Everybody Loves A Comeback: When horror welcomes their own home again

When we walk into the theater to watch a horror remake, or a requel, or a rebooted revival, we arrive interested and excited to see how a new cast of characters and a modern-day plot can help tell the same stories we grew up watching and loving.

But, we also flock to the theaters in anticipation of who, from these films’ storied pasts, might show up once again.

Everybody loves a comeback. We love to see the stars who were once terrorized by the same monsters and killers come back, with a few more years of wisdom and experience under their belts while hanging onto that streak of pre-Y2K tenacity we expected from our horror heroes. 

The keys to a good comeback in a horror movie are finite yet important. There are exceptions to all of these, but for any filmmaker wanting to add a comeback into your plot for a legacy horror movie, here are some tips to think about.

1. Honor the past, don’t rehash it. When a returning character comes on screen, it should be in a way that allows the story to continue to move forward without miring it in the muck of what happened before. They can provide guidance, even a detailed road map, to our new protagonists to help them fight the monster. They can make call back references to past movies, a winking tribute to the fans who have been here all along. But a comeback should not be a vehicle for a past film exposition dump.
2. They are not the stars. Unless you’re Laurie Strode continuing to pop up every few years for a Michael Myers face-off, it is best to keep your comeback characters in supporting roles. We already know too much about our past favorite characters that trying to change them up too much to fit this new story runs the risk of losing the true essence of the character and the trust of your legacy audience. Let the newbies take the front seat, these comeback characters have had their time to shine.
3. Keep it secret. This is not always the way marketing goes. Sometimes the comebacks are broadly marketed, such as with the recent Scream sequels and the newly released “I Know What You Did Last Summer” reboot. Marketing for movies is so competitive now that you gotta spill the goods up front. (Peep my Open Letter to Trailer Creators for my plea to stop doing this!)

But sometimes, the filmmakers do it just right, and the comebacks are a surprise, like when the entire Ghostbusters gang was brought back together in heroic fashion in the 2021 “Afterlife” sequel. For fans of a genre that thrives on never letting you know their next move, comebacks are one of the strongest ways to give the horror audience a surprising treat.

And now that the framework is in place, let’s look at some of our favorite horror comebacks over the years.

• Nancy Thompson - A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

After her ambiguous ending in the first NOES film followed by her non-existence in the second film, seeing Nancy come back to the franchise in the third installment was met with a warm and excited welcome. 

In my humble opinion, this comeback is one of the best in a horror franchise. It checks all the boxes. She has grown up, gotten a doctorate and while she uses her past to help a crew of patients being tormented by Freddy Krueger, she does not let it weigh down the story. It has faith that the viewer has seen NOES and is smart enough to remember what all went down before this new movie.

• Tommy Doyle - Halloween 6 & Halloween Kills

The fun thing about Tommy Doyle is that his character gets to make not one, but TWO comebacks in the Halloween franchise and he gets to be played by two fabulous actors: Paul Stephen Rudd (6) and Anthony Michael Hall (Kills). (He also has a short appearance in Halloween 4 but we’ll stick to these two for now!)

In both he is a supporting character, using his knowledge from that fateful Halloween night to bolster the main story plot and adding a gravitas to the Halloween story and the fact that trauma (just like some legacy characters) never truly fade away.

• Freddie Prinze Jr & Jennifer Love Hewitt - I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

This newest revival of a beloved 1990s slasher is still new to theaters so I will refrain from the spoilers. But, what I will say is, the return of Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., both of whom since starring in the original film have enjoyed stellar careers, feels like a homecoming. 

These are two stars who could have easily continued on with their A-List lifestyles and forgotten the horror movie that helped make them household names. And yet, here they are back on their old stomping grounds and acting like they never truly left.

I think the biggest reason that we love a horror movie comeback is because it reminds us that those who we think we’ve lost may not actually be gone forever. There is always hope for a sequel, for a comeback, a promise that they may be back some day when the timing is just right. We just need to keep the faith and keep watching.