Sequels that have little or no connection with their predecessors

I still see it as a big connection

The movie is about Mike Brody fighting a killer shark. 

That is actually a major reason I hate the movie. Otherwise I could just pretend it wasn't a sequel to Jaws and take it for what it is, an amusingly bad movie. It's connection to Jaws makes it more cringe-inducing,

House 2 and 3
The Invisible Man Returns
Slumber Party Massacre 2 and 3
The Howling Sequels
Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 and 5

Troll 2 & Troll 3

None of the Godzilla films from the Millennium period (1999–2004) had connections with the previous films save for a passing acknowledgement of the original Gojira (1954). Even the one in the period which was a sequel to the previous had no major connections save for Mechagodzilla and the injuries Godzilla received in the first film -- none of the major characters appeared except in brief cameo roles.

Well, yes and no, I think.

Dracula’s Daughter was a direct sequel to Dracula (it picks up exactly where the first film left off), but Son of Dracula didn’t have anything to do with the original. 

Bride does away with the original’s ending, but it’s more or less (loosely) faithful to its predecessor before that. It starts right before Frankenstein’s ending (and then proceeds in an alternate universe? I’m overthinking it, especially as it parodies Frankenstein as much as it serves as the sequel).

Son of Frankenstein doesn’t exactly have much to do with Bride, but Ghost of Frankenstein is a direct sequel to Son (Ygor returns and saves the Monster from the sulphur pits), and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is a direct sequel to Ghost (the Monster’s still trapped in the ice and has Ygor’s brain).

FMtWM doesn’t really feature anyone or anything from The Wolf Man, admittedly, though in many ways it’s more the Wolf Man’s film than the Monster’s. 

House of Frankenstein doesn’t follow continuity (the worst offense is re: Dracula, whose corpse is said to have been found in Transylvania—when he was staked in England and his body burned by his daughter!), nor does House of Dracula or Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. 

The Mummy “sequels” have absolutely nothing to do with the original (which is sublime); they make up their own mini-series (and are pretty lousy).

Split

10 Cloverfield Lane, which I wish I knew going in.

Return of the Cat People