The horror movie genre is responsible for some of the longest-running movie series ever. When fans latch on to one scary concept or a particularly memorable horror movie villain, Hollywood will not hold back on dumping sequel after sequel on the audiences. In fact, sometimes the movies are setting up their sequel before the credits even roll.
Sequel bait is always a tricky thing to pull off. While the MCU makes it look easy, these types of endings can be underwhelming if handled poorly and downright embarrassing if it turns out audiences aren't interested in anymore. These obvious sequel bait endings include everything from the successful teases to ones that fell flat.
Dracula Untold (2014)
Dracula Untold was meant to be a reboot of the Dracula franchise and told the story of the famous vampire's origins. The movie takes place mostly in the 15th century, only to jump ahead to modern days at the end. Dracula is in London, living under the guise of a normal human but he is being watched by the vampire who turned him, who says to himself "Let the games begin."
This ending was actually added after production as a way to potentially tie the movie into the Dark Universe. Of course, after the failure of this movie and The Mummy, plans for that cinematic universe were quickly abandoned.
Piranha 3D (2010)
A big reason Piranha 3D is such a fun movie is that it totally embraces its own outrageousness while also delivering on the gore that is expected. It takes place in a lake down in the midst of Spring Break season when a swarm of deadly piranhas are released from the water below.
The movie's heroes manage to gather the piranhas together and blow them up. But in the last moments, a scientist relays information that the piranhas they faced were only the children of the species. This leaves just enough time for one of the survivors to wonder how big the adults are before he is bitten in half by a massive piranha.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
The classic 90s slasher movie I Know What You Did Last Summer had the intriguing premise of a group of teens being tormented by some unseen killer who witnessed them accidentally kill a man the previous year. As it turns out, the killer was actually the man the teens thought they had killed and the final girl manages to finish him off for good.
However, just when things seem to be back to normal, the movie ends with her receiving another threatening letter before being attacked by the hook-handed killer. While the movie did indeed get a sequel, this final scene is actually completely ignored.
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (2019)
Based on the creepy and beloved book of the same name, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark follows a group of young friends who awaken an evil spirit inside the pages of a magic book. When reading the stories within the book, they summon terrifying creatures that claim two of the friends.
At the end of the movie, the remaining hero is able to reverse the curse of the book and she then sets out with the hopes of finding a way to bring her friends back. The movie offers a somewhat hopeful promise for the sequel that is apparently in the works.
Resident Evil (2002)
Just like the video games on which they are based, the Resident Evil movies grew into a franchise that doesn't seem to want to die. The first of the series sets the stage for the action-packed zombie story with the badass Alice as its main hero.
The first movie ends with Alice waking up in a hospital to find that her home of Racoon City is in ruins as the virus outbreak failed to be contained. The final image of her grabbing a shotgun and getting ready for a fight shows that the filmmakers were just getting started with this story.
Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1989)
The first Halloween movie ends with the iconic reveal that Michael Myers is still alive. The fifth movie in the franchise also seemed unwilling to let the masked killer die and decided to set the stage for more movies to follow.
After Michael is arrested, the movie ends with a mysterious man in black entering the jail, slaughtering the police inside and allowing Michael to escape. This is one of the lazier sequel bait endings, as it is clear they wanted the franchise to continue but didn't know what they wanted to do next, which results in this very random ending.
Don't Breathe (2016)
Along with being an incredibly sweat-inducing thriller, Don't Breathe delivered one of the most underrated horror movie villains in recent memory. Stephen Lang plays a blind man who locks a trio of young intruders in his house that is filled with disturbing secrets.
The hero, Rocky, manages to get the upper hand and escape the house. But as she is leaving town, she sees a news report showing the blind man survived and is seen as a hero who fought off his intruders. Rocky also notes that there is no mention of her having gotten away or the money she took, suggesting the blind man plans to come after her.
Bride Of Chucky (1998)
Though the Child's Play series started as a horror movie about a possessed doll, Bride of Chucky is still a pretty strange installment, even by this franchise's standards. The movie follows Chucky going on a murdering spree with another possessed doll only for them both to die in the end.
However, the final scene finds a cop discovering Chucky's bride gave birth to a demon doll baby which immediately attacks the cop. This bizarre twist sets the stage for the even stranger sequel Seed of Chucky.
The Predator (2018)
Some fans might argue that the Predator franchise should have stopped after the first movie, which is still hugely entertaining. Sadly, the most recent entry was a big letdown for fans even though it seemed to be trying to set up a new take on the franchise.
The sequel introduced the idea of a good Predator helping the humans take on a stronger breed. At the end of the movie, it is revealed the good Predator left behind an Iron Man-like suit called the Predator-Killer for any future battles. Instead, the franchise looks to be going the prequel route next.
Evil Dead 2 (1987)
Though Bruce Campbell's Ash was in the first Evil Dead movie, it was in Evil Dead 2 that cemented him as a horror hero icon. His gruesome and hilarious fight against the evil spirits of the forest ends with a portal being opened that sucks Ash and the demons into it.
Ash then wakes up in medieval times where he promptly kills one of the demons and is praised as a hero by the knights. This set up the equally wild and hilarious sequel Army of Darkness.