It felt like it did much more with the concept. The first Purge wasn't bad but didn't go all-out with the urban setting like the sequel. Which in all fairness is no doubt due to the much smaller budget.

I've always preferred Hannibal to Lambs. To watch Hannibal unbound in Florence is a treat. So, better setting, better Hannibal, better investigation, better variety of threats, etc.

Long time since this thread was last active. Time to bring it back.

The Conjuring 2 is one I'd definitely add to my list of Horror sequels that surpass the original. Blade II is another, though it and the original are very close for me.

I'm not alone!

Also

Aliens > Alien

I remember not much liking Hannibal but it's been so long since I last saw it I feel I need to give it another go to give it a fair shake. At the time it came out it didn't help that it'd been ten long years since TSOTL and expectations were impossibly high.

I'm with you... it's been a long time since I saw Hannibal... I remember the Ray Liotta scene, and not liking the film much compared to Lambs. Just kinda felt unhinged to me... and not in a good way. I don't remember being scared, just more grossed out... horrified? meh...

Actually, I really liked Red Dragon (2002) a lot more -- with Edward Norton and Anthony Hopkins -- thought it was an effective thriller. I mean Hannibal is an intelligent psychiatrist... that's the distinctive spice of the character. I don't remember the film Hannibal using that aspect.

I still haven't seen Red Dragon, though I have seen Manhunter, which I like a lot. I like TSOTL the best of the Hannibal films but Manhunter is surely in second place.

Manhunter was cool, though the loud background music was rather odd at times.

Manhunter is very 80s, which I think is part of it's charm. Excellent score and music as well.

Another Horror sequel I personally prefer to the original and very controversially so is The Fly II. While the Cronenberg remake is excellent I always enjoyed the sequel just a little more. Objectively the Cronenberg film is probably better from a filmmaking and story perspective, but I find the sequel a little more entertaining overall. Always been a big fan of the MartinFly creature as well which I always felt was an underrated monster and still a terrific creature design.