7 Horror Prequels That Are Just As Good As The Original (And Maybe Better)
Horror sequels are eternal. Name a horror franchise, and you can probably think of a list of sequels of constantly degrading quality. Pretty much every franchise has its Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) or Scream 7 (2026), where the quality dips to a point where audiences grow tired of the whole thing. It’s not every day, though, that we get horror prequels that attempt to recontextualize or retcon events from the original film.
Crystal Lake (2026) proves just how good a horror prequel can be. It’s dark, moody, and exciting in a way that captures what made that iconic slasher the legend that it is. But not all horror prequels are great. Just look at The Thing (2011). Horror prequels can be just as good, or sometimes worse, than a sequel, but there are those few prequels that manage to rise to the top and become beloved classics on the same level as the original. If you’re ready to explore the origins of some of the greatest horror franchises of all time, go and give these prequels, available to watch on Prime Video, Hulu, and more, a shot!
One of the things that made A Quiet Place (2018) such a memorable experience was learning the hows and whys of this soundless post-apocalyptic world. One would think that a prequel revealing the origins of the alien attack wouldn’t be engrossing, but against all odds, A Quiet Place: Day One manages to make it work.
Putting us into the perspective of a character completely removed from the Abbott family helps us really get a sense of what it’s like seeing the world fall apart. We piece together, alongside our dying protagonist Sam, what exactly is happening, and much like 28 Days Later (2002), seeing the few vestiges of humanity is strangely compelling. Here is a world beginning to fall into ruin, so how will people react to one another? With hope? Fear? Both? Regardless, it makes A Quiet Place: Day One one of the few prequels where learning the origins of mankind’s destruction actually works.
Psycho (1960) was one of those horror films that had the potential for a prequel, but never got one for decades. There was one in the ‘90s called Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990), but that doesn’t hold a candle to Bates Motel.
Running for five seasons, Bates Motel modernizes Alfred Hitchcock’s classic and offers a deeper insight into the relationship between Norman Bates and his mom and the events that lead to Marion Crane’s fateful visit to the Bates Motel. Like any good horror story, there’s a great atmosphere that permeates each episode, and seeing Norman’s interactions with his mother will slowly but surely creep you out. Like the original film, this series isn't interested in jump scares. It’s about getting under your skin and seeing Norman turn from being a somewhat unusual boy into the serial killer we all know.
Even a decade after its cancellation, talking about Hannibal is a sore subject for some. It was elevated horror before anyone knew what that term meant, and it turned what could have been a standard police procedural into one of the most delectable horror series of all time.
For three seasons, Hannibal offered a tantalizing look at the life of characters like Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham, who would later become famous thanks to films and books like Red Dragon (2003) and Silence of the Lambs (1991). The two are clearly not well, but the way they influence each other’s twisted philosophies and actions is reminiscent of the toxic love between Lestat and Louis in Interview with the Vampire (2022), made all the better thanks to a career-defining performance by Mads Mikkelsen. But the show never let the fact that it aired on NBC inhibit its creativity, with gruesome and grizzly imagery weekly that managed to disturb even die-hard horror veterans. Someone, anyone, please give us Season 4!
Everyone knows what It (2017) is. It’s the highest-grossing horror movie of all time, and while its sequel, It: Chapter 2 (2019), had the unfortunate task of tying up all of the first film’s loose ends, It: Welcome to Derry doesn’t have such a problem.
What helps It: Welcome to Derry expand upon the original film’s lore—and the lore of the novel, for that matter—is to make each season a prequel. We’ve seen how Pennywise dies, but because the clown returns every three decades, It: Welcome to Derry’s first season explores his last appearance in Derry, Maine, in the ’60s, and the upcoming second season will explore his appearance in the ‘30s. It’s a genuinely great idea, and it allows the showrunners to play around with the world, the types of characters present, and how Pennywise can terrify the new cast for each season. It’s a wonderful approach to turn It into an anthology horror series, and it more than delivers on the scares and frights.
The first Ouija is not a good movie. It’s hackneyed, cliched, and worst of all, boring. A sequel should not have been any good. In fact, most people expected it to be more of the same, but when Mike Flanagan stepped up to direct it, he produced one of the best horror prequels of all time.
Ouija: Origin of Evil is set in the ‘60s, and you can feel that. Everything about the production design, from the clothes to the sets, to even having the burn marks in the film itself, shows that Flanagan went all out for the sake of authenticity, which also has the added effect of making the film creepy as hell. Part of that also has to go to Lulu Wilson’s Doris, who hits all the right notes you would expect from a creepy kid cut from the same cloth as The Exorcist‘s (1973) Regan. The characters actually feel like characters, and watching the drama inflicted on this family over the course of 99 minutes works, especially the tragic ending. Nobody expected Ouija: Origin of Evil to be good, but compared to its predecessor, it’s a masterpiece.
Love him or hate him, but you have to appreciate Ti West’s X trilogy. Each film was meant to embody a different era of Hollywood, and while the first and final films go into the grindhouse ‘70s and the cheese of ‘80s slashers respectively, Pearl (2022) would look at the Golden Age of Hollywood in a way that makes it, by far, the best in the trilogy.
Set decades before X (2022) and starring that film’s antagonist, what makes Pearl such a delight is Mia Goth. While she pulled double duty in X, Pearl makes her the unequivocal lead, a repressed farm girl with dreams of show business who won’t take no for an answer. Anyone who has seen Pearl could tell you all about the way Pearl switches from feigning innocence to bellowing rage, her monologue in the farmhouse, her encounter with the scarecrow, or that deeply uncomfortable final shot that’s a terrifying subversion of an old Hollywood trope. This is the film that made Mia Goth into a scream queen, and her amazing performance would directly influence other female-led horror movies like Obsession (2026). It’s a twisted prequel, but it’ll have you saying “good for her” by the end.
The Purge movies have always been a case of wasted potential. Here is a film franchise built around the conceit of crime being legal for one day a year, but it never goes beyond simple horror tropes. It eventually shifted into a politically tinged horror series, but out of all the entries, The First Purge really had something going for it.
As you would expect from a movie exploring a government-led push to legalize crime for one night, the results are messy. People are, naturally, against the idea, yet watching the New Founding Fathers of America find ways to instigate violence and convince US citizens that this is a good thing is wild and a great bit of social satire. It also leads to some pretty gnarly villains, like a gigantic hulking mercenary named Skeletor, and when you have a brute like that walking around killing people, you know you’re in for a good time. It’s blunt satire, but like They Live (1988), that’s kind of the point, and The First Purge never forgets to be fun and give audiences the kills they crave.
