Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
Superhero Wannabes
A much better sequel that gives the characters a thorough workover while making clever play out of the contrasts of masked superhero and reality that ran through the first film
Film Series and Sequels
Kick-Ass (2010)
Superhero Wannabes
One of several films around the same time about wannabes without powers playing at being superheroes. Matthew Vaughn delivers a film that falls between witty deflation of and a celebration of nerdy fantasy
Kill and Kill Again (1981)
Martial Arts Film/Mind Control Drug
From they heyday of the 1970s martial arts film, karate champion James Ryan must reunite the old gang to take on a super-villain who wants to enslave the world with a mind control drug derived from potatoes
Killer Crocodile 2 (1990)
Giant Crocodile
A sequel to Killer Crocodile, which was a dreary Italian-made Jaws ripoff. Here another radioactive waste mutated crocodile stalks people. Indifferently made.
Killer Crocodile (1989)
Giant Crocodile
An Italian exploitation ripoff of Jaws with a group of environmentalists in South America dealing with a killer crocodile that has been made giant size by radioactive waste
Killer Nerd (1991)
Abused Nerd on a Killing Rampage
This gained a minor cult in which an abused nerd snaps as a result of constant humiliations and goes on a killing rampage. Tony Radloff gives an extraordinary performance
Killer Tomatoes Eat France (1992)
Genre Spoof
Fourth and final of the Killer Tomatoes films by which time the slight appeal of the original concept has been well and truly worn out
Killer Tomatoes Strike Back! (1991)
Genre Spoof
This was the third of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes films. This hits an appealingly silly and wilfully ridiculous note that makes it the best of the sequels.
King Kong (1933)
Giant Ape
Perhaps the greatest of all monster movies, one that has attained iconic status. A masterpiece of stop-motion animation, it imbues Kong with character and attains a delicate fairytale-like atmosphere
King Kong (1976)
Giant Ape
The infamous miscalculated Dino de Laurentiis remake of King Kong where the stop-motion is replaced by Rick Baker in an ape suit, while the fairytale romance is replaced by Jessica Lange as a flower child who cracks jokes
King Kong Escapes (1967)
Giant Ape/Japanese Monster Movie
Toho Films obtained the rights to King Kong to pit him against Godzilla in King Kong Vs Godzilla and then made this entertainingly silly sequel where Kong fights a robot copy of himself
King Kong Lives (1986)
Giant Ape
Everybody hated the 1976 remake of King Kong but Dino de Laurentiis has the chutzpah to produce a sequel and the results are absolutely awful, full of scenes guaranteed to have an audience rolling in the aisle
King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962)
Japanese Monster Bash
The third of the Godzilla films wherein Toho managed to obtain a coup in leasing copyright to pit Godzilla against a rather tatty-looking King Kong for one of the great title bouts of the century
King Solomon’s Mines (1985)
Adventure Film
Cannon Films’ remake of the H. Rider Haggard adventure novel was made to exploit the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark but that does not excuse what an awful film it is where everything is played up for excruciating camp humour
The Kingdom (1994)
Haunted Hospital/Black Comedy
Danish tv mini-series co-directed by Lars von Trier set in a haunted hospital. This comes with a blacker-than-black sense of humour in its interwoven character strands plus moments that are genuinely eerie
The Kingdom II (1997)
Haunted Hospital/Black Comedy
Follow-up to Lars von Trier’s haunted hospital mini-series The Kingdom. The story is continued, although the plot seems rickety and either drops elements or veers off on other tangents as though it is being made up as people go along
The Kingdom: Exodus (2022)
Haunted Hospital/Black Comedy
Lars von Trier returns to finish off his haunted hospital saga The Kingdom after a 25 years absence, despite the death of several principals, and again milks the same darkly hilarious vein
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
Planet of the Apes Sequel
A fourth entry in the Planet of the Apes reboot saga. The previous two entries hit incredible heights in terms of motion capture performances but this still a solid entry that holds up well
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Spy Film/Comic-Book Adaptation
Kingsman with its parody of gentlemanliness and action movie sensibilities, was the smartest of the modern spy movie parodies. This sequel has gone to the excesses of the Roger Moore Bond films in the space of one film
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Spy Film/Comic-Book Adaptation
This rescues the spy film from the silliness of Austin Powers. The film’s sly mocking of its Englishness, with Colin Firth going into action as an impeccably mannered gentleman, along with explosive action sequences is irresistible
Kirikou and the Men and Women (2012)
Animation/African Folk Tales
The third of Michel Ocelot’s Kirikou films, delightful tales about the ingenuity and plain-speaking wisdom of a young boy winning out over adult pomposity and foolishness. Animated with a simplicity that is magical
Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998)
Animation/African Folk Tales
The debut film from French animator Michel Ocelot, a beautifully simple series of African folk tales about a young boy whose plain-speaking truths outwit a witch
Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005)
Animation/African Folk Tales
Michel Ocelot returns to make a sequel to Kirikou and the Sorceress. This expands the quality of animation and is slightly the lesser than its predecessor but not without its charms
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Serial Killer Thriller
The first film adapted from James Patterson’s books about forensic profiler Alex Cross, featuring standout performances from Morgan Freeman (cast as Cross) and Ashley Judd
Koi … Mil Gaya (2003)
Bollywood Alien Visitor Film
This is the Bollywood version of E.T.. That is if one can imagine an E.T. with singing, dancing and romantic scenes. A simplistic but popular hit that spawned several sequels
Krampus: The Christmas Devil (2013)
Christmas Horror Film
Krampus, Santa’s evil brother, was an obscure piece of Germanic folklore until repurposed for the Christmas horror film in the mid-2010s and. This, while not very good, was the first of these
Kriemhild’s Revenge (1924)
Teutonic Legend
The second part of Die Niebelungen, Fritz Lang’s silent film about the Germanic hero Siegfried in which Siegfried’s widow Kriemhild takes an epic revenge for the murder of her husband
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
Massively successful animated film for DreamWorks, a comic riff on the martial arts training film that proves amiable and crowd-pleasing without ever being riotously funny
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
Sequel to DreamWorks hit animated film, this does little more than repeat its predecessor. The detail and texture is amplified to a work of art, although you cannot help but wonder if the under tens care about this
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
The Kung Fu Panda series are films for couch potatoes – martial arts films with a hero who proclaims the virtues of laziness, overeating and goes into combat with an self-inflated sense of his own awesomeness
Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)
Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
The fourth entry in DreamWorks popular animated series, which by now is just another entry in the series that is coasting by on recognition factor, while offering minimal difference
L: Change the World (2008)
Death Note Spinoff
Spinoff from the Japanese Death Note films from Ring director Hideo Nakata featuring the weird detective L. L was a scene-stealer but this fails to come up with an interesting enough plot for him
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Disney Animation/Talking Animals
A Disney animation classic about two talking dogs from different walks of life who fall in together. It is impossible not to be charmed by the plaintive delights and sweetly romantic tenderness of the film
Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure (2001)
Disney Animation/Talking Animals
Disappointing video-released sequel to the classic Disney animated film where the engaging characters of the original have become settled down parents
Lake Fear 2: The Swamp (2018)
Backwoods Slasher
Slasher film in which a group of unlikeable teens on Springbreak are slaughtered by backwoods hicks in the Everglades. Sold as a sequel to Lake Fear despite neither film being connected in any way
Lake Placid (1999)
Giant Killer Crocodile
David E. Kelley, better known as a high-profile tv producer, turns his hand to writing a killer crocodile film, although the result never ends up satisfying either as a monster movie or the jokey tone Kelley wants to take
The Land Before Time (1988)
Animation/Talking Dinosaurs
Likeable but lightweight talking dinosaur film. This aims to be a prehistoric Bambi but never quite finds the depth. A large number of video-released sequels followed
The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving (1995)
Animation/Talking Dinosaurs
Third of The Land Before Time animated films about talking dinosaurs, made for very young children
The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists (1995)
Animation/Talking Dinosaurs
The fourth of The Land Before Time animated films about talking dinosaurs, having been made for very young children
The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island (1997)
Animation/Talking Dinosaurs
The fifth of The Land Before Time animated films about talking dinosaurs, all having been made for very young children
Land of the Dead (2005)
Zombies
George Romero’s return to the zombie genre after twenty years, after others starting remaking and homaging his films. Romero still makes potent social metaphors but the gory extremes of his earlier films seem tamed down
The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
Prehistoric Lost World
The first in a trilogy of prehistoric lost world adventures based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels, all starring Doug McClure. Despite variable effects, this is a well-made adventure with a strong script
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider (2001)
Videogame Adaptation
The first film adaptation of the popular videogame is a film largely premised around the personality of Angelina Jolie. Outside of that, the film is a half-baked series of plot ends and action scenes taken from better films
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
Videogame Adaptation
The first Tomb Raider film was empty-headed but a hit but the series was then killed off by this sequel. Angelina Jolie’s performance is detached from human emotion and the action sequences ludicrous
The Las Vegas Serial Killer (1986)
Maniac on a Killing Spree
Film from Ray Dennis Steckler, the cult director of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies concerning a maniac on a killing spree in Las Vegas
The Last Exorcism (2010)
Exorcism Found Footage Film
An exorcism film made Found Footage-style with Patrick Fabian as a conman exorcist. This is constantly confounding everything one expects of the genre with considerable cleverness
The Last Exorcism Part II (2013)
Possession Film
Sequel to the sleeper 2010 Found Footage hit. Alas, this is a sequel that understands almost nothing about what made the first film so original and is just a possession film that comes utterly by the numbers
The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (2018)
Storm of Sharks/Deliberately Bad Film
The sixth of the Sharknado films, this has the usual crew fighting sharknados throughout history. With this comes the recognition there is nowhere more ridiculous and over-the-top for the series to go
Lavalantula (2015)
Giant Fire-Breathing Spiders
A film about giant fire-breathing spiders. This is lifted from formula by a sense of humour and even peculiarly brings many of the cast of the Police Academy series out of retirement
The Lawnmower Man (1992)
Virtual Reality/Enhanced Intelligence
This has nothing to do with the Stephen King story about a Pan-worshipping lawnmowing service and is a film about Virtual Reality. Harnessing some top-drawer CGI effects of the day, this was influential on subsequent VR films
Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)
Messianic Cyberspace Madman
The Lawnmower Man was far from a classic but this sequel has an absurdity that pushes it into extremely bad movie stakes with Matt Frewer as a messiah trying to move everybody into cyberspace
Lazer Team 2 (2017)
Idiots With Parts of a Power Suit Comedy
Lazer Team was an easy predictable comedy about four screw-ups that accidentally obtain parts of an alien power suit. This sequel is all the same gags on rinse and repeat.
Leapin’ Leprechauns! 2 (1996)
Leprechauns vs Witch
Sequel to the Charles Band produced children’s film Leapin’ Leprechauns!, this is a much superior film that gets quite darker and ventures into the underworld
Leapin’ Leprechauns! (1995)
Leprechauns
Likeable film for children from Charles Band about an American family who inherit a property in Ireland inhabited by leprechauns
Leatherface (2017)
Texas Chain Saw Massacre Origin Story
Supposedly a The Texas Chain Saw Massacre prequel that offers us a Leatherface origin story. The least Texas Chain Saw-like of the sequels and eventually a far cry from the original
Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
Backroads Brutality
The third of the Texas Chainsaw films where the rights have now been inherited by New Line Cinema and the brutality of the original promptly watered down to MPAA standards
Left Behind (2000)
Christian Anti-Christ Film
Adaptation of the best-selling Christian book series about the Biblical End of the World. There is a mini-industry of these films and, if one can stomach the preachiness, this is not entirely bad
Left Behind (2014)
Christian Rapture Film
Nicolas Cage stars in a new film based on the best-selling books about the Biblical end of the world. Despite a much bigger budget than the Kirk Cameron version, nothing terribly interesting happens
Left Behind II: Tribulation Force (2002)
Christian Anti-Christ Film
The second of the Kirk Cameron Biblical End Times films. On one hand, these are quite competently made B movies; on the other the fundamentalist message is unpalatable
Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist (2023)
Christian Anti-Christ Film
A revival of the Kirk Cameron starring Biblical End of the World films and a sequel to the Nicolas Cage starring reboot. Directed by and starring your favourite internet troll Kevin Sorbo
Left Behind: World at War (2005)
Christian Anti-Christ Film
The third of the Left Behind films with Kirk Cameron facing the Biblical End of the World and the Antichrist. This travels well down into bad movie territory
The Legacy of the Bones (2019)
Spanish Detective Thriller/Ritual Killings
The second of the films based on Dolores Redondo’s police procedurals, this heads into an admirably dark and perverse place with plenty of jolt twists
The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)
Bigfoot Film/"True Story"
One of the numerous Bigfoot films of the 1970s. This takes a quasi-documentary approach that never makes for a particularly interesting film and where the Bigfoot of the show gets to do very little
Legend of the Overfiend (1989)
Anime/Teen Demon
A cult anime about a demon war on Earth and a half-demon child who has been born in the body of a teenager. This quite takes you aback with its extremes of violence and sexual fetishism
Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (2014)
Animation/The Wizard of Oz Sequel
Animated sequel to The Wizard of Oz that proved a charmless flop that misses the magic of the original by a mile. The familiar characters are run over with a gratingly modern sense of humour
The Lego Movie 2 (2019)
Animation/Adventures in the Lego Universe
Sequel to The Lego Movie. This time the idea of the Lego universe, the crossovers and fourth-wall breaking gags are not as fresh but this still gets good mileage out of them
Leprechaun (1993)
Malevolent Leprechaun
The first in the popular series of films starring Warwick Davis as a malevolent leprechaun. Fairly cheesy and silly, mostly known today for featuring a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston
Leprechaun 2 (1994)
Malevolent Leprechaun
The second in the Leprechaun series with Warwick Davis delivering a series of extremely silly novelty deaths accompanied by excruciating one-liners
Leprechaun 3 (1995)
Malevolent Leprechaun
Third in the series takes Warwick Davis’s Leprechaun to Las Vegas for a series of novelty deaths that have silliness that frequently defies belief
Leprechaun in the Hood (2000)
Rappers Meet the Leprechaun
Fifth film in the series starring Warwick Davis as a malevolent leprechaun dispatching bizarre novelty deaths. In a bizarre novelty twist, this sets the leprechaun loose in the world of rap
Leprechaun: Origins (2014)
Malevolent Leprechaun
The Leprechaun films were a cheap ripoff of the Freddy Krueger films. This supposed revival bears nothing whatsoever to do with the originals and doesn’t even seem the same type of film anymore
Leprechaun Returns (2018)
Malevolent Leprechaun
Leprechaun was a hit of the VHS era. This, the eighth of the films, was made to celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary and contains many tributes to the original
The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004)
Adventure Film/Quest for Mythic Artifacts
The first of several tv movies and later tv series about a team that collect mythic artifacts. An unapologetic copy of the Indiana Jones films and surprisingly more fun than you expect
The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines (2006)
Adventure Film
The second of The Librarian tv movies featuring Noah Wyle as an Indiana Jones-modelled adventurer in search of mythical artifacts – here a map to King Solomon’s Mines
Licensed to Love and Kill (1979)
Spy Film
One in a series of British spy films made in imitation of the James Bond series. As evidenced by the alternate title The Man from S.E.X., this takes things further than the Bond films do
Life During Wartime (2009)
Interwoven Dramas/Ghosts of Ex Boyfriends
Todd Solondz is one of the finest US indie directors. This sequel to his masterpiece Happiness lacks the original’s savage bite and is his weakest work to date
Lightyear (2022)
Pixar Animation/Space Opera
A spinoff from Pixar’s Toy Story films that gives Buzz Lightyear a film all of his own. A likeable if fairly routine space adventure but aargh the rewrites to series continuity
Like Mike (2002)
Kid Finds Magic Basketball Sneakers
Utterly insipid family film about an orphan kid who is given a magical set of sneakers that turn him into a basketball star who is “like Mike [Jordan].” Little more than a glorified commercial for the NBA
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Disney Animation/Malevolent Alien Creature
Likeable Disney animated film about a young misfit Hawaiian girl who befriends an unruly alien creature. This has a good deal of oddball energy and humour that makes it rather appealing
The Lion King (1994)
Disney Animation/Talking Animals
One of the best films to come out of Disney’s animation renaissance during the 1990s, this uses all the studio as its disposal to create a work that is epic in its scope
The Lion King (2019)
Disney Live-Action Remake/Talking Animals
Jon Favreau had success recreating The Jungle Book in live-action with CGI animals and does the same with The Lion King – only to produce an exacting, lifeless replication missing the charms of the original
The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998)
Disney Animation/Talking Animals
Another of the interminable video sequels to their animated classics that Disney made throughout the 90s-00s. This is somewhat better than most of the others
The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000)
Disney Animation
One of the video-released sequels to their animated films that Disney made in the 90s/00s, this slavishly imitates its predecessor but does have a likeable line-up of supporting characters
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Disney Animation/Fairy-Tale
The beginning of the big Disney renaissance of the 1990s. An adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale that is conducted with an enormous degree of energy, colour and good cheer
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (2008)
Disney Animation
One among the series of cheap video-released sequels to their classic animated films made during the 1990s/2000s, this is a prequel that offers up a Little Mermaid origin story
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Action Film/Socially Catastrophic Hack Attack
The fourth of the Die Hard films and the only one that enters into genre territory with Bruce Willis now fighting a catastrophic hack attack that disables the entire US
Logan (2017)
X-Men Film
Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart bid farewell to the X-Men franchise. One of the strongest films in the series, having been stripped of superheroics and allowed to play out as a character drama
Logan’s Run (1976)
Dystopian Future
Dystopian SF mounted on a big budget by people that don’t have a clue what they are doing. This creates one of prettiest depictions of the future of any film of this era but it is only a surface deep depiction
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Epic Fantasy Adventure
Peter Jackson wowed the world with this first part of his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy. This is epic filmmaking and one that shows Jackson in full command of his craft
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Epic Fantasy Adventure
The weakest of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. This is the most variant from the source material and the one where Jackson allows his tendency to visual effects bloat to take over
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Epic Fantasy Adventure
Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings saga truly gains its feet here, expanding out onto an epic scale where he has fused special effects and story into a singular vision
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)
Epic Fantasy/Anime
A spinoff prequel to the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films that takes the option that several other film/videogame franchises have of Going Anime
The Lost Boys (1987)
Teen Vampires
Popular 80s vampire film that suffers the curse of Joel Schumacher. A promising opening dissolves into posturing cool, flashy visuals with zero substance underneath
Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008)
Surfer Vampires
After 21 years, this was the first of two sequel to The Lost Boys, featuring return performances from Corey Feldman and Corey Haim and, yes, surfer vampires
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Genetically Engineered Dinosaurs Amok
The first sequel to the massive success of Jurassic Park where Steven Spielberg returns to direct with a script that seems a mishmash of loose ends that only weakly rehashes the original
The Love Bug (1969)
Cute Car/Disney Comedy
This was the first of Disney’s Herbie films about a Volkswagen with a life and mind of its own. Not quite as good as the sequels, this still has a charming silliness to it
The Love Bug (1997)
Cute Car/Disney Comedy
TV movie revival of Disney’s Herbie films and one of the better sequels, playing around with the concept and even adding a Herbie origin story
Lust for a Vampire (1971)
Lesbian Vampire/Hammer Film
The second of Hammer’s Karenstein films based on the lesbian vampire story Carmilla. This is killed by its laughable unsubtlety and an air of adolescent masturbatory fantasy
M3gan 2.0 (2025)
Artificially Intelligent Doll Amok
Sequel to the killer doll film M3gan that is a much better work than its predecessor. If the original was Child’s Play by way of The Terminator then this is the series’ equivalent of Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Machete Kills (2013)
Gonzo Action Film
Robert Rodriguez turns his earlier action film into an insanely creative comic-book overflowing with SF devices (and homages). The casting alone is side-splitting and Rodriguez’s visual absurdism wins the day