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

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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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  (#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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  (#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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  (#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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  (#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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