10 Horror Movie Scenes That Weren't Meant To Be Funny (But Were)

Comedy is really hard to pull off. You may be a professional comedian with decades of experience, and yet, you still don't know if a joke is going to land until you try it.

Even though there is no true science to crafting comedy, it seems to crop up a lot in the horror genre. In fact, some of the most gut-busting moments in the history of cinema occurred in movies tailored to haunt our dreams. (Samuel L. Jackson's death in Deep Blue Sea will never stop being hilarious.)

Bizarrely though, some laugh-out loud moments in horror were never intended to be humorous. Ironically, the scenes that are meant to come across as haunting or unsettling can make viewers giggle hysterically and keel over in hysterics. A ropey special effect, an obvious continuity error, or a badly delivered line can turn a potentially terrifying sequence into the funniest thing you've ever seen.

Although we absolutely adore these moments, it's probably not for the reason the filmmakers hoped for. Here are the ten horror movie scenes that weren't meant to be funny (but were).

John Carpenter's Halloween single-handedly popularised slasher movies. Because many films in the genre couldn't compete with Halloween in terms of pure-horror, they overcompensated by relying on excessive gore and overelaborate deaths.

Because of this, Michael's hacking and slashing in the later movies seemed a bit plain, inspiring the filmmakers to give the masked killer more inventive ways to dispose of his prey. But more often than not, these methods of execution were stupid, rather than clever.

In Halloween 4: Return of Michael Myers, the titular psychopath corners a woman called Kelly with a shotgun. As he points the barrel towards her, viewers expect the mask-wearing mute to blow her to kingdom come.

Instead, he stabs her... with the gun! He drives the weapon straight through Kelly's abdomen with such force, it comes out of her back, pinning her to the wall.

Although this kill is meant to subvert expectations and show off Michael's superhuman strength, it's too ridiculous to take seriously. I mean, c'mon, Mike. We know you love stabbing people but you had a freaking shotgun! Surely, pulling the trigger at point-blank range is an easier way to kill Kelly than to shove a gun through her body.