8 Horror Movie Villains Who Became Smarter In The Sequel

A traditional status quo found within the horror genre means that as opposed to relying on improving their levels of intelligence to ultimately win out

many villains simply triumph due to a combination of their supernatural abilities and a physical refusal to just die

But there are also some horror villains who apparently undergo a mysterious boost in IQ in the gap between sequels

Well, with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture, here with horror movie villains who became smarter in the sequel

Imhotep in The Mummy Returns Arnold Voslu's Imhotep is understandably a bit of a lone wolf

when it comes to proceedings in 1999's first instalment. There isn't a great deal of planning to go with his campaign for global domination either

The man, Mummy, was quite literally brought back to life by accident

as a result of some overly curious light reading from Rachel Weisz's Evelyn

When he returns in the aptly named The Mummy Returns, Imhotep is noticeably more intelligent after his first brush with humans from outside the age of

the pharaohs. For starters, the former high priest uses human acolytes to his advantage without

turning them into moaning zombie-like followers like the first time around. Imhotep is also smart

enough to realize that he can't finish off the O'Connells without using the deadly rage of the

Scorpion King to his advantage, slyly feigning fealty to Dwayne Johnson's nightmarishly bad CGI

depiction of the legendary warrior so as to unleash his fury on Brendan Fraser's Rick

His master plan? Lull the Scorpion King into a false sense of security so as to catch him

unawares and claim the power of the army of the dead by killing him. It was a great plan foiled

only by Rick O'Connell's stunning slow-mo spear-catching skills. And who could have

realistically prepared for that? Herbert West in Bride of Reanimator. Herbert West was already

arguably on par with Victor Frankenstein in terms of intelligence after the events of cult classic Re-Animator

The 1985 comedy horror saw West, you guessed it, reanimate cadavers and cats alike in his maniacal first entry

in the greatest cinematic mad scientist sweepstakes. Despite being dragged away by his own nightmarish creations

towards the end of that original outing, West returns with an absolute vengeance in the sequel

He also tricks the hapless Dan Kane into believing that his interest lies in reviving his dead fianc Megan when West is really only after her heart No matter the depraved moral depths he sinks to West only responds with a terrifyingly unhinged uptake

in his already formidable intelligence. Truly one of cinema's finest mad scientists

the elite hunting club in Hostel 2. If you can't beat them, make them join you

The despicable elite hunting club depicted within Eli Roth's hostile universe are no slouches when it comes to quick thinking

Hardly surprising, really, as it's probably quite difficult to engineer a depraved organisation

that abducts and sadistically murders unsuspecting tourists if the entire operation is run by a bunch of dolts

Unfazed by the escape of original protagonist Paxton in the first outing

the sequel reveals that the organisation wasted little time with the swiftest and most brutal of reprisals

For Paul Paxton, his girlfriend Stephanie discovers his decapitated corpse at the breakfast table

After all, it's a lot harder to squeal to the police without a head. Furthermore, Sasha, the ominous head of the vile organisation

reveals the extent of just how terrifyingly formidable he is in the film's climactic sequence

to the extent where viewers find themselves wondering whether Paxton would have even survived the first movie

had he come up against this iteration of the elite hunting club

Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek 2. One of the most controversial and straight-up harrowing films to make its bow throughout the 2000s was Greg McLean's outback horror Wolf Creek

The film depicts the stomach-churning exploits of one of the more depraved serial killers ever conceived in John Jarrett's Mick Taylor

Taylor is an evil, twisted man of terrifying proportions, and he's no slouch in the brains department either

ending the original film quite literally walking off into the sunset, having successfully gotten away with the unimaginably savage murders

of two of the picture's three core protagonists. The xenophobic sadist is only more wickedly brilliant in 2013's follow-up

effortlessly lulling his victims into a false sense of security with his bumbling persona

before unleashing a wave of unspeakable violence. Despite increasing the terrifying scale of his demented rampage

to extend to police officers and even more victims than the first time around

the deranged Hellspawn still successfully covers his tracks, framing one of his victims for his killing spree

Wolf Creek 2 ends with Mick strolling nonchalantly off into the sunset once again without a care in the world The zombies in Zombieland double tap The rabid cadavers depicted within the beloved original may not have been the smartest

but they were certainly formidable. Ruben Fleischer's iteration of cinematic zombies are the maniacal chase-you-down-and-rip-your-face-off variety

as opposed to some of their slower, shuffling peers. However, they were decidedly not the sharpest cookies the zombie genre has ever seen

Zombieland Double Tap introduces three new subtypes of zombies. While the aptly named Homers are essentially the zombified equivalent of their Springfield-based namesake

and do not present much of a challenge, the other two are considerably more formidable than the original's undead antagonists

Ninjas possess heightened levels of speed, agility and stealth, while Hawkins, in a nod to the late great Professor Stephen

are quite literally more psychologically developed than their counterparts, climbing ladders and even using gouged-out eyeballs to bypass biometric scanners

They won't be winning any Nobel Prizes, but the Hawkins and the Ninjas presented a far trickier intellectual puzzle

to solve for our protagonists and the originals decomposing flesh-eaters. David in Alien Covenant

Cinema may have seen some devious cyborgs over the years, but Michael Fassbender's David contentiously represents the gold standard for such a concept

David was literally designed from head to toe to be a walking fountain of knowledge

and assistance to his human counterparts. For context, in 2012's reboot of the Alien franchise Prometheus

he is revealed to be so technologically advanced that he can communicate with the engineers

the previously uncontacted creators of humanity, through an amalgamation of ancient languages

although this unfortunately doesn't save him from an impromptu decapitation at their hands

You would have thought that having your head ripped off would put a stop to one's devious schemes

However, 2017's sequel, Alien Covenant, revealed that the surviving David had somehow still managed to overpower Elizabeth Shaw

using her body in his twisted experiments as he engineered the xenomorphs to wipe out humanity

Overpowering his more technologically advanced doppelganger, Walter, and staging the most devious Trojan horse operation imaginable in order to execute his master plan

was just the icing on a particularly Machiavellian cake John Kramer in Saw 2 Always one step ahead of proceedings the overarching villain of the Saw franchise John Kramer a the Jigsaw Killer never fails to ramp up the levels of sheer devious planning

across his multiple appearances, and the first sequel in his blood-soaked universe is no exception

You thought disguising himself as a corpse so he could play a spectator to the original Saw's torturous proceedings was bad

This time around, Kramer's genius is partially derived from recruiting his first apprentice

The devious acolytes of the Jigsaw Killer featured throughout the franchise, assisting in his abominable schemes and ensure that Kramer's twisted legacy lives on

long past the demise of his mortal husk. Kramer flips the tables on the police in even more sadistically intelligent fashion this time around

with the reveal that this instalment's game was not happening in live time

This macabrely stunning piece of genius allowed John to lure Detective Eric Matthews

to the location where the game was supposedly taking place, allowing his acolyte Amanda Young to overpower Matthews

before he awakens to a tape recording, gleefully revealing the extent of the plot and Amanda's complicity

You all know the drill from here. Matthews is left to die screaming in the darkness

Game over and all that. Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal. A contentious entry to end proceedings, but hear this take out

The intellect demonstrated by Hannibal Lecter in his debut appearance in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs

is arguably on such a level that the notion of the cannibalistic psychiatrist surpassing it

is almost laughable. While on the run in 2001 follow-up Hannibal, however

Anthony Hopkins' Machiavellian villain ramps things up to a whole new level

Initially posing as a museum curator was a new twist of brilliance in itself

a role perfectly suited to Lecter's cultured background. Even with the FBI in rampant pursuit

Hannibal's intellect manifests itself with even more spectacular results this time around

For context, the Italian chief inspector, one of the more senior figures involved in the manhunt

ends up dangling from a balcony with his intestines hanging out in gleefully grotesque fashion

the same shudder-worthy fate that befell historical members of his ancestral family

Lecter's intelligence is on full display again in the film's climax as he realises he is incapable of hurting Clarice

making the shocking decision to cut off his own arm in order to escape in a final split-second demonstration of his macabre brilliance