The primary goal of any movie in the horror genre is usually to scare the absolute bejeezus out of its audience. Of course, it’s a genre that’s always steeped in symbolism and any good horror movie should absolutely explore deeper themes and ideas, but ultimately, the genre exists to deliver scares. It’s a simple fact, and it’s undeniable.
As the average horror runtime lies somewhere around the 100 minute mark, its practically an impossibility for the typical scary movie to be consistently terrifying. Of course, there should be at least a few good spooks littered throughout, but without a little plot, there’s no point in making the thing in the first place. Therefore, not every horror movie scene is designed to induce pant-wetting terror.
Sometimes, horror movies have the opposite effect. This is rarely done deliberately – most often, an attempt at something scary or symbolic backfires tragically to deliver something unexpected: a good laugh. On occasion, this phenomenon stems from a jump-scare gone wrong, because the unexpected nature of a moment can sometimes prove to be more funny than scary. Other times, it’s simply a misguided choice from the screenwriter, director, or actor. Whoever or whatever is to blame, though, sometimes, horror movies are unintentionally hilarious.
9. Goat Séance – Drag Me To Hell (2009)
Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell is widely considered an excellent horror movie. It’s absolutely packed with symbolism – the story is essentially a parable about a young woman grappling with her eating disorder and the dysphoria that comes with it – and it’s got a number of excellent gross-out scares, too. It’s also filled with shoehorned 3D moments where random objects come flying directly at the camera, but that’s largely unrelated to this entry (although it is sort of hilarious).
Tormented by an evil spirit known as the Lamia, Christine approaches a medium who offers to help her. He arranges a séance with the intention of banishing the Lamia by first trapping it inside a goat. So far, so good, no?
It’s all very spooky until the moment that the Lamia enters the goat. The creature suddenly begins to speak, bleating the words: “you tricked me, you black-hearted who-o-o-o-o-re” in what is an incredibly unexpected and unintentionally hilarious moment. Predictably, the goat then breaks free and enters a man who proceeds to vomit a live kitten. It’s so abrupt and intense that it passes clean past scary and instead lands on hilariously bizarre.