Schlocky 4th Installments with Surprisingly Big Stars
Uh, fourth time's the charm?
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) d: Joseph Zito
Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) d: Kevin Yagher, Joe Chappelle
Critters 4 (1992) d: Rupert Harvey
Jaws IV: The Revenge (1987) d: Joseph Sargent
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995) d: Kim Henkel
For whatever reason, a surprising number of fourth-in-franchise horror movies have inexplicably huge stars in main roles. For some of them, it was relatively early in their career, which makes some sense. But for others, they had already made it, so it begs the question - what are they doing here? The list is presented from least to most bonkers.
The movie: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
The stars: Crispin Glover, Corey Feldman
So, I almost didn’t include this movie, because it’s actually banging. If you haven’t seen any of the Friday the 13th movies, this is actually the movie that you’d imagine from general pop culture awareness. But it’s still a down-stream sequel in a long-running camp-fest, so we can still call it schlocky. Less shocking than others on here because Crispin Glover and Corey Feldman are definitely recognizably famous, but not exactly superstars. This was a year before Back to the Future for Crispin, and his dance break in this film is ~art~. Corey Feldman was everywhere in genre films when he was a kid, so he feels right at home.
The movie: Hellraiser Bloodline
The star: Adam Scott
Only two and a half Hellraisers are any good, and this is not one of them. It’s so jarring to see Adam Scott on the screen in this, because this is so not his lane anymore and it’s straight-up, low-budget bad (but fun). It’s not too shocking though because this was very early career for him, just two years after his first credited role. Thank god he’s moved on to bigger and better things, all love to my Ben Wyatt. This movie not only takes the time-honored late sequel strategy of going to SPACE, but also, to the past! Innovative.
The movie: Critters 4
The star: Angela Bassett
OK, now we’re getting into real crazy town - again, in SPACE! Angela Bassett - as in QUEEN Ramonda - in Critters FOUR. Now, her biggest hits were still ahead of her, but she had already been in Boyz in the Hood, people! What is she doing here? The franchise must have made some sort of deal with the devil, because Critters 3 inexplicably starred Leonardo DiCaprio.
The movie: Jaws: The Revenge
The star: Michael Caine
Oh, Jaws. The perfect movie that launched an absolute tidal wave of shitty killer shark movies. Am I saying Spielberg is to blame for Sharknado, Ghost Shark, and 2-Headed Shark Attack? I’m not not saying that. But Jaws: The Revenge is worse than all of those because it doesn’t fully know that it is bad. Which is saying something, since the premise of this movie is that THE SHARK FOLLOWS THE BRADY FAMILY TO THE BAHAMAS TO GET REVENGE FOR THE SHARKS THAT WERE KILLED. And who does it star? SIR Michael Caine aka Maurice Micklewhite (that’s real). He was already a Golden Globe- and BAFTA-winning international movie star. The same year this movie came out (incidentally, the year of my birth), he won a frigging Oscar for Hannah and her Sisters. What are you doing in this movie, Maurice???
The movie: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
The stars: Matthew McConaughey, Renee Zellweger
Alright, alright, alright, we’ve come to the decrepit grand-daddy of this list. Renee Zellweger is the protagonist, Matthew McConaughey is a member of the sadistic Sawyer clan, and this a wild dumpster fire of a movie. This is relatively early-career for both of these household names, but they weren’t exactly unknowns. McConaughey had already been in Dazed and Confused. Zellweger was in Empire Records the same year this came out and was in Jerry Maguire the next. This movie makes an absolute mockery of everything that ever made this franchise good, but it’s worth a watch for McConaughey’s performance alone. It is utterly unhinged.
(If you can’t get enough of big stars in horror sequels, check out Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Urban Legends: Final Cut AND Bloody Mary, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers for some fun familiar faces)