Let’s be real—horror films and sequels are as synonymous as popcorn and sticky theater carpets. If a horror movie so much as breaks even at the box office, you can be sure that a Hollywood executive is already scheming up a Roman numeral or subtitle. Sometimes this pays off in the form of iconic franchises. Other times, it results in a procession of diminishing returns, straight-to-video novelties, or reboots nobody wanted.
But now and then, a horror movie surfaces, has its say, and… that’s it. No sequel. No spin-off. No reboot (at least, not immediately). And in a category where everything eventually gets franchised, that sort of self-control is positively chilling.
Below are five horror gems that—despite devoted fan bases, respectable box office, or a premise crying out for more—never received the sequel treatment.
1. The Skeleton Key (2005)
Before Kate Hudson’s complete shift to rom-coms and lifestyle brands, she appeared in this moody Southern Gothic suspense. The Skeleton Key centers on a hospice nurse who discovers a sinister plot surrounding hoodoo ceremonies at an old, crumbling Louisiana plantation. With solid performances by Hudson, John Hurt, and Gena Rowlands, the film was able to bring in over $90 million globally.
Critics were lukewarmly calling it formulaic, but audiences welcomed its slow-burn tension and surprise ending. And yet, no follow-up ever came to be. Though there was a lot of room for a second installment, the studio never budged. A no-budget spoof emerged years later, but it’s not related and near-impossible to track down. As it is, The Skeleton Key is a one-and-done supernatural hit, its franchise potential locked away forever.
2. The Craft (1996)
The Craft was a coming-of-age experience for a generation of ’90s teens. It combined high school angst with witchcraft and served up an immediately iconic ensemble of misfits-turned-sorceresses. Although its release was initially met with ambivalence, the film has since become a cult favorite, praised for its female empowerment themes, rebellion, and exploration of identity.
A genuine sequel had long been promised—producer Douglas Wick talked of a sequel with a new generation of witches, and Zoe Lister-Jones ultimately helmed The Craft: Legacy in 2020. Legacy, though, acts more like a soft reboot than an outright sequel, and so fans of the original continue to wait. Thus, while The Craft is everywhere, technically, it’s still a standalone film only—one that never did need a second spell.
3. The Burning (1981)
Released during the golden age of slashers, The Burning stood out thanks to Tom Savini’s impressive practical effects and a slightly more thoughtful approach to character development. Loosely inspired by the “Cropsey” urban legend, it follows a disfigured caretaker who exacts revenge on a group of summer camp counselors.
Though it has intense slasher credentials, The Burning went straight to video. It gained a cult following over the years and is now lovingly remembered, albeit with some controversy, as it was produced and co-written by Harvey Weinstein. With that association and a fairly limited appeal, no sequel has ever emerged—and won’t.
4. Near Dark (1987)
Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark is sometimes overshadowed by The Lost Boys, which debuted in the same year. But to many horror aficionados, Near Dark is the better vampire movie. It mixes Western grittiness with undead mythology to produce a stylishly original and character-oriented reinvention of vampire lore.
It was savaged by the critics, genre enthusiasts loved it, but the box office didn’t love it back. Co-writer Eric Red has even contemplated a sequel with the expanded vampire clan, only to confess that it would never materialize, particularly with Bigelow’s increasing stature and no economic incentive for a sequel. Today, Near Dark is a cult classic—and one of the most popular horror movies never franchised.
5. Black Christmas (1974)
Years before Michael Myers stalked Haddonfield, director Bob Clark presented us with Black Christmas—a darkly disturbing holiday slasher that set the template for the genre. It’s a stylish, suspenseful, and notoriously ambiguous film. Clark wouldn’t give away the identity of the killer and studiously avoided the conventions that later characterize the slasher genre.
He made it explicitly clear as well: he wasn’t keen on sequels. And as a result, even with a strong heritage, Black Christmas never got a direct sequel. Rather, it’s been remade—not just once, but thrice (in 2006, 2019, and an all-but-forgotten 2020 one)—but the first is left untouched, its climax as haunting today as it was back then.
Why Don’t Some Horror Movies Have Sequels?
It’s not necessarily about quality. Take Psycho (1960). Alfred Hitchcock’s original was an immaculately self-contained work of art. But by the 1980s, the film industry had worked out how valuable sequel branding was. Psycho II turned up in 1983, not because there was a great reason to return to Norman Bates, but because people would turn up. As scriptwriter Tom Holland subsequently admitted, Universal originally tried to put it out as a direct-to-cable aside.
The follow-up was better than it had any right to be, but as LA Weekly’s F.X. Feeney wrote, it was still a case of “morbid taxidermy”—an admirable impersonation of something better off left alone.
When No Sequel Is the Right Call
In a genre founded on resurrections, sequel after sequel, and multiverses of destruction, something is bracing—something revolutionary—about a horror film that knows to quit. Certain tales don’t have to be stretched out. Certain conclusions that are best left open to interpretation. And certain movies, by remaining unique, maintain their secrecy and strength.