that's what happens
to Sidney.

- The two Windsor College
students were m*rder*d

last night
during a sneak preview

of the new movie "s*ab."

- To survive, Sidney
and her friends have to ask,

"What would
the k*ller in a sequel do?"

- In "Scream,"
they've set out the rules.

How to survive a horror movie.
Well, by "Scream ,"

there are rules for sequels.

- [shouts]

- The kills are more elaborate,

the body count is always bigger.

Never assume the k*ller is dead.

- Remember me?
- Why don't you show your face

you [bleep] coward.

- My pleasure.

- The return of Ghostface

throws the audience off balance.

The film disorients
its audience even more

by intercutting pieces
of "s*ab."

Perhaps the first-ever
remake inside of a sequel.

- The "s*ab" franchise comes
into its own in this film.

So "Scream " gets to comment
on, you know, the history

not only of slasher films
and that, but its own legacy.

Because you get a recreation of
the original Scream in there

that's hysterically funny.
- Really?

- You still think it's me?
- No.

- Said I didn't do it.
I'm innocent.

- I know.
- So it becomes this strange

sort of hall of mirrors thing.
- I've been going through

a lot lately, Billy.
- Someone tried to k*ll me.

- I know, I know.
- Sid, I think you need

to just move on.
I mean...

both: When my mom left my dad,
I accepted it.

- Yeah.
Both: Your mom left town.

- She's not lying
in a coffin somewhere.

- My mom's dead and
she's never coming back, ever.

- Stupid.

- Stupid.

- So tell us about this part

you're getting rave reviews for.

- Well, I play this young girl,
Sidney Prescott.

- "Scream ,"
my agent sent me the script

and I got to the part where
they were like, "You know,

they might make a movie
of your life."

And she's like, "Yeah."

- With my luck,
they'd cast Tori Spelling.

- And I was like... [gasps]
But because, um,

she says that, when they make
"Scream " they were like,

"Oh, we'll cast Tori Spelling,"
which was kind of brilliant.

I was like, "I'm in. Perfect."

- But beneath
the self-aware jokes...

- When'd she start smoking?

- Ever since those nude pictures
on the internet.

- It was just my head.

It was Jennifer Anniston's body.

- "Scream " asks

"What is the real
emotional impact

on slasher film characters
who make it to the sequel?"

- Look, Sid, if there is some
freaked out psycho

trying follow in Billy Loomis's
footsteps,

they're probably already
in your life.

- As Neve Campbell's character
learns about life,

we're learning with her.

And part two is,
"Guess what. It's not over.

"You thought it was over?

"You thought only one bad
thing would happen to you?

"No, things can get much worse.

"This horrible thing happened

and you have to deal
with that trauma forever."

- I don't want
to see you get hurt.

- She can't trust anyone
around her.

That's a big theme
in these movies.

Who can you trust?

Because you got to know
the k*ller.

- I need to be alone right now,
okay?

- Sidney goes up against
Ghostface again,

but as we know, the original
K*llers are no more.

- [screams]

- So we have no idea
who it could possibly be.

Could it be Gale Weathers

trying to get another book deal?

Could it be Dewey?
Does he really have that limp?

Is he faking it?
- You have a point.

- And I think that was
the main point of part two.

It was removing all trust
so that the audience

is just completely nervous
and on edge,

trying to figure out
what's going on.

- [screams]

- The twist-filled climax
reveals the Ghostfaces

are two new characters;

psychopathic film student...

- Mickey?
- I'm gonna blame the movies.

- And the mother of the
m*rder*r Sidney defeated

in the original film.
- Mrs. Loomis?

- You k*lled my son.

- The K*llers' identity
has a purpose,

to deepen
the series' exploration

of the nature of v*olence.

- "Scream " basically asked
the question,

"If you can't blame the movies,
who can you blame?"

- Movies don't create psychos!

Movies make psychos
more creative!

- [screams]

- "Scream " suggested
who you can blame.

And look who the k*ller was.

It was the mother.

So "Scream ," in a weird way,
is saying

we can blame the parents.

Bad parenting creates psychos.

- And it sets up for
the other sequels.

Now you know it can be anybody.

- Another way to make
an old franchise new again,

is to turn the clock back
to the very beginning.

- Let's purge, y'all!

[siren blaring]

- This is not a test.

This is your
Emergency Broadcast System

announcing the commencement
of The Annual Purge.

[tense music]

- saw the release
of "The Purge."

A film about
a near-future America

in which all violent crime
is legal for hours.

- [screams]

- The v*olence and brutality
of "The Purge"

was intended to reflect
the rising tensions

writer/director, James DeMonaco,

and his collaborators
saw growing in America.

♪

- Working in the horror genre
allows you

to not necessarily explore
themes that are different

than would be in a drama,
but it allows those themes

to reach
a much broader audience.

"The Purge" is a great example
of that.

- Didn't you hear what I said?
No more k*lling tonight.

- I think this country has
gone off the rails

with its relationship to g*ns,

and "The Purge" is about

if that keeps going
where we might wind up.

Kind of a cautionary tale.

- Is it that hard to understand?

- "The Purge"
was an enormous success,

so inevitably, sequels followed.

[siren blares]

For the fourth film
in the franchise

DeMonaco decided to explore
the origins of Purge night,

turn the focus from
the privileged to the poor.

He brought in
Gerard McMurray to direct.

- You can't purge me, man.
I purge you.

- It was centered around
these inner-city communities

which was very heavily
within our Black communities.

You needed a Black filmmaker
and Gerard was able to really

bring home the honesty
and the truth.

- What they're doing to us,
what they're doing

to this country... I am worried
about this country.

♪

- The result was
"The First Purge,"

an action/horror film that's
also a scathing indictment

of race, class,
and power in America.

- The American dream is dead.

We will do whatever it takes
to let you dream again.

[chanting] USA!

- In the near future, the NFFA,

America's neo-fascist
ruling party,

runs a test of the Purge
in the New York borough

of Staten Island.
- Staten Island,

the chosen site, has become
the focus for the entire world.

- The FFA offers money
to people who need it,

and this is how
they incentivize m*rder.

- The benefit of acting
violently without worry

of consequence,
that's a freeing v*olence.

- They have their reasoning
for it, which is, you know,

if we give one night of access
and freedom to commit

any crime you want to do, then
that would lower the crime rate

for the rest of the year.

That's what they say.

- This bull[bleep] experiment
really happening tonight?

- Community activist Nya
is against the Purge.

But her younger brother
Isaiah sees it as a way out

of poverty.

- I think Isaiah's anger
is relatable to everyone.

I think everyone feels,
you know, a responsibility

to feed,
look after their family,

and the frustration
of the opportunity

that might not be there.

- This is wrong!

- The sister wants
to help her community survive,

and learns some unsettling
truths along the way.

- Nya discovers
that this is deeply rooted

in something bigger
than just a crime rate.

This is rooted
in classism, racism.

- You really think these
regular folk

gonna pop each other like
gangsters when the time comes?

- Yeah, people pissed.
They ain't got no money.

[bombastic rap music]

- But at least at the beginning,

it's not all darkness.

- What would Black people do
when it comes to the Purge?

Right, like,
we gonna have a party.

We gonna be out on the estate.

We gonna be doing what we doing.

We gonna be having some fun
and it's a Purge party.

♪

- There's no law.

We can have a street party
all night long

and nobody will stop it.

That's kind of what
I think would really happen

if there were a Purge.

- Some kind of block party.

- The FFA saw that...

They were confused.
- Parties?

- They're watching, like
why are they just having fun?

We mean business.

[motors roaring]

- But, of course, in the film,
and also maybe this would also

really happen, people came
from outside of this community

and they're wearing
clan outfits.

And they're wearing
neo-n*zi outfits.

[eerie music]

- By the end,
a ruthless drug dealer,

who in virtually any other
movie would be a villain,

almost singlehandedly

fights off
the government assassins.

- You know, he's the
community "thug" so to speak,

who has to sort of rise up

and fight off these outsiders...

[rapid g*nf*re]

Who have literally flooded
this poor community

to try to just k*ll
as many Black and brown people

as they can.

And it's tough.
It's tough to watch.

[g*nf*re]

- That's the truth.

What do we do and how are we
supposed to remain optimistic?

Which they do,
which is a beautiful ending.

It's very optimistic.

And "We're gonna fight
this thing."

But honestly, where do you go
after that moment?

- So what to do we do now?

- Now... we fight.

- When I spoke to a lot
of my friends about it,

"The First Purge" felt
the most truest to real life

and people felt like
"Yo, wow. This... this feels

like it could actually happen.

[siren blares]

And if we don't actually
come together as a people,

then nothing's going to change.

- It's over?

- For now.

[tense music]

- There is another way
to breathe life

into a horror sequel.

- Awake! Awake! Awake!

- Go for the laughs.

- [laughing]

- Hi, I'm Chucky. Wanna play?
- [screams]

- Hey, wanna play?

Hi, I'm your friend to the end.

[eerie music]

- What do you do when your
iconic horror franchise...

- I'm your friend
to the end. [laughs]

- Feels tapped out?

- There had been
three Chucky movies,

"Child's Play" , , and .

"But Child's Play "
was not very successful.

- You got me.

I'm bad.

- And I felt that we had fallen
into a rut of kind of

remaking the same movie.

All: Ade due Damballa.

- And that was something
I didn't want to do again.

- So Chucky creator
Don Mancini threw away

the slasher formula and went
in a very different direction.

[thunder booming]

Horror comedy.

The result
was "Bride of Chucky."

- I felt that if
we embraced the absurdity

inherent in the premise

of a two-foot k*ller doll
who swears

and wields a Kn*fe and
chases you down and kills you,

we could revive the franchise.

- "Bride of Chucky"
introduces Tiffany,

girlfriend of the serial k*ller

trapped in Chucky's body.

- Well, hello, dolly.

- She's determined to bring
her lover back to life

and she will stop at nothing
to get her way.

- Awake!

- In a stroke of genius,
Jennifer Tilly was cast

opposite Brad Dourif,
the voice of Chucky.

- She's the perfect person
for this in so many ways.

She's an Oscar nominee,
just as Brad Dourif is,

she has incredible
comedic charisma,

physical beauty, sexiness,
and a wonderful voice.

- Thanks, sweet face,
I owe ya one.

- Tiffany has
a certain insouciance

that people are attracted to.

I mean she's just like
the super cool girl.

You know, she just doesn't
give a [bleep].

- Let me in, huh?
I'll catch my death out here.

- Promises, promises.

- But she's also a dichotomy

because she loves
Martha Stewart,

she likes to make
Swedish meatballs

and chocolate chip cookies.

- Who the [bleep]
is Martha Stewart?

- My idol.

- Whoa!

- To be Chucky's soulmate,
of course, she had to be

a remorseless k*ller,

but on the other hand,
she's also very sentimental

and romantic and kind of sweet.

- We belong dead.

- That's not Chucky at all.

So it created
a combustible relationship.

- Tiffany resurrects Chucky

but their reunion
quickly turns sour.

- [screaming]

[screams]

- After a fatal lover's quarrel,

Tiffany's spirit is also
trapped in plastic.

- You son of bitch!
What have you done to me?

When she suddenly finds herself
in a doll's body,

she's kind... she's mad.

I mean, but she doesn't
fall into depression.

She gets out the hair dye

and the black nail polish
and tries to approximate a look

that she is comfortable with.

- To regain human form,
the couple needs to get across

the country
to steal a magical amulet.

They hitch a ride with two
unsuspecting teenage runaways.

- Oh, my God.

- A road trip that quickly
turns into a bloodbath.

[horn blares]

- There is so much more gore

in this movie
than the other films.

- It's a measure of how much
respect Don has for you

if he kills you
in a really horrible way.

- Now!
- [gasps]

- Ah!

- k*lling together helps
Chucky and Tiffany

revive their love and lust.

- All couples have something
that brings them together

in the first place.

In Chucky and Tiffany's case,
of course,

it's m*rder and sex.

- Well, at least
you haven't forgotten

how to show a girl a good time.

- So they have their
honeymoon period

which climaxes in their
big night in Niagara Falls.

- One of the bloodiest scenes
in the movie

leads into one of the most
strange and ridiculous scenes

in the whole film.

Which is when
they're in the love motel.

And that couple's in the bed.

Tiffany has the champagne bottle

and throws it up
into the mirror.

And it just shatters into
hundreds of pieces

and impales them
on the waterbed.

And blood and water
explodes everywhere,

which then leads into...

a very bizarre sex scene.

- Oh.

- Which is so weird,
but so fantastic.

But again, really weird.

[laughs]

- We were the first people
to do doll sex.

After that, "South Park" did a
movie where they had doll sex.

Our doll sex I thought
was a little bit more charming.

- But like many love stories,

this one takes a tragic turn.

- She so wants to be loved
by Chucky,

and does so much stuff
for Chucky,

like cooking
and making his favorite dish

and trying to make him happy.

And he does a thing where
he's critical or puts her down.

And then every once in a while,
she snaps.

- Those dishes aren't gonna
wash themselves, you know.

- The Tiffany character
is an abused woman.

You know,
she's an abused spouse.

The movie's throwing in
its sympathies

with the woman victim.

- [grunting]

- [screams]

- I feel like the "Bride of
Chucky" is a romantic tragedy

because it's almost
Romeo and Juliet.

It's almost like a love
that was never meant to be.

I love you, Chucky.

We belong together, forever.

- And at the end,

she turns the tables
on her abuser.

- [grunts]
- [screams]

- We belong dead.

Goodbye, darling.

I'll see you in hell.

- [groans]

- Following up a hit
is difficult.

[eerie music]

- [screams]

- Now imagine making a sequel

to an all-time horror classic.

- In
Alfred Hitchcock directed

one of the most famous and
influential films of all time,

"Psycho."

- We all go a little mad
sometimes.

Haven't you?

- years later came
the sequel no one asked for.

[dramatic musical sting]

"Psycho II."

- By the ' s, Hitchcock
was treated like some sort of

cinematic saint.
- Mm-hmm.

- So the idea of remaking
a Hitchcock film...

- The idea of sequelizing a
Hitchcock icon was unthinkable.

- People talked about it
like sacrilege.

- I'm sorry.

I didn't mean it
to sound uncaring.

- What do you know about caring?

- But "Psycho "
proved everyone wrong.

Richard Franklin, director
of the Australian thriller

"Road Games," was convinced
he could make a sequel

that paid tribute
to the original

but was strong enough
to stand on its own.

Franklin hired Tom Holland,
another Hitchcock disciple,

to write the screenplay.

- I was desperate for a job,

and I thought, "Well, that's
really the end of my career."

Because I... you just knew that
the critics were gonna savage

you for having
the temerity to do it.

- Holland and Franklin knew

that they couldn't give
"Psycho" the sequel

it deserved
without one essential element.

- The only way
that we could do it

was to get Tony Perkins back
as Norman Bates.

♪

Tony had felt that
the Norman Bates was a curse.

And so he didn't want
to do a sequel.

So I had to figure out
how to write a script

that would be so terrific
for the actor

that he'd have to do it.

And so it was how to give him
a character arc,

how to make it into
an acting piece.

And that's how I came up with,

well, you just ask logically,
if it's years later...

Which is what the time had been
since the original...

Where would Norman have been?

- The film opens as
Norman Bates is released

from a mental facility
and returns home.

His doctor says he is cured.

Others have their doubts.

Norman's redemption
is threatened

by a vengeful figure
from his past, Lila Loomis.

The sister of the woman
Norman k*lled in the shower.

Once again, Lila is played
by Vera Miles.

- And when he murders again,

you will be
directly responsible.

- I think we identify with
Norman in a different way

in "Psycho "
than we did in "Psycho ."

"Psycho " is about, you know,

a misfit trying to find
his way back to the world.

- Can I help you?

- I'm Norman. Norman Bates.

The new cook's helper.

- Norman gets a job at a diner
and begins a relationship

with a sympathetic coworker,
Mary, played by Meg Tilly.

They move in together.

- Is this room
where you had your troubles?

- One of them, yeah.

- Well, I don't know what
happened to you in the past,

Norman, but you're never
gonna get over it.

Not unless you face it.

- Then he starts getting
messages from Mother.

[tense music]

Is Norman back to his old ways,

or is someone trying
to frame him?

- I'm becoming...
confused again.

- You're rooting for Norman
to keep it together.

You're rooting for Norman
to be a... to be sane.

To be happy.

And now you don't want any
of the horror stuff to happen.

- To stay true
to Hitchcock's style

while updating it for ,

Richard Franklin hired
cinematographer Dean Cundey,

then known for
"Halloween" and "The Thing."

- Originally, we wanted to do it
in black and white

so that it looked like
the original.

But Universal was pretty
adamant,

no black and white.

Richard was very, very specific
about how he wanted to,

you know, make sure that
visually our version

was a continuation.

Nothing unusual.

And to me, that was
a great sort of challenge,

but fun thing to look at.

- The filmmakers also
modernized the sequel

with graphic v*olence
Hitchcock wouldn't have

been allowed to show in .

- This is very post "Friday
the ," post "Halloween,"

so you do get some nods to that.

You get to Dennis Franz,
for example,

getting his face slashed.

- [groans]

[eerie music]

- Which is kind of a full
color version of what happens

to Martin Balsam in the
original one, but you know,

to see it in color makes
a big difference, obviously.

- "Psycho " ends
with a series of twists

that would make Hitchcock proud.

- Why did you lie to that
sheriff and say Bates

was with you this afternoon?
- Mother.

- The Meg Tilly character is
the daughter of Vera Miles.

They start to t*rture him
and drive him mad.

And then Mary,
who's wormed her way

into living in the house
with Norman,

starts to feel sorry for Norman.

- I've been to all
your meetings,

I've done everything
you've asked me for years,

but I am not going to hurt
Norman anymore.

- And she realizes that Norman
really is a good person

at that moment and trying to
hold on to his sanity.

- Norman, do you recognize me?

It's me, your mother.

- And eventually,
it costs her life

because Norman has gone crazy.

- Let me help you.
- You k*lled them all!

- Freeze!

[g*nsh*t]

- Well, this is why the sequel
doesn't suck

is because the ending
makes sense.

Typically in good sequels,
the rules of that movie

then change what happened
in the first movie.

[tense music]

Here in "Psycho " you find
out that Norman's mother

really wasn't his mother.

- So...

are you really my mother?

- That his real mother
is still around.

- The woman you thought was
your mother was my sister.

- And that she's the one
that's been k*lling everybody,

punishing them for
what they did to Norman,

putting him away.

And he whacks her
over the head with a shovel.

And then he's back to being
Norman Bates again.

[dramatic music]

He carries her up the stairs

and you hear that creepy voice
again.

- I'm not sleepy.

Put me in my chair.

- Yes, Mother.

- So the arc of the movie

is really Norman losing his mind

a second time

and the irony is,

he ends up at the end of the
movie as crazy as a loon

and nobody knows it.

It's a tragedy, in a way.

- Don't let them take me back
to the institution.

- Anthony Perkins is even be...
As great as he is in "Psycho,"

I think he's even better
in "Psycho ."

I think it's one of the great
lead performances

in any horror film ever made.

- You can't make me...

k*ll her.

- You don't know the effect
that a film's gonna have.

I went to a dinner,
oh, I don't know,

seven or eight years ago with
all the big horror directors

and they voted "Psycho "
the best horror sequel ever.

[dramatic music]

♪

[screaming]

- What do you call a sequel
that ups the ante

on everything in the original

then gleefully tears it apart?

♪

"Gremlins : The New Batch."

- In ,
the horror comedy "Gremlins"

was set loose on the world.

It was a critical
and financial success.

Warner Brothers wanted a sequel.

Director Joe Dante did not.

- When I was offered
the opportunity

to make a sequel
to "Gremlins ," I said no.

I'm sorry, I'm tired.

I just did
this "Gremlins" movie.

We had to make it up on the fly.

We had to invent the technology.

I'm exhausted,
I'm sick of Gremlins

I don't want to have anything
to do with it, good luck.

- Six years later,
they made Dante

an offer he could not refuse.

- They said,
"We really want this picture

and we want it enough to let
you do whatever you want."

So I have never gotten an offer
like that before or since,

and I said "Okay."

[laughter]

- Dante and screenwriter
Charles Haas

turn "Gremlins "
into a monster movie

imbued with the
establishment-baiting spirit

of classic
Warner Brother's cartoons.

- You might as well
just start the movie.

- Roll 'em.

- "Gremlins " seems like,

in the most glorious way
possible,

um, a filmmaker biting the hand
that feeds him.

[screaming]
- Most sequels continue

the story by expanding
on the original premise.

"Gremlins " took the premise
and shredded it.

Are you a fan of
"Gremlins : The New Batch"?

- I think Joe Dante
became a director

so he could do "Gremlins ."

♪

There always is a little bit
of a "Mad Magazine" parody

of his own movie
running in the margin

of a Joe Dante film.

And with "Gremlins ," he
was able to do a "Mad Magazine"

takeoff on the first "Gremlins"
for the entire movie,

for the length of the movie.

- "Gremlins "
trades the small town setting

of the first film

for a Manhattan office tower
where returning stars

Phoebe Cates and Zach Galligan
once again become entangled

with the loveable Mogwai, Gizmo.

- Cute, isn't it?

- Inevitably, Gizmo gets wet...

- [screaming]

Spawning a legion of
evil gremlins who run riot

through a building that's a
microcosm of American society

in the early s.

- Now this week
we have our special salute

to luncheon meat.
- [laughs]

- Cultural satire
goes hand in hand

with the satire
of the movie itself.

- "Gremlins " is sort of
a movie about how there didn't

need to be a sequel
to "Gremlins."

I didn't expect that there would
ever be a sequel to "Gremlins"

and much less
that I would be making it.

Uh, so I decided to make
a movie about sequels

and what are they worth.

- When they start goofing
on every aspect

of the original premise,
in the movie, in the sequel,

that was hysterical

about, like,
"Hey, don't eat after midnight."

- Well, what if they're eating
in an airplane

and they cross a time zone?

I mean, it's always
midnight somewhere.

[laughs]

- Well, once Phoebe Cates
started parodying

the Santa Claus story...
- That's grea...

The... the Phoebe Cates parodying
the Santa Claus monologue.

- Something terrible
happened to me

on year on Lincoln's birthday.

- I didn't know you were
allowed to do that.

I was like, "Are you allowed to
make fun of your own movie?"

- This man with this beard...
- Honey, um...

- And a hat,
looked just like Abe Lincoln...

- Honey, I really don't...
- Except for the raincoat.

- It made fun of
the first movie.

It made fun of the concept
of sequels.

- This is worst
than the first one.

- We just show these movies,
madam.

We don't make them.

- It made fun of capitalism.

- I look at him,
you know what I see?

Dolls with suction cups
staring out car windows.

- Joe Dante just seemingly
took everything he loved

and then used it to make fun
of everything he hated.

- All the great horror movies
are in black and white.

Mr. Clamp only likes color.

- It's got so many clever
and original ideas.

Including having a film critic

give the first film
a bad review again

in the second film before
I'm k*lled by the Gremlins.

Whoa, wait a minute.
I was just kidding, ow.

A ten, it's a...

- [guttural grunting]

[laughing]

- I'm sure some people
in the audience are watching

that movie with their popcorn
in their hand thinking,

"What is happening?"

- "Gremlins" also topped
the first film by bringing in

special effects maven
Rick Baker to create a diverse

new group of monsters.

- It's eating
my vegetable medley.

- [burps]

- Mutant products of gremlins
running amok

in the genetics lab.

- There is a phenomenal
Key and Peele sketch

about the pitching
of "Gremlins "

that's so [bleep] funny.

- What if we did this?

Everybody here gets to design
they own Gremlin.

- They weren't just like cute
and fluffy and then green.

These were mutated Gremlins.

So you get spider Gremlins,
flying Gremlins.

- [screeching]

You got talking Gremlins.

- Mind if I have a brief word
with you?

- You got my favorite,
you got the bougie Gremlins

with big red lips,

super incredible dress and wig.

And of course the flashing
Gremlin with the sick glasses.

- [laughing]

- You got ever single Gremlin
you could want in the movie.

- The madness builds until
the spectacular finale

when the heroes manage to
prevent a Gremlin apocalypse.

[electricity sparking]

- I'm melting! I'm melting.

- "Gremlins " just gets better
every time you see it.

- "Gremlins ," I think,

might possibly be the
best sequel of all time.

- Probably "Gremlins "
is my most personal movie.

Not in that it's personal to me,
except that it's

my most unfiltered movie.

I had nobody
looking over my shoulder,

telling me what to do,

and there's a lot of me in it.

- And to this day, there's never
been a "Gremlins ."

'Cause it feels like
"Gremlins " scorched the earth.

- [groaning]

- Horror sequels give us a way
to return to the worlds

that fascinated and frightened
us the first time around.

We get to see our favorite
characters back in action.

And we get more of everything.

More monsters. More scares.

- [screams]

- Bigger and crazier kills.

The best sequels give us
what we want...

Make the old seem new again.