When it comes to movies getting a successful sequel it can be difficult but getting that magic third is sometimes a miracle.

Of course there is The Godfather trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy but I am looking at horror films, cos that I what I love. For me, there are three films that show strength even in their third instalment, Friday the 13th 3D, Scream 3 and A Nightmare of Elm Street: Dream Warriors. So I am going to have a little look at all three to prove that three can be the magic number.

Friday the 13th already had two success film in two years but they were now fighting against a wave of copycat slasher movies riding the coat tails of Friday the 13th and Halloween. Because of this, it needed a new gimmick to put it above the rest and convince people to return once again to Crystal Lake. It was eventually decided that a return to 3D would be the answer, something that had fallen out of favour since the 50s. This did mean that the screenplay, the acting, everything took second place to getting the 3D right. Because the aspect of 3D it was not an easy movie to shoot. Long technical reshoot made the scenes feel mundane as they tried to get the 3D perfect. There is a whole load of pointless scenes just to give the audience the 3D effect. But because of this it has become an influential film.

On the surface there does not appear to be a lot to love with Scream 3. Scream is a sleepover staple, Scream 2 was decent but Scream 3 seems weak especially compared to the other two. Scream 3 does have good practical effects. When it blows up a house, it literally blows up a house, no CGI or anything. It scores high with me as it has a cameo in it with Roger Corman. As well as Roger Corman, Parker Posey is great as fake Gale Weathers. If you think of Posey and Cox teaming up in a buddy film style, it this makes this a great film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warrior took one of the best aspects of the first film to make the third film shine. Nancy Thompson (Heather Lagenkamp) returns as an older wiser mentor for a new group of kids. The action of this film takes place at psychiatric hospital for troubled teens and Freddy powers have been greatly strengthened. It is the teens at Westin Hills Institute that makes the film. Dream Warriors also elaborates on the Freddy backstory, that fact that he is a bastard child of a nun who was raped by a 1000 maniacs. As the budget expended for this film so does Freddy’s kills, including Freddy turning into a puppet to kill puppet obsessed teen Philip. The roots of Freddy as a “comedy villain” starts here, but it is a nice balance here. Ok, Freddy has also been quipping but his humour starts to take on a sick element. It is this film that gives us the Freddy the horror icon that we know and love today. What Dream Warriors try to teach remakes that audiences do not want a rehash of what made a film popular, that they want growth. The only franchise that I can think of in modern times that understands that lesson is The Conjuring films (not the spinoffs, they are a different entity).

This is just a snippet of what makes all of these films great. I could easily write a review on each of them but for now, take this bite size reasons and go check out this films.