Horror is undoubtedly one of the most popular film genres, which is also very profitable. Audiences love it, and scientists have been investigating for years why people like to be scared so much in the cinema. In fact, they even determined that such “recreational fear” can bring surprising benefits, including health benefits. However, not everyone enjoys watching the bloodbath and traumatic experiences that cruel murderers inflict on their victims. What to do in such a case – how to take advantage of the benefits of the species without harming yourself? Among other things, you can watch horror movies that are so absurd that they are funny.
The most absurd and funny horror movies
It’s hard to find a more attention-grabbing title than “Wążżżż”. The plot is based on the fact that student David Blake is employed as an assistant in the laboratory of a mad scientist who is working on a serum that turns people into snakes. What’s more, he obviously plans to inject them into an innocent student. To his horror, he slowly begins to turn into a cobra, which doesn’t end well for anyone. Interestingly, the snake-David was played by Dirk Benedict, who viewers in Poland may remember from the classic series “The A-Team” – he played the role of Lieutenant Templeton “Smiley” Peck. The mad scientist in “Snake” is played by Strother Martin – a character actor to American audiences well known from westerns in which he accompanied John Wayne and Paul Newman.
The original production is called “Sssssss” and was created exactly half a century ago. It was released in 1973 and directed by one of our people in Hollywood, Bernard Louis Kowalski – an American film and television director of Polish origin (what’s more, the same filmmaker was nominated for an Emmy Award twice in his career). The film’s executive producers were Richard Zanuck and David Brown, who soon became famous as the people who worked on Steven Spielberg’s iconic “Jaws.”
Interestingly, five king cobras were imported from Thailand for the needs of the film “Snake”, but they were not deprived of their venomous teeth for safety reasons. Viewers learned from the subtitles that real snakes actually played in the production, and the creators added thanks to this information: “We would like to thank the cast and crew for their heroic efforts and work in extremely dangerous conditions.” “Snake” was even nominated in the Best Science Fiction Film category by the American Academy of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Films, and Kowalski was nominated for the Best Director award at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival.
“ThanksKilling” from 2006 is a movie so bad it’s good. The plot focuses on a talking turkey named Turkie – who is resurrected on the occasion of the American Thanksgiving, and then sets off on a murderous raid with his axe. He is particularly persistent in hunting a group of teenagers. What’s more, the film was made on a really small budget – the creators spent $3,500 on it. Critics write in their reviews that it is a “joyfully bad” production and emphasize that “if you can laugh at bad movies, this one should definitely be on your list.”
Unserious horror stories worth knowing
“Killer Clowns from Outer Space” is a cult classic of B-class horror films from the 1980s. The production premiered in 1988 and, as you can easily deduce from the title, it tells the story of an invasion of bloodthirsty kaluns that attack a small American town. Their spaceship has the shape of a circus tent, and the attackers themselves use, for example, a popcorn cannon (supposedly it was the most expensive prop used in the film), with which they turn people into living buckets of popcorn. Another option is to wrap victims in cotton candy cocoons, of course for consumption.
However, people with weak nerves should be careful with this production, because the creators very much tread the line between classic horror and comedy. Some of the scenes are really terrible. Particularly terrifying are the moments when the camera zooms in on space clowns laughing sinisterly. The good news for Polish viewers is that you can watch this movie on Amazon Prime Video without having to do much searching.
I was also intrigued by the 2013 film with the initially mysterious title “Naughty Milo”. Contrary to appearances, this is not about an unruly dog, but about a polyp crawling out of the intestines from below. The main character, Duncan, is a chronically stressed man who basically worries about everything. Not only is he overworked, but his boss forces him to fire other employees. In addition, he has a complicated relationship with his mother, and his wife sends him a very eccentric therapist who constantly asks him about his problems with his father. After a night full of gastrointestinal discomfort, Duncan goes to the doctor, who detects a large growth in his bowels – theoretically, it is a harmless polyp. However, when stresses in the host’s life increase, the polyp comes to life and turns into a half-meter-long creature. Milo comes out of Duncan’s intestines through his anus every time he gets too angry – and it’s not pleasant because it’s like giving birth every time.
Still from the movie ‘Naughty Milo!’, dir. Jacob Vaughan, producer Duplass Brothers Productions / Floren Shieh Productions / New Artists Alliance (2013)
The creature has a delightful face and resembles the sweet progenitor of Baby Yoda from “The Mandalorian”. However, he also has a set of sharp teeth and a bloodthirsty habit of murdering people he considers a source of stress – meanwhile, the local media reports on attacks by a crazed raccoon. Duncan becomes more and more terrified. How will he deal with a murderous tenant?
It is worth paying attention to the cast – the main role is played by comedian Ken Marino, who appeared in such series as “Veronica Mars”, “Charmed”, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Monk”. He is accompanied by Gillian Jacobs, known from “Community”, and the excellent Swedish actor Peter Stormare. Polish viewers may recognize him from films such as “Fargo”, “Dancing in the Dark”, “Armageddon”, “Chocolate”, “The Big Lebowski” or the series “Prison Break”. “Naughty Milo” can be seen on Apple TV, and can also be rented on the Rakuten, Chilli and iTunes Store platforms available in Poland.
Popular directors who started with horror films
A classic production that really cannot be missed is the charmingly bloody, absurdly funny and very skillfully directed “Brain Dead” by Peter Jackson, directed long before “The Lord of the Rings”. The action takes place in 1957 in Wellington, New Zealand and focuses on Lionel, who is controlled by his toxic mother. The young man falls in love with a charming saleswoman from a local grocery store, but his mother doesn’t allow him to lead his own life. One day, an old lady goes to the zoo, where her finger is bitten by a cursed monkey brought from the mysterious regions of the island. As a result, your mother turns into a zombie hungry for human flesh. Not only her. Soon there will be many more such unfortunate people, and Lionel has to deal with it. The film is simply disarming and it is not without reason that it won a number of awards at various industry festivals. It’s really worth appreciating this early work of Jackson because it’s (not) pure entertainment.
Before he made the blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy” and became the new head of DC Films, James Gunn made his debut with a comedy-horror film, which many consider to be one of the most interesting productions of this type in recent years. In Polish, the film has the grateful title “Bugs”, and Gunn himself not only directed it, he also wrote its script. On the screen we will see the filmmaker’s favorites, actors Nathan Fillion (we know him from the crime series “Castle”) and Michael Rooker (he definitely plays in “Guardians of the Galaxy”), who play the inhabitants of a small town affected by the plague of space parasites. They take those on earth from the meteorite and, by infecting subsequent victims, turn them into helpless zombies controlled by the collective mind. The creatures’ goal is one: the annihilation of life on the entire planet.
In addition, we get a love triangle between the sheriff (Fillion), a timid housewife (Elizabeth Banks) and her husband (Rooker), who will also influence the fate of the entire planet. Jenna Fischer, known from the American version of “The Office”, also appears in the cast, and viewers may be happy or disgusted at the sight of very slippery and nasty worms, space tentacles and other cheerfully kitschy, yet impressive special effects. The production also includes a post-credits scene and was met with a surprisingly warm reception from critics, who gave it an average of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. positive opinions. “Bugs” also ultimately brought James Gunn a special Saturn Award for outstanding filmmaker and a statuette for best make-up.
Cursed hair and more. The weirdest horror movies we could find
The very idea for the Japanese film “Ekusute” from 2007 proves that human fantasy basically knows no limits to the macabre and grotesque. The production is an adaptation of a story by Son Sono, who is also the writer and director. The film is briefly about murderous hair extensions. Basically, the whole thing starts with a beautiful and young girl being brutally murdered, shaved bald, and on top of that, her organs are sold on the black market. The body is discovered by the police, and stolen from the mortuary by a man named Yamazaki, one of the facility’s employees, who happens to have a fetish for women’s hair.
He is enchanted by the beauty of the deceased and is overjoyed when it turns out that hair mysteriously grows everywhere on her body, even where it shouldn’t be, i.e. from the eyes, tongue, and open wounds. Yamazaki cuts the hair and then processes it into wigs and hair extensions. The problem is that the artifacts created in this way are cursed: each person who wears them dies in agony, but first they see the memories of the dead girl and the face of her killer. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is just an introduction to the whole intrigue. Although it’s hard to believe, the production is apparently quite a neat mix of horror and comedy.
There is no shortage of horror productions focusing on murderous animals, plants, household appliances, deadly consumer products and agricultural produce. I could go on for hours here. For example, in 1995, a film about a mangle iron pressing people to death was made based on a story by Stephen King. In fact, two sequels were even made: “Maglownica 2” in 2001 and “Maglownica – Rebirth” in 2005. In 1991, the American film “The Refrigerator” was made about a murderous refrigerator that can take control of the mind, of course also kills people and, on top of that, sends them to hell. In 2016, director Scott Wheeler released “Attack of the Killer Buds” for variety, and in 1978, moviegoers experienced “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” and the equally dangerous “Death Grapes”. In 2006, there was also a film called “Evil Bong” about a magical marijuana smoking device that sends its users to an alternative universe from which it is difficult to escape.
In 1996, the German film market presented the world with a production with the very rude title “The Deadly Condom”. The script was based on comic books in which a religious fanatic kidnaps a famous scientist to create murderous condoms. These bite off strategic parts of the users’ bodies to punish them for their sins and attempts to protect themselves during intercourse – after all, there is no mention of condoms in the Bible. “Frankenfish” is a television production in which a genetically modified fish spreads fear among local fishermen, while “Killer Beach” tells the story of partygoers who wake up with a hangover to discover that the seaside sand painfully kills everything it touches. Filmmakers really have no shortage of ideas and there is a high probability that anyone looking for an alternative to classic horror will find something interesting for themselves. You just need to look hard.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
