2022 has been an incredibly satisfying year for cinema. Ti West recently surprised audiences with the news that his 2022 throwback horror film X has already secretly filmed a prequel, Pearl, that’s set to hit theaters in the same year. It’s such an exciting time to be a fan of horror and there are more homes for niche projects than ever before.
Cinema has recently embraced the idea of prequels and sequels across every genre in concentrated efforts to create interconnected universes. Ti West’s recent approach with X and Pearl raises the question of which other horror films are natural fits for extra stories that turn back the clock and fill in the missing pieces of peril.
10 Event Horizon Lays The Framework For A Maiden Voyage Massacre
Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon is easily his most evocative piece of horror and it’s only found a larger audience over time. The star-studded movie, which is a disturbing horror-science fiction hybrid, follows the failed efforts of a rescue team who respond to a stranded spaceship's distress signal.
The crew of the Lewis and Clark rescue vessel are subjected to the same horrors as the Event Horizon team, who inadvertently access an opening to hell. A prequel film that chronicles this original carnage, in an approach that's similar to what was done in 2011's The Thing, would be an easy winner.
9 Hellraiser’s Lament Configuration Has Been Inflicting Pain For Centuries
Clive Barker's visceral Hellraiser franchise is primed for a major return with a Hulu reboot on the way. There's such rich lore to Hellraiser's Cenobites and the Lament Configuration puzzle box that summons them that has allowed the series to jump forward centuries to futuristic stories set in space as well as period pieces that look at the puzzle box's creation by Philip LeMarchand back in the 1700s.
A Hellraiser prequel wouldn't need to return to the Lament Configuration's roots, but rather just tell another story of hedonism that's set before the original movie. Greed is such a universal concept that doesn't limit the franchise.
8 A Black Phone Prequel Can Flesh Out The Gruesome Grabber
Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone has become one of the more polarizing horror films of 2022. The creepy hostage story with supernatural undertones features a disturbing and nuanced performance by Ethan Hake as the masked Grabber. The film intentionally avoids a crucial backstory for its villain and the audience is left to make their own conclusions on how the Grabber devolved to this level.
The Black Phone reveals that he’s claimed many victims throughout the years. A prequel could focus on any of these previous slayings, while also dig deeper into his own childhood and his relationship with his brother.
7 The Original Woodsboro Killings Make For A Satisfying Scream Prequel
After a prolonged period of dormancy, Scream has come back in full swing with a sixth entry currently in production. These films continue to move the franchise forward, but they’re still indebted to the characters' pasts. Scream’s sequels work because they continue to comment upon the horror genre's evolving tropes, but there's a natural story waiting for them if they ever decide to adopt a prequel approach.
The death of Maureen Prescott, Sidney's mother, is a catalyst for the original films. A movie that actually depicts Stu and Billy's murder of Maureen, and Cotton's subsequent framing, could be a unique pivot for the series.
6 Cabin In The Woods Needs Decades Of Data To Make Its Mad Premise Work
Cabin in the Woods is a brilliant deconstruction of the horror genre. Cabin in the Woods focuses its story on a centralized attack on its teen protagonists, but literally hundreds of ideas are briefly teased during the moments of fallout. The shady individuals who are pulling the strings behind this cabin-based incident have been at this for years and on a global scale.
A Cabin in the Woods prequel could explore the same concept, yet through a totally different set of horror ciphers in a whole new location. It’s hardly a prequel that’s needed, but sometimes great ideas can grow out of unexpected places.
5 Martyrs Establishes A Secret Society That's Been Around For Decades
Martyrs is a woefully nihilistic French horror film. The film features horrible acts of prolonged torture as a secret society observes young women's pain as a way to transcend humanity and gain answers on the afterlife. Martyrs is a difficult watch with a grim conclusion, but a prequel film could explore some compelling ideas.
The evil Mademoiselle and her secret society have been experimenting with this "martyr" process for decades. A prequel could return to 1971 and look at a young Lucie's original incarceration and torture, or it could go back even further and highlight what initially puts Mademoiselle on this path to enlightenment.
4 The Blair Witch Project Could Look To The History Of Rustin Parr And The Evil Spirit’s Roots
The Blair Witch Project is an iconic horror film that helped popularize the low-budget found footage sub-genre that’s still a mainstay of horror. There have been attempts to flesh out the Blair Witch universe, but none have been able to successfully capture the magic of the original.
The Blair Witch Project states that the disturbed hermit Rustin Parr is commanded by the evil witch's spirit to abduct a number of children from Burkittsville, Maryland. A prequel that focuses on Rustin's entanglement with the Blair Witch, or the spirit’s origins, would be a satisfying direction for the franchise.
3 The Strangers’ First Strike Could Make For A Messy Home Invasion Prequel
The home invasion sub-genre of horror has exploded over the past two decades, and 2008's The Strangers is one of the most frightening forays into domestic disturbances that are randomly predicated by masked murderers.
It was recently revealed that three Strangers sequels are concurrently in production, but this is also a concept that's easily emulatable for a prequel project. The three assailants in the original movie aren't amateurs. In many respects, it's even more frightening to follow their first attacks as they build a taste for terror.
2 Wolf Creek’s Mick Taylor Has Committed Decades Of Serial Killer Carnage
The Wolf Creek films are loosely inspired by real serial killings that plagued the Australian Outback. Greg McLean's violent grindhouse horror pictures have sustained a pair of movies, a two-season television series, and another cinematic sequel on the way.
Each of these endeavors basically cover the same idea that some unsuspecting travelers become the latest targets for ruthless serial killer, Mick Taylor. There's no reason why another Wolf Creek story couldn't adopt a prequel perspective that strips down Taylor's mythic legend instead of pushing it to more exaggerated places.
1 A Midsommar Prequel Could Detail The Previous Generation Of Harga
Ari Aster has become one of the most exciting names in horror to watch after the intense one-two punch of Hereditary and Midsommar. Both films are methodical exercises in tone and tension, but Midsommar has the richer mythology of the two movies. The Harga community explain that they go through this sacrificial process once every 90 years.
It could be incredibly rewarding to look at the previous generation of Harga and how their version of this ceremony went down. It’s even possible that some of the elderly sacrifices in Midsommar could appear in this prequel as young, frightened children.