The goal of a great horror movie is to make the audience fear the everyday world around them. Classics like Jaws (1975).
But oftentimes there is a fine line between horror and comedy. In their efforts to find new ways to scare audiences, horror filmmakers will occasionally miss the mark completely. This list examines the weirdly wonderful, innovatively original, and even downright dumb ways horror filmmakers have tried to terrify us over the years.
From oddly unassuming cursed objects to vaguely racist spells, here are 10 of the weirdest, most bizarre, occasionally terrifying – but often plain silly – curses in horror movies.
Thinner (1996)
Based on the novel by Stephen King (originally written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman), Thinner tells the story of Billy Halleck (Robert John Burke), an arrogant, fairly rotund lawyer in a small town in Maine. When Billy accidentally runs over a Romani woman while driving back from a boozy dinner, the woman’s elderly father places a curse on him: no matter how much Billy eats, he will grow increasingly thinner until he eventually wastes away to nothing.
From Tom Holland, the director of cult Twilight Zone-esque premise with just the right amount of black humor. What results is a deliciously dark body horror that still holds up as one of the most fun of all the Stephen King adaptations.
Ring (1998)
Japanese film Ring takes a unique approach to the curse genre, choosing as its cursed object the humble old videotape. It seems a little quaint by 2020 standards, but Ring used VHS as a way of exploring how modern technology was intersecting with traditional Japanese values, myth, and superstition.
It’s still a pretty weird premise when one actually sits down and think about it: a cursed videotape that mysteriously kills the unlucky viewer exactly a week after they’ve watched it. And while that might sound kind of odd to 2020 audiences, the movie is actually a modern horror classic that combines slow-burn dread with some truly unique and terrifying visuals.
Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
Another Japanese entrant on this list, creepy supernatural horror movie Ju-On: The Grudge centers on a cursed house in Tokyo where a grisly family murder once took place. The spirits of those that were murdered there now inhabit the house and possess any of its unfortunate new residents.
A modern update on classic haunted house movies like The Amityville Horror (1979), Ju-on: The Grudge is elevated by some chillingly original set pieces and an overall feeling of pervasive dread. And, like Ring, it also features that unnerving staple of J-horror: nightmarish children that will forever haunt you while you sleep.
It Follows (2014)
Part nightmarish horror film, part STI parable, sleeper hit It Follows centers on a supernatural curse that is ed on through sex. After teenager Jay (Maika Monroe) sleeps with her date Hugh (Jake Weary), she finds that she is being pursued by a relentless supernatural shape-shifting entity. Unbeknownst to her, Hugh had been similarly cursed, and now the only way for her to escape with her life is to it on by having sex with someone else.
A critical and commercial success – and nowhere near as sleazy as its premise would have you believe – It Follows takes old genre tropes of the '70s and '80s and gives them a modern twist. Definitely a movie that will make you rethink your next Tinder date.
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell has a lot in common with earlier entrant on this list, Thinner. Loan office Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is trying to prove to her manager that she is worthy of a promotion. To show that she can make tough, unemotional decisions, Christine rejects a mortgage extension application from a poor, elderly woman. Unfortunately for Christine, it turns out the old lady is a witch, who places a demonic curse on her in retaliation.
A fun, campy movie with plenty of jump-scares and gross-out visuals, Drag Me to Hell is a worthy follow-up to Raimi’s earlier horror films like Evil Dead (1981).
Christine (1983)
Another underappreciated Stephen King adaptation, horror maestro John Carpenter’s '80s cult classic centers on a cursed 1958 Plymouth Fury: the titular Christine.
Awkward, unpopular teenager Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) is relentlessly bullied at school and seems unlikely to ever meet a girl: that is until he lays eyes on Christine. It is almost as if the two form a psychic bond, and the more time Arnie spends with the car, the more his looks and personality seem to transform into that of a tough, arrogant 1950s greaser.
Christine never quite transcends B-movie status – it’s fundamentally pretty silly and weird – but it is still a fun and inventive horror that explores ideas of teenage independence and the male fascination with cars.
The Mangler (1995)
Yet another Stephen King adaptation, The Mangler never rises to the same level as either Christine or Thinner. Which is a shame, because it has some seriously big names in horror behind it. In addition to the story by King, it is helmed by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) director Tobe Hooper and stars Freddy Kruger himself, Robert Englund.
The story centers on a cursed, or possibly possessed, laundry press that comes to life and kills people. Unfortunately, The Mangler lacks the dark humor and memorable characters that make more the other, ittedly silly, King adaptations so fun.
Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977)
Although it is a difficult one to find nowadays, Death Bed: The Bed That Eats is a must for fans of schlocky, Grindhouse horror movie oddities. The film surely features one of the weirdest and most mundane cursed objects in all of cinema history: a bed possessed by a demonic entity that wakes every ten years with a hunger for human flesh.
Disted, bizarre and erratically edited, the movie seems to have perplexed critics but has gained a cult following amongst horror fans in the years since its release.
In Fabric (2018)
British director Peter Strickland’s surrealistic Giallo-inspired horror film In Fabric is a strange, psychedelic movie that feels straight out of the '70s. It centers on another odd cursed object, this time a red dress that delivers violent misfortune on whomever happens to own it.
Featuring a department store that seems to be home to a coven of witches, as well as a plumber that inexplicably sends those around him into a trance-like state whenever he discusses washing machine faults, In Fabric is a truly weird cinema experience that blends erotica and horror with moments of genuine humor.
Hellraiser (1987)
A classic in horror cinema, and spawning an incredible nine sequels, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser introduced audiences to the sadomasochistic “cenobites”, a race of interdimensional demonic creatures led by the terrifying Pinhead (Doug Bradley).
The most well-known prop from the Hellraiser franchise is the Lament Configuration, a cursed puzzle box that, when completed, allows the cenobites to into our world from the extradimensional realm they normally inhabit. It sounds a bit weird and far-fetched, but the movie is actually one of the more memorable and terrifying body horror films of all time.
