9

The Alien Movies Were Surprisingly Adorable

Before the franchise devolved into sexy shower murders and handsome robot doppelgangers making out with each other, the Alien movies were extremely intense. You'd think, then, that the making of one of these black rubber sex monster movies wouldn't be anything like, say, a child's birthday party. And it wasn't. Except for the time it was.

20th Century Fox
"Hey, maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our candles lit."

Yup, the stunt double for Newt, Louise Head, had her birthday party on set, attended by space marines and an android. Kind of makes your fifth birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's seem like a rancid pile of donkey shit in comparison, huh? Everyone got involved. Here's Head and Sigourney Weaver clowning around doing their best impression of the Alien Queen:

20th Century Fox
Unless this is an assault. This might be assault.

This wasn't even the first surprisingly charming behind-the-scenes moment for the franchise. Back in the first movie, there were several shots of the Nostromo crew exploring the crashed spaceship. That had the potential to be really expensive to film, so to save money, they only made a half-size set and threw a couple of kids in spacesuits into it.

20th Century Fox
Picture probably not actual size, but really, who can be sure anymore?

8

Hannibal Lecter Just Eats And Smokes Through His Mask

Hannibal Lecter is one the great movie villains, a psychologist cannibal capable of eating you and then telling all your friends about your secret bed-wetting problem. But despite the fact that The Silence Of The Lambs is genuinely a terrifying film, the behind-the-scenes snapshots make it look like it was as much fun as summer camp.

Orion Pictures
Albeit one of those summer camps that should be shut down immediately.

Here's director Jonathan Demme getting a kick out of feeding Lecter:

Orion Pictures
*making airplane noises*

Even that poor girl trapped down the well seems in high spirits.

Orion Pictures
Though Precious is looking a little stiff.

And there was always time for the crew to grab selfies with Buffalo Bill's human-skin-suit prop.

Orion Pictures
God, we hope that's a prop.

7

Hellraiser's Pinhead Enjoys Babies, Pizza, And Football

Pinhead from the Hellraiser franchise is an extradimensional monster person who dresses like someone trying to really shake up their senior prom. But beneath the black leather, hundreds of face pins, and generally ghoulish demeanor, there's a normal dude. So normal that while filming the movie, some wise parent decided they shouldn't not grab a picture of the Hell Priest cradling their infant.

Dimension Films
That baby wears the same expression to this day.

6

The Old-School Movie Monsters Ate Cake, Smoked, And Made Out

Before "Universal Monsters" meant the guy from Jerry Maguire doing battle against mummies (and common sense in general), it meant the characters featured in the slew of classic horror pictures that started coming out in the 1930s. For instance, the Boris Karloff version of Frankenstein remains one of the quintessential depictions of the character. It's a classic image of horror, as long as you don't catch him enjoying some lovely toast and tea.

Universal Pictures
"Teeeeeeeeeeeea."

5

The Descent's Cave Monsters Were A Whole Lot Sillier When Not Filming

The Descent is the story of six women exploring a labyrinth of uncharted caves, only to find that they're full of deformed monster people.

Pathe
So Twitter, essentially.

To keep the actresses' expressions of fear authentic, the director kept them and the actors playing the "crawlers" separate when they weren't filming. And it's a good thing, too, because the crawlers evidently spent their downtime being ... less than terrifying. Here they are doing each other's nails:

Pathe
And gossiping about who spent the night in who's filthy slop puddle.

4

The Psycho Set Featured Some Weirdly Zany Photoshoots

Alfred Hitchcock's classic movie Psycho finds creepy motel owner Norman Bates stabbing his guests at the behest of his dead mother, in a grisly plot that could have been avoided if people in the '60s had bothered to invent Yelp. Not surprisingly, there were some on-set photos taken to promote the movie, but they're not really what you'd expect.

For instance, here's Anthony Perkins, who played Bates, having his picture taken in front of the ominous Bates house. And what better way to advertise the story of a serial killer whose best friend is a corpse in a rocking chair than by having the actor happily perch on a ladder bordered by smiling girls in matching outfits?

Universal Pictures
More gore? We'd use more gore. Maybe a scarier ladder, too.

3

The Conjuring Witch Posed For Selfies

There sure were a lot of terrifying moments in The Conjuring, from the possessed doll to the offscreen nightmare of the Nixon presidency. But there was maybe no greater scare than the reveal of the witch Bathsheba, perched atop a wardrobe.

New Line Cinema
Like Narnia's bouncer.

But Bathsheba is a tad less intimidating when posing for selfies with the director:

New Line Cinema
"Be sure you get my good side."

Or forgoing the black magic she used to hover, and instead lying on top of some plywood:

New Line Cinema

2

The Evil Dead Movies Are A Lot Less Frightening When You See The Puppeteers

Before he was making movies about witchy love triangles in Oz and evil space symbiotes that turn you all emo, Sam Raimi made some damn good horror movies. The Evil Dead series is unquestionably classic, and as long as you weren't one of the actors maimed while shooting the first movie, making them sounds like it was pretty fun. For example, instead of killer deadites, the actors in Evil Dead 2 were often dealing with puppets.

New Line Cinema
Like Sesame Street if it had some guts.

And this is how the deadite puppets got around:

New Line Cinema
How the Henson company would have looked if it was built on top of an ancient Native burial ground.

There were still human versions of the deadites, but they were hardly more terrifying:

New Line Cinema
The Evil Read.

1

The Spooky Parts Of Ghostbusters Were Teams Of Nerds And Ghosts Wearing Jeans

Unless you work in the field of environmental protection, Ghostbusters isn't really a horror movie. Still, there are some scary parts, especially for a kid. The librarian turns into a monster, Dana is terrorized by demons, and Dan Aykroyd is convinced that America needs to see him get blown by a dead person.

But behind the scenes, even the horror elements of the movie were rather goofy. The demon hands clawing at Dana were really a trio of puppeteers playing a super-awkward round of Twister.

Columbia Pictures
So it wasn't done with real ghosts.

And the terror dog ...

Columbia Pictures
Good boy.

... was in a few shots an animatronic puppet controlled by a team of nerds.

Columbia Pictures
The crew gave them those hats to identify them as nerds.

And Slimer is certainly less horrifying when you see him wearing jeans:

Columbia Pictures

Interestingly, he switched to stockings for the sequel:

Columbia Pictures
Making him look like the world's creepiest Rockette.

Oh, and here's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man with his head off:

Columbia Pictures
"I ... should ... not ... be."

That ... that is actually quite a bit more terrifying than before. They were right to burn him.

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