10 Foreign Horror Films That Claimed to Be Sequels to American Hits
John Squires
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Though there were of course only four installments in the Jaws franchise, 1995’s Italian horror film Cruel Jaws was given the prestigious honor of being titled Jaws 5 for its American release. In actuality, Cruel Jaws was just another rip-off of Jaws, directed by Italian filmmaker Bruno Mattei. As if stealing the title (and pretty much everything else) wasn’t enough, Cruel Jaws even featured the unauthorized use of clips from Jaws!
The Italian film Naked Exorcism was released in Italy in 1975, two years after The Exorcist terrified audiences here in the States. It wouldn’t be until a few years later that the film was released in places like Japan and the UK, which was shortly after The Exorcist 2 was made and released in the US. So though the movie was made before any true Exorcist sequels were, it nevertheless hit various markets under the title Exorcist 3 – over a decade before the real Exorcist 3 was made!
The US title for Naked Exorcism? The equally deceptive Return of the Exorcist.
1991’s The Sect (La Setta) was an Italian horror film made by Cemetery Man director Michele Soavi and produced by Dario Argento, who also helped write the script. In an attempt to connect it to the Italian horror franchise Demons (also produced by Argento), it was released in many places under the title Demons 4. The most interesting thing about that is that Demons only actually spawned one true sequel, with Demons 3 merely being used as an alternate title for Lamberto Bava’s film The Ogre, which also had nothing to do with the franchise!
Aldo Lada’s 1975 film Night Train Murders was released in America under a few different titles, which often made it seem as if it was connected to Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left. In addition to Last House: Part 2, it also went under the titles New House on the Left and even Second House on the Left.
Mario Bava’s 1971 masterpiece Twitch of the Death Nerve (A Bay of Blood) also saw release in the States under the title Last House on the Left: Part 2, one of the many titles it has been given over the years.
Though a true Last House: Part 2 was at one point almost made, it never came to fruition.
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