Random Unexpectedly Funny Moments In Otherwise Terrifying Horror Movies (14 items)

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  (#1) Drag Me to Hell

  • Octavia Spencer, Justin Long, Lia Johnson, David Paymer, Alison Lohman, Joanne Baron, Fernanda Romero, Ted Raimi, Bojana Novakovic, Adriana Barraza, Alexis Cruz, Reggie Lee, Ruth Livier, Chelcie Ross, Paul Edney, Molly Cheek, Scott Spiegel, Bonnie Aarons, Christopher Young, Bridget Hoffman, Alex Veadov, Dileep Rao, Kevin Foster, Jay Gordon, Lorna Raver, Irene Roseen, Art Kimbro, Tom Carey, John Paxton, Ricardo Molina, Chloe Dykstra, Jack White, Cherie Franklin, Bill E. Rogers, Nick Vlassopoulos, Aimee Miles, Tony A. Angelo, Lorne Raimi, Emma Raimi, Henry Raimi, Ali Dean, Jennifer Blackwell, Olga Babtchinskaia, Michael Peter Bolus, Peter Popp, Meyoung Laman, Shiloh Selassie, Jennifer Zhang, Flor de Maria Chahua

  Writer/director Sam Raimi always has elements of intended humor in his movies, beginning with The Evil Dead in 1981, and Drag Me to Hell is no different.

  After being cursed by an old woman (Lorna Raver), Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) seeks the assistance of medium Shaun San Dena (Adriana Barraza) to release her from the clutches of the lamia out to drag her to hell. During the seance, the spirit of the lamia transfers into a goat whose face changes into something hilarious instead of spooky - much like the deadites of the Evil Dead series.

  The attacks by the possessed bovidae provide more slapstick than horror, pushing viewers into spasms of cackles.
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  (#2) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

  • Patricia Arquette, Laurence Fishburne, Zsa Zsa Gábor, Robert Englund, Dick Cavett, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Jennifer Rubin, Priscilla Pointer, Craig Wasson, Nan Martin, Brooke Bundy, Ken Sagoes, Ira Heiden, Penelope Sudrow

  Freddy (Robert Englund) stalks a new set of teenagers in this sequel, targeting those in a psychiatric hospital where his former victim Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) works. He hunts Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette), a girl who can pull other people into her dreams. Nancy understands what is happening and attempts to teach the patients how to fight Freddy while they sleep.

  One night Jennifer (Penelope Sudrow) attempts to stay awake by watching television and burning herself with cigarettes to avoid Freddy. It's tense, and audiences are readying themselves for a bloody attack from Freddy when, suddenly, Zsa Zsa Gabor appears on the television with Dick Cavett on a talk show. She answers a question and Cavett insults her before turning into Freddy and slashing her.

  The moment is unexpected, and completely pushes the audience out of their frightened expectations into laughter at seeing such a strange celebrity encounter in the franchise. 
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  (#3) The Wicker Man

  • Nicolas Cage, James Franco, Leelee Sobieski, Ellen Burstyn, Aaron Eckhart, Frances Conroy, Molly Parker, Christa Campbell, Emily Holmes, Diane Delano, Kate Beahan, Tania Saulnier, Matthew Walker, Mary Black, Erika-Shaye Gair, Christine Willes, Michael Wiseman, Zemphira Gosling, George Murphy

  One could argue that this remake of the 1973 film of the same name has a lot of strange scenes that garner nervous giggles from audiences, but that's different than being funny. 

  Case in point: the scene in which Edward finds out the true intentions of the women of Summers Isle and their ritual of sacrificing men to receive a bountiful harvest. He has a helmet filled with bees placed on his head. Since Edward is extremely allergic to bees, this should be a moment of excruciating terror and pain felt by the audience. Instead, director Neil LaBute and Cage decided yelling, "THE BEES! OH NO NOT THE BEES!" was the way to go with the scene, creating something memorable in all of the wrong ways.
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  (#4) Jurassic Park III

  • Téa Leoni, William H. Macy, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Linda Park, Michael Jeter, John Diehl, Alessandro Nivola, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Bruce French, Trevor Morgan, Bruce Young, Mark Harelik, Taylor Nichols, Sarah Danielle Madison, Brad Everett Young, Sonia Jackson, Edward C. Gillow, Bernard Zilinskas, Frank Clem, Blake Michael Bryan, Karin M. Gaarder, Rona Benson

  The Jurassic Park movies are frightening for those who immerse themselves in the reality of the films, hoping that heroes don't become dino food and reacting to the series as monster flicks with a lot of science thrown in. When Jurassic Park III hit theaters, many fans likely expected the same heart-pounding adventure and excitement, especially given the return of Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant.

  Instead, they got a talking velociraptor in Dr. Grant's dream, jarring many out of the world of genetically engineered replicas of former creatures and into peals of giggles due to its absurdity.
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  (#5) Halloween

  • Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Nick Castle

  The Halloween franchise was rebooted in 2018, bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis as a grown Laurie Strode dealing with a lifetime of PTSD from her encounters with Michael Myers. In a departure from the previous films and most horror, this sequel/franchise reboot decided to focus on the survivor and not the background of Myers or a new bunch of faceless characters headed into slaughter. It remains one of the best entries in the franchise due to those choices. 

  One set of scenes stands out from the rest for different reasons. Vicky (Virginia Gardner), a friend of Laurie's granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), babysits Julian (Jibrail Nantambu) in his home, where they are attacked by Myers.

  This scene should be as devastating and terrifying as other scenes in the flick, but Julian takes the entire sequence to a precocious level that elicits more joy and laughter from audiences than dread. 
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  (#6) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

  • Robert Englund, Hope Lange, Clu Gulager, Marshall Bell, Lyman Ward, Robert Rusler, Kim Myers, Christie Clark, Allison Barron, Melinda O. Fee, Tom McFadden, Mark Patton, Sydney Walsh, Edward Blackoff, Donna Bruce, Hart Sprager

  The horror films of the 1980s come with a certain amount of cheese, but Freddy's Revenge manages to remain scary while allowing it to flow. A new family is living in the former home of Nancy Thompson and her mother, setting Freddy's (Robert Englund) sights on their teenage son Jesse (Mark Patton). The movie has lots of gory scenes featuring Freddy and his victims - and some body horror thrown in for good measure, as Freddy takes over Jesse to annihilate people. 

  One scene stands above the rest in its goofiness, and involves Jesse dancing in his room. From the generic music Jesse plays on his radio to the use of a tiny golf club as a phallic substitute during a dance move, this scene is genuine comedy in an otherwise frightening flick.
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  (#7) Alien

  • Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Helen Horton, Eddie Powell, Bolaji Badejo

  Amid the psychological and physical terror shown onscreen in Alien, one moment is so jarring that it pushes the viewer into laughter for just a moment before terror seizes them again. Unlike some movies, this moment of levity and giggles doesn't cloud the rest of the film. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is attempting to make a plan, but Parker (Yaphet Kotto) just keeps mumbling interruptions in the background. 

  In a moment felt by every woman who ever attempted to be heard in a tense situation, Ripley forcefully tells Parker to "shut up," forcing him to close his yap and prompting audiences to laugh in spite of themselves.
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  (#8) Mandy

  • Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Bill Duke, Richard Brake, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouere, Sam Louwyck, Hayley Saywell

  Mandy follows Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) as he fights his way into and through a cult to avenge the demise of his girlfriend Mandy (Andrea Riseborough). The film has lots of trippy moments and visual violence throughout, so the Cheddar Goblin stands out as hilarious and out of place in the film.

  The Cheddar Goblin is a macaroni and cheese mascot that retches his product all over children in his commercials, much to their screeching delight. By itself, the scene from the movie elicited lots of laughter from audiences at the 2018 LA Comic-Con panel for Mandy, so seeing the extremely odd commercial in the middle of a revenge flick where audiences see a woman burned alive earlier is extremely - and purposefully - disconcerting.
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  (#9) Halloween

  • Jamie Lee Curtis, Kyle Richards, Donald Pleasence, Sandy Johnson, Charles Cyphers, P. J. Soles, Nancy Kyes, Nancy Stephens, Nick Castle, Brian Andrews, David Kyle, John Michael Graham

  After Michael Myers (Nick Castle/Tony Moran) escapes from Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence) and stabs a mechanic, he begins stalking Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in Haddonfield. Already off to a gory start, writer and director John Carpenter switches gears to a lighter scene involving Laurie and her friends Annie (Nancy Kyes) and Lynda (P.J. Soles).

  Most of the trio's chatter involves exposition about their plans for Halloween night, but one exchange between Annie and Laurie strikes a funny chord:

  Laurie: I'm babysitting the Doyles, it's two houses down. We can keep each other company!

  Annie: Oh terrific, I've got three choices: Watch the kid sleep, listen to Lynda screw around, or talk to you!
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  (#10) The Exorcist

  • Max von Sydow, Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb, William Peter Blatty, Jason Miller, Mercedes McCambridge, Jack MacGowran, Barton Heyman, Peter Masterson, Titos Vandis, Donna Mitchell, William O'Malley, Eileen Dietz, Kitty Winn, Robert Symonds, Robert Gerringer, Mason Curry, Arthur Storch, Rudolf Schündler, John Mahon, Roy Cooper, Mary Boylan, Dick Callinan, Toni Darnay, Ron Faber, Wallace Rooney, Vasiliki Maliaros, Bernard Eismann, Joanne Dusseau, Gina Petrushka, Vincent Russell, Thomas Bermingham, Paul Bateson, Elinore Blair, John Nicola, Yvonne Jones, Don LaBonte, Beatrice Hunter

  The Exorcist is a movie so layered that the terror felt by viewers changes with them, from a fear of being possessed to the idea of being a mother whose child is possessed and being unable to help them. Everything about The Exorcist is filmed and planned so as to be unsettling and catastrophic to the point of real unease and fear felt by the audience. As such, one character's demeanor and scenes seem out of place in the film. 

  A larger part of the book, Detective Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb) is more of a strange addition to the film. At no time is his awkwardness more apparent than in the scene in which he calls on Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) with questions about the passing of Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran) and Regan's (Linda Blair) possible connection to it.

  Amid his attempts to portray lightness in a serious house call, Kinderman asks actress Chris for her autograph, likely prompting most moviegoers into laughter.
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  (#11) Day of the Dead

  • Sherman Howard, Jarlath Conroy, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Richard Liberty, Lori Cardille

  Anyone settling in to watch George A. Romero's Day of the Dead in 1985 likely expected nothing but zombie carnage. The very first scene probably jarred them out of their mindset, causing the movie to work harder to get them back into the mood for gore. 

  A woman, Dr. Sarah Bowman (Lori Cardille), sits in a concrete block room staring at a calendar on the wall opposite her. She slowly walks toward the calendar before caressing the pages. Suddenly, zombie arms burst through the wall and she... wakes up in an aircraft.

  Not exactly unsettling in a frightening way, but definitely in a cringe-worthy, giggle-inducing way.
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  (#12) The Thing

  • Kurt Russell, Keith David, John Carpenter, Adrienne Barbeau, Wilford Brimley, Richard Masur, Norbert Weisser, Donald Moffat, Charles Hallahan, Joel Polis, David Clennon, Richard A. Dysart, T. K. Carter, Peter Maloney, Thomas G. Waites, Larry J. Franco, Nate Irwin, Jed, William Zeman

  John Carpenter's The Thing is a classic horror movie with an ending still hotly debated to this day. It effectively uses the isolation of Antarctica as the backdrop for a research team stalked and picked off by a creature thawed from the ice. The creature's ability to hide in plain sight and blend in with the survivors keeps the tension sky high, and the grotesque way it infects animals and people keeps the gore coming. 

  It is truly upsetting to watch Norris (Charles Hallahan) mutate and use a stomach mouth to eat the arms of Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart). Witnessing the head ripping itself from its burning body is also terrible to behold.

  When the upside-down head sprouts two additional eyes on its neck and spider-like legs, it's so horrible that it becomes absurd, prompting a character to utter the immortal phrase: "You've got to be f*cking kidding." Truly, gallows humor at its finest.
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  (#13) Midsommar

  • Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe

  Ari Astor's unsettling psychological horror film is full of harsh moments for the audience. Every scene takes any previous fright and unease up to a level no one expects and takes no time to allow anyone to breathe or calm themselves. That is, until a pivotal scene required for the climax of the film takes place. 

  Dani's (Florence Pugh) boyfriend Christian (Jack Raynor) is targeted by a village girl that intends to seduce him by using a ritual involving menstrual blood and pubic hair on him. Although audiences see the preparations for Christian's meal, it still evokes hilarity when Astor actually shows the ingestion of the items. Perhaps unintended, but chuckles are definitely had.  
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  (#14) The Shining

  • Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Barry Dennen, Barry Nelson, Anne Jackson, Danny Lloyd, Joe Turkel, Tony Burton, Philip Stone, Robin Pappas, David Baxt, Louise Burns, Lisa Burns, Lia Beldam

  Director Stanley Kubrick expertly uses camera angles and movement throughout The Shining to encapsulate the feelings of isolation felt by the Torrance family in the Overlook Hotel and the slow descent into Jack's (Jack Nicholson) madness due to it. The overall effect is chilling and adds to the viewer's own unease at the story unfolding on the screen in front of them. However, there is one scene where the camera work seems to be more awkwardly funny than frightening. 

  At one point, Jack stands near a fireplace in the hotel, frozen in place with a maniacal yet emotionless look on his face. Unsettling all by itself, Kubrick's choice to zoom slowly into Jack's unchanging face just doesn't have the intended feeling of malice, but elicits nervous giggles instead.

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