12 Horror Movies That Are Unintentionally Hilarious
10. Shocker (1989)
When bald, bug-eyed maniac Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi) goes to the chair, having first made a Faustian pact using battery cables and a TV (dont ask), his body literally burns up, prompting one astonished onlooker to remark: The chair really kicks ass! Granted the ability to move between bodies, Pinker possesses a little blonde girl who attacks Peter Bergs teenaged hero with a JCB digger, a scene critic Michael J Weldon claims left his opening night audience helpless with laughter. It does, of course, get much sillier. Not only does Pinker share a gag writer with Freddy Krueger (Lets take a ride in my volts-wagon!), hes also able to transform himself into an armchair (with eyes), though he proves no match for the ghost of Bergs late girlfriend, who can shoot laser beams from her cleavage. Come the finale, Berg follows the killer into a TV set, chasing him through news shows, old movies and a Leave It To Beaver re-run. Ive heard of audience participation, says an outraged viewer, but this is ridiculous. For all his powers, though, Pinker is defeated with surprising ease, brought to his knees by judicious use of a remote control. Watching his fast-forwarded pratfalls, its hard not to be reminded of Troll 2s antagonist, who was vanquished by a double-decker Bologna sandwich. Shocker is brainier than that but only just.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
