I would suggest that Cregger’s follow-up, Weapons, is him trying to reverse engineer an even more successful movie by having multiple swerves throughout the entire thing. The whole film does follow one story, in which an entire classroom of children save for one shockingly disappear into the night, running out of their homes with seemingly no explanation, and throwing the entire community into turmoil.
Long-running horror franchises are either defined by their reinvention or lack thereof. To watch the series in order is to witness a distinct evolution. From Bride of Chucky onwards, the series moves away from the familiar trappings of 80s slasher cinema into a much more distinctly queer text.
