‘It’s Me, Kellywise’: Ranking SNL’s Best Horror Spoofs
While SNL is known for parodying absolutely everything under the sun, it should be noted that they're pretty good at also taking on the horror genre, deconstructing the bejeezus out of it and giving us subversive, sometimes absurd and often hilarious spoofs. From politics to social media to guys named Chad, the show has given us some great horror parodies over the years, and here are some of their very best.
’Land Shark’
SNL first debuted the same year as Jaws, so of course the show would parody the famous shark movie in their very first season. It was early days for Lorne Michael’s sketch show, but with comedians like John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner spoofing the movie featuring a killer shark and some mustaches, the sketch soon grew legs and spawned a sequel.
The toothy character himself would become a recurring sight as the show kept bringing him back ever so often. “For many people, it is my claim to fame,” Land Shark creator Ralph Lee said. “When I was making it, I thought it would get used once and shucked.”
’The Curse of Frankenstein’
In which Bill Hader as Frankenstein’s Monster messes with the village folk to keep them from torching him. Also featuring a Dracula played by Jason Sudeikis playing Jason Sudeikis.
Chad in ‘The Haunted Manor’
Ah, Chad, Pete Davidson’s basic bro who has no concept of spooky whatsoever and probably can’t feel any emotions beyond chill. SNL had a couple of sketches that saw Chad thrown into some horror scenario, only to subvert the tropes and expectations of the genre through his complete lack of situational processing. Here, Chad stumbles onto a creepy-looking haunted mansion occupied by a ghost who, to no one’s surprise, was murdered by her husband and wants the world to finally know the truth. Only, Chad is no hero. Chad won’t be freeing any horny ghosts soon.
Chad in ‘The Unknown Caller’’
Because who wouldn’t want to see Chad in a slasher situation a la Scream? The sketch gets it right from the get-go as we see Chad not making popcorn to watch a scary movie like Drew Barrymore in the famous opener. Instead, the “no worries” juvenile is hanging out on the couch eating cereal and watching Ridiculousness. Of course, Chad is incapable of getting sucked into Ghostface’s little phone call game when he calls (we know it’s Ghostface, although that mask resembles a different slasher who himself is a spoof of slasher killers), and the tables get turned as Mulaney’s slasher gets all the more frustrated with Chad being, well, Chad.
’Stranger Things Season 2’
In an attempt to figure out why we never saw the parents of the only Black kid in Season One of Stranger Things, the show did a bit in which the Duffer Brothers address the omission in the follow-up season by having Leslie Jones and Kenan Thompson play Lucas’ parents who clearly don’t understand all the white-people nonsense going on. Keep in mind, as you watch the 2016 sketch below, that this came out prior to Get Out.
’Wes Anderson Horror Trailer’
Sure, this extremely well-made sketch is more a spoof of Wes Anderson movies than the horror genre, but meshing the filmmaker’s signature aesthetics with a horror comedy home invasion — that quite feels like The Strangers meet The Dead Don’t Die — ends up working so well that it becomes a parody of both. Seriously, this could very well be an actual movie. Also, more masked slashers should go about doing their murders with owls perched on their shoulders.
’M3GAN 2.0.'
Also lovingly referred to as “Gay’s Best Friend,” the AI doll from the movie, M3GAN, has been trending since its trailer dropped back in 2022, and the killer sentient puppet has since been hailed as horror’s new gay icon (eat your hat, Babadook). To ride on this queer wave, Audrey Plaza played the evil tech dolly in an SNL spoof pretending to advertise a sequel to the 2023 hit horror thriller, with the queer community going gaga for some Grade A Bitch because, and we quote, “Annabelle could never.”
’The Birds’
In which Kate McKinnon plays Tippi Hedrin’s character who phones up the police station and tries to explain to Mulaney how a flock of very mean seagulls are blowing up gas stations and murdering…sorry, “birding” people. McKinnon stays committed to the part while Mulaney and the actual birds keep poking holes into Alfred Hitchcock’s very bizarre horror premise about superkiller birds.
’Discover Card’
It’s the sketch that spoofed Discover Card’s claims that with their customer service you won’t be talking to a robot but with an actual and, supposedly, very relatable person. “How relatable?,” SNL presumably asked and proceeded to answer that question using Jordan Peele’s horror classic, Us, and nailing it.
’Kellywise’
They might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but SNL’s political spoofs have been some of the best sketches the show’s done in modern times. The “Kellywise” spoof that sees Kellyanne Conway try and persuade CNN’s Anderson Cooper to give her air time in the vein of Pennywise and Georgie from IT is a classic example of them getting it right. After all, few people are as downright horrifying as the former counselor of Donald Trump.
We can’t also ignore the fact that Kate McKinnon did a banger of a job playing both Pennywise the clown and Trump’s loyal fool. Not to mention the fact that the sketch recreated some of the scenes in the 2017 film’s opener frame by frame in quite an impressive fashion. Here, take a look for yourself.
’A Frightening Tale’
It’s the horror story of having to listen to a “22-year old college grad and aspiring filmmaker.” It’s the excruciating experience of having to listen to said insufferable person who has no original idea and only complains about the film industry for two and a half goddamn hours. It’s a spoof on every “true story” campfire saga and also…no. You watch for yourself, the twist is too good to spoil.
’A Kanye Place’
Hey, remember when Kanye West couldn't stop tweeting absolute nonsense before he started tweeting really bad nonsense and eventually got banned from Twitter? Of course you do, because no one could shut up about it. Donald Glover and the SNL cast did a great parody of A Quiet Place where Kanye’s insufferable tweets about supporting Donald Trump ended up getting folks eaten alive by giant aliens because, well, they just couldn’t shut up about it.
’The Curse’
Parodying horror movies like Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell and also every single story involving some ancient hoodoo-like hex and a talisman, “The Curse” is not only the best horror parody but also one of the funniest skits the show’s ever done. It pushes its already left-field idea of a curse to the extreme, and it works — for there is no demon or evil spirit or what the hell ever that can ruin a man’s life quite like Sergio/Jon Hamm playing the saxophone can.
