Direct- To- Video Sequels That're Actually Great. These days, there are a lot of high- quality, well- regarded films that skip a theatrical release and go straight to on- demand and/or a streaming service. We don’t tend to automatically write off films that make their debut “at home” rather than in a theater anymore. However, there was a time when it was assumed that a movie that didn’t make a stop in the theaters first before coming to a home format simply wasn’t good enough. The ’9. 0s saw the first major introduction of “direct- to- video” movies, often abbreviated as DTV. The results were all over the map, with the average DTV title definitely lacking in budget and overall quality. Still, there were a few diamonds in the rough, movies that didn’t have multi- million dollar budgets or big names attached, but still had plenty of heart.

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These days, there are a lot of high-quality, well-regarded films that skip a theatrical release and go straight to on-demand and/or a streaming service. Directed by Jafar Panahi. With Maryiam Palvin Almani, Nargess Mamizadeh, Mojgan Faramarzi, Elham Saboktakin. Various women struggle to function in the oppressively.

These labors of love were worth checking out for people who could look past the lack of AAA actors and top- notch special effects and just enjoy a flawed but otherwise well- made film. DTV also became a venue for sequels to major Hollywood releases; movies that weren’t huge hits but still developed strong enough followings to justify revisiting. Not surprisingly, DTV sequels didn’t have the same budget and also often lost the A- list stars from the previous films, but in some cases, they were still worthy sequels that were enjoyed by fans of the originals. Here are 1. 6 Direct- to- Video Sequels That Are Actually Great.

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation. Like many Paul Verhoeven films, the director’s action/sci- fi movie Starship Troopers was as much a satire of its genre as a legitimate addition to it. Like his Robocop, whose sequels quickly lost the satire and instead dove full- on into being the kind of movies that the original was critiquing, the two DTV Starship Troopers sequels ditched the self- awareness and just gave into being cheesy sci- fi flicks. That said, it doesn’t necessarily make the sequels bad movies– in fact, Hero of the Federation is quite fun, if you’re willing to forgive the loss of the satire and just see it for what it is. Taking the opposite approach of the Alien movies, Hero is more of the dark horror counterpart to the original Troopers‘ all- out action flick. The movie goes a little overboard in giving into DTV tropes such as upping the gore factor to absurd levels and having a lot of bare breasts for no particular reason.

Still, it’s definitely as good as any of the campy Sy. Fy original movies people love so much, and this one doesn’t even make you deal with Tara Reid. American Pie Presents: Band Camp.

With even the theatrical American Pie sequels largely being forgettable, it’s easy to forgive anyone for not giving any of the DTV installments a second thought. In the case of Band Camp, that is a mistake, as it’s a surprisingly fun comedy romp that is actually better than a couple of the “real” sequels starring the original cast.

Whereas the other DTV American Pie movies (The Naked Mile and Beta House) seem more like spin- offs with paper- thin ties to the originals, Band Camp is the only one that actually feels like a true follow- up. Starring Steve Stifler’s younger brother– rather than just his cousin as the other DTV films do– Band Camp also features the return of the great Eugene Levy, as well as Chris Owens’ “Sherminator” as a camp counselor.

The band camp setting also has a legitimate and familiar tie to the original films, whereas the other two DTV movies just feel like generic college sex comedy premises. Band Camp doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it gives people what they want out of a movie like this– gross- out humor to laugh at and naked flesh to ogle for a couple of breezy hours. Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse. Much of what made the original Dragonheart so great was that the main dragon was voiced by none other than Sean Connery. Watch Online Watch The Derby Full Movie Online Film.

Who better to legitimatize a live- action talking dragon movie that isn’t aimed directly at kids than Mr. Connery? Unfortunately, Connery didn’t return for the first DTV sequel, although that was the least of Dragonheart: A New Beginning’s problems– the movie just wasn’t able to recapture the magic of the original. Against all odds, the third Dragonheart movie managed to turn things around and actually come fairly close to the quality of the first film.

Smartly going the prequel route this time, The Sorcerer’s Curse had some pretty impressive computer dragon effects for a DTV movie, and managed to get Ben Kingsley to take over voice acting duties for the same dragon that Connery played in the original. Even with some stiff competition in the dragon- based fantasy genre from the likes of Game of Thrones, A Sorcerer’s Curse is still a highly enjoyable adventure for fans of medieval swords- and- dragons fare. The newest DTV installment to the Dragonheart franchise, Battle for the Heartfire, was just released on June 1. From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter. Robert Rodriguez prides himself on giving his movies a deliberate grindhouse/B- movie vibe and just a general “homemade” feel overall. His theatrical releases already look and feel like DTV movies, an observation that Rodriguez would probably take as a compliment.

More of his franchises would’ve probably been taken over by others for a string of DTV sequels–Spy. Kids especially–had Rodriguez not just done those sequels himself. The only movie he directed that he gave up the reigns to for a transition to DTV franchise is From Dusk Till Dawn. Watch Jessabelle Online. Maybe it’s the fact that it wasn’t entirely conceived by Rodriguez– Robert Kurtzman wrote the story, and Quentin Tarantino did the screenplay– and so he feels a bit less “ownership” of it.

The first DTV Dawn sequel went just a little too far in the low- budget direction, missing the point that there still had to be some charm behind the campiness. Away Full Movie Online Free. Rodriguez stepped back in to at least come up with the story for the third movie, and his re- involvement is evident as it gets much closer to the vibe and fun of the original and does the franchise proud after a shameful sequel.

The Land Before Time III: The Land of the Great Giving. It’s become something of a punchline how many Land Before Time movies there are. By last count, the series is at something like 2. But movie companies don’t typically crank out sequels to franchise that nobody cares about, so the TLBT series must do well enough to justify its ongoing proliferation. The original definitely remains the best of the bunch, which isn’t a surprise given that it was created and produced by the dream team of Don Bluth, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Frank Marshall. Most of the sequels are perfectly fine kids’ movies, even though the musical numbers first introduced in the fifth installment marked the transition to a very different vibe from the early films. The original movie was quite dark, and didn’t mind getting uncomfortable and scary in a way that gave kids enough credit to be able to handle it.

That’s exactly what makes the third installment so good; maintaining that cutesy/scary balance very well and also introducing raptors that are nightmare fuel on the level of anything Spielberg ever put into his own dinosaur movies. Ernest in the Army. Jim Varney probably never imagined that his Ernest P. Worrell character would go from being a regional commercial pitchman, hocking everything from Mellow Yellow soda to locally- syndicated Andy Griffith reruns, to starring in a Disney- produced feature film. He was probably even more surprised that the movie did well enough at the box office to continue that partnership with Disney for three more theatrically- released films. Of course, Ernest’s time at the top couldn’t last forever.

After a fifth theatrical movie was self- released by Varney and longtime creative partner John Cherry, the remaining four Ernest movies were all DTV, and the quality had definitely begun to flag at that point.