‘Megan is Missing: Evil Never Dies’ vertical video series format brings to mind other horror films that have turned to alternative media.
This Halloween, Michael Goi delivered a sequel to his 2011 controversial found-footage cult film, Megan is Missing. Megan is Missing: Evil Never Dies is a 36-episode short-form vertical video series that premiered on Instagram and TikTok. There’s some method to this madness in the sense that Megan is Missing had a recent resurgence, purely because of it gaining some traction via TikTok reactions. It makes sense to tackle the very territory where the film first resonated with audiences. Unfortunately, Megan is Missing: Evil Never Dies is a misfire that fails to take advantage of its short-form vertical setup. The sequel takes on a meta angle in which an irate documentarian attempts to hold the original cast responsible for their characters’ abhorrent actions. This, in itself, isn’t the worst premise for a sequel that many people didn’t think needed to exist in the first place.
What’s so puzzling about Evil Never Dies is that ¾ of the film is egregiously padded with reenactments of prolific serial killers throughout history that make it feel like some low-budget History Channel series. A short-form vertical series that’s delivered in the form of video diaries from the deranged documentarian could have been incredibly effective. There would be consistent opportunities to provide brief glimpses into this individual’s unhinged mind and really celebrate his crimes. Instead, Megan is Missing: Evil Never Dies feels like a film that’s been chopped into 36 parts, rather than a project that’s properly taking advantage of its medium.
Megan is Missing: Evil Never Dies reflects a broader trend where alternative media is being turned to as a way to extend stories. In these cases, it’s just as much about finding a unique way to tell this story that complements its themes as it is about making a sequel at all. While Megan is Missing’s sequel is likely to be quickly forgotten and ridiculed for its alternative storytelling medium, many other horror sequels have found success through ambitious experimentation.
The Guest 2 (Original Soundtrack)
One of the most creative takes on an alternative media sequel was released by Adam Wingard on April 1, 2022 as an April Fools’ Day prank. The underlying “prank” to The Guest 2 (Original Soundtrack) is that it’s a soundtrack album to a film that doesn’t exist. However, Wingard and composer Steve Moore actually commit to the bit and produced a 12-track synthwave/electronic album. This is such a unique endeavor because it gives the audience the chance to piece together the events of a sequel and what happens next to Dan Stevens’ David, based on the track titles and album artwork. An arc is certainly created between tracks like “The Guest Returns,” “Old Habits,” and “Grim Showdown.” The soundtrack’s final track, “David vs. The Splinters of the Cross,” indicates some epic clash against a supernatural cult. Appropriately enough, several of The Guest 2’s tracks and musical motifs found their way onto the soundtrack of Wingard’s 2026 Onslaught, which he has confirmed exists in the same universe as The Guest.
Kill Bill’s “Missing” Chapter In Fortnite
An extremely bizarre blend of mixed media storytelling somehow led to Quentin Tarantino’s two-part martial arts revenge masterpiece, Kill Bill, receiving closure over two decades later in Fortnite of all places. Several elements from Tarantino’s original script were pared down and one of the more playful chapters, “Yuki’s Revenge,” details an epic duel between The Bride and Gogo Yubari’s sister, Yuki, in Los Angeles. In conjunction with the release of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, “The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge” was produced within the Fortnite engine, finally bringing this lost chapter to life, complete with Uma Thurman voicing The Bride and performing the character’s motion-capture work. While not inserted directly in the middle of The Whole Bloody Affair, “Yuki’s Revenge” is still included as a post-credit bonus. In a film that plays around with so many distinct visual styles and draws inspiration from different places, the Fortnite-produced sequence is strangely fitting.
Final Destination’s Novel Series
The Final Destination franchise is over 25 years old and yet it’s arguably never been more popular with its sixth and most recent entry – Final Destination: Bloodlines – being far and away its most successful film. Movie novelisations were a popular trend that have even gained steam again in recent years. The first three Final Destination movies have faithful novelisations. However, there are also an additional six novels – and a five-issue comic – that tell new stories in the Final Destination universe. These six novels are a really fun take on the franchise that are full of inventive death set pieces, satisfying misdirection, and well-developed characters. There’s a great deal of creativity regarding how these stories play around with the franchise’s lore, rather than just repeating the same premise ad nauseam. Final Destination: End of the Line might be the strongest of the lot, but there’s a really entertaining setup to Looks Could Kill. A fashion model, who is disfigured in a near-fatal accident, makes a deal with Death to have her beauty restored if she takes out her surviving friends.
Comic Book “Interquels” & Expansions for Se7en, Cloverfield, Event Horizon & Halloween
Event Horizon is a sci-fi/horror cult classic from the ’90s that never seemed to get the respect that it deserved. While a cinematic sequel – or even a director’s cut – didn’t come to fruition, IDW Publishing helped flesh out the franchise with a comic prequel and sequel. Event Horizon: Dark Descent is a five-issue miniseries that covers the Event Horizon’s maiden voyage and fills in the blanks regarding the crew’s demonic encounters and the circumstances behind their brutal descent into madness. It’s a strong lore expansion that doesn’t demystify the original movie.
Event Horizon: Inferno is set over 200 years after the film’s events and involves a billionaire CEO’s efforts to investigate the ship’s ruins and salvage what’s left of its gravity drive. Unsurprisingly, this retrieval mission does not go as planned, and the horrors that the private fleet experiences draw intentional parallels to Dante’s Inferno. Dark Descent, Event Horizon, and Inferno tell a complete trilogy that highlights the cyclical and never-ending nature of these cruel cosmic horrors.
Additionally, Cloverfield/Kishin, a four-part manga, is one of the more fruitful extensions of the cumbersome mystery box kaiju franchise. The original story follows two students in Japan who also encounter the Cloverfield monster, and takes place concurrently with the film’s New York City disaster. This “interquel” approach also appears in a seven-issue comic adaptation of Se7en told from the perspective of Kevin Spacey’s John Doe, detailing his crimes and process, with a bit of backstory thrown in for good measure.
Finally, there is an abundance of comics that tackle foundational slasher franchises like Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween. However, Halloween: Nightdance is a four-issue comic that explains what Michael Myers was up to between the events of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and Halloween: Resurrection, as the Shape goes on a killing spree in Russellville, Illinois.
Video Game Sequels For The Thing, Saw, Alien & Ghostbusters
John Carpenter has occasionally mentioned the prospect of making a sequel to The Thing, but it seems like an endeavor that’s destined to fail, regardless of who is behind the project. That being said, Carpenter gave his approval to a 2002 video game that does, in fact, function as a satisfying sequel. Players control Captain J.F. Blake who investigates the morbid aftermath of the film’s events at the Arctic base. There’s some especially satisfying lore regarding the film’s iconic alien that fits with Carpenter’s framework without breaking any of the established canon. It’s a surprisingly solid look at what happens after the movie’s unforgettable ending.
The Alien franchise has had its share of highs and lows as it’s experienced unexpected storytelling opportunities. Alien fans are so hungry for new stories that even some of the franchise’s aborted plans – like William Gibson’s original Alien 3 screenplay – have found new life as comics. In a time when there’s been repeated requests for a legacy sequel that picks up after Aliens’ events, 2014’s Alien: Isolation ostensibly delivered on this front. The terrifying survival horror game is set 15 years after the original Alien and follows Amanda Ripley, Ellen’s daughter, as she gets some personal experience with the Xenomorph. Alien: Isolation 2, the long-awaited sequel, is finally becoming a reality after 13 years. The 2027 release will hopefully be able to match its predecessor’s exceptional survival horror intensity.
The Saw franchise has a deeply intricate non-linear narrative that’s found ways to repeatedly keep Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw in play, despite dying in Saw III. A Saw video game seems like a homerun and the natural direction of a series that’s all about making its audience uncomfortable and complicit in John Kramer’s crimes. Saw: The Video Game and Saw II: Flesh & Blood are meant to be canonical stories that are set between the events of the first two films. The first game focuses on Detective David Tapp’s efforts to escape from a torture trap and survive against Jigsaw’s acolytes, while Flesh & Blood follows Tapp’s son who is looking for answers – and vengeance – regarding his father’s death.
Lastly, the horror/comedy Ghostbusters franchise has finally figured out the formula to tell new cinematic stories, both for better and for worse, but the best sequel is quietly hiding away in Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Set two years after Ghostbusters II, the action-adventure third-person shooter features an original story written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis and reunites most of the franchise’s cast – including supporting players like Annie Potts and William Atherton. It’s widely regarded as the “true” Ghostbusters 3.
Wellington Paranormal, A COPS-Coded TV Spin-Off Of What We Do in the Shadows
There is no shortage of horror movies that get adapted into TV series, not to mention films that actually extend their story with TV continuations, such as Chucky, The Purge, The Exorcist, and Wolf Creek. Wellington Paranormal is a fascinating anomaly in the sense that it’s a spin-off of What We Do in the Shadows, which also has its own television continuation. Wellington Paranormal focuses on Officers Minogue and O’Leary – two tertiary characters from the film – as they investigate supernatural occurrences. The spin-off’s cinéma vérité documentary film style is reminiscent of COPS and helps give it a distinct identity. Airing in New Zealand, the exceptional series produced four seasons and a Christmas special – with a fifth season on the way – that tackle rich topics like zombies, Maori sea monsters, clones, time travel, and so much more.
T2-3D: Battle Across Time & Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride
There’s a natural relationship between blockbuster movies and amusement park attractions, but there is also the odd ride that actually functions as a franchise’s canonical expansion or pseudo sequel. One of the most impressive and elaborate examples of this was Universal Studios’ T2-3D: Battle Across Time, an immersive attraction that involved director James Cameron’s direct involvement and quality control on its presentation. The 12-minute experience involves a thrilling assault against Skynet that involves help from John and Sarah Connor courtesy of a “time portal.” One of the most interesting elements of this sequel extension is that it introduces some interesting new Terminator models, like the T-70 autonomous infantry units or the absurd T-1000000 that’s a giant liquid-metal spider.
T2-3D set a high standard for theme park ride sequels and Universal Studios tapped into more of this magic with Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride. Admittedly, this attraction isn’t as extreme as Battle Across Time, but it presents an entertaining meta-narrative that reveals that Imhotep’s curse from the Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz films is real and has plagued the production. Complete with cameos from the film’s cast, Revenge of the Mummy coyly blurs lines between fantasy and reality that doesn’t break any of the movies’ canon and still finds a way to incorporate Dwayne Johnson’s Scorpion King. Universal Studios’ upcoming Dark UniverseFrankenstein roller coaster will hopefully be equally intricate.
