Bloopers That'll Change The Way You See These Horror Movies

You can't make a movie without also making a few mistakes, and the horror genre is absolutely no exception. The final girl bursts out laughing during her big escape scene; the blood-spewing machine malfunctions and saturates the entire set; the flesh-eating swamp monster trips over his own tentacles and falls down a flight of stairs. Sometimes, the accidents that happen while the cameras are rolling are even too good to leave out. From hilarious bloopers that made the final cut to flubbed takes and general goofing around on the set, here's a look at some classic clips that will change the way you see some of your favorite horror movies.

In 1996, Wes Craven's sendup of the slasher genre heralded the dawn of a new wave of smart, sleek, self-aware horror films. The special effects, however, were the same tried-and-true practical techniques directors have relied on for years, including the use of corn syrup to simulate blood. And in a movie where it seemed like someone was stabbed to death every other minute, things were extremely sloppy and sticky on set by the time the film reached its thrilling climax. This led to a hilarious unplanned exchange, when Skeet Ulrich lost control of the blood-covered phone and winged it right at Matthew Lillard's head. Lillard reacted with genuine indignation, shouting, "You hit me with the phone, d**k!"

Ordinarily, an outburst like that might have led to a shout of "Cut!" and a request to do the scene again. But according to the Scream DVD commentary, since Lillard was supposed to be playing the doofy sidekick to Ulrich's cold-blooded psychopath, his reaction wasn't even remotely out of character. Craven went ahead and kept it. As it turned out, it was a wise move; not only did the line make the final cut, it's one of the funniest moments in the movie.

The Descent is a pretty terrifying movie in which a bunch of young female cave explorers are stalked and killed while doing what they love best: exploring caves. To make a long story short, they're trapped in a horrendous (and horrendously dark) cave system—and if that's not bad enough, light-eschewing monsters want to eat their delicious flesh. That's why it's so funny on the blooper reel when one of the victims, face all deformed from unspeakable things, gives a big ol' kiss and a declaration of love to one of the not-yet claimed humans.

The mid-2000s brought about a horror revival of sorts, with films often featuring attractive young people recognizable from TV being brutally killed. Take the remake of the '50s horror classic House of Wax, which starred WB heartthrobs such as Chad Michael Murray from One Tree Hill, Jared Padalcki from Gilmore Girls...and socialite, reality star, and night vision camera owner Paris Hilton. To her credit, the often dispassionate Hilton gives everything she's got to her performance as a scream queen, shrieking bloody murder as the script requires. It's not nearly as annoying as the car alarm that goes off unexpectedly in the middle of a scene shot in the woods. (You'd think some P.A. would've disabled it before film started rolling, but so such luck.)

Fine, upstanding British actor Malcolm McDowell is always an imposing presence who dominates every scene he's in, whether he's playing the hero, an antihero, or a villain. In Rob Zombie's 2007 version of Halloween, he plays Dr. Samuel Loomis, the former psychiatrist of crazed murderer Michael Myers (Tyler Mane). Myers eventually comes for Dr. Loomis, of course, and he cowers in fear in a darkened house. McDowell seems genuinely startled when Mane breaks in through a door behind him...only to immediately launch into a comical, profanity-laden tirade. "You must be f***ing joking!" McDowell screams. "Use the front f****** door, the bell's working!"

Jennifer's Body offered character relationships a bit more complex than those in the average horror movie. That's to be expected when the film is written by Oscar-winner Diablo Cody. Over the course of the film, nerdy Anita (Amanda Seyfried) comes to both love and hate her best friend, popular cheerleader-turned murderous succubus Jennifer (Megan Fox). Those mixed feelings physically manifest in a scene in which Seyfried screams accusatory things at Fox's character...and then kisses her. Or at least she tries to kiss her, as Fox is apparently so deep into her monstrous character that she takes a bite out of her costar.

Anthony Hopkins deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, one of only a handful of horror movies to ever take home major Oscars. Hopkins is one the best actors in the world, and as such, is quite versatile—he played an American president in Nixon, and a repressed English butler in The Remains of the Day. He even played Rocky Balboa once. Really, he did—while his face and shirt were covered in blood during a twisted and hilarious outtake on the set of The Silence of the Lambs, that is.

The defining characteristics of a vampire have developed over more than a century of fiction and film. Everybody knows they sleep in coffins, go out only at night, and have big fangs they use to puncture their victims' necks to more effectively drink their blood. Countless vampire movies have featured scenes of vampires dramatically exposing those chompers, but it loses its dramatic effect and descends into silliness if, say, those fangs were to spontaneously fall out of an actor's mouth—as Christopher Mintz-Plasse discovered while filming this scene for the 2011 Fright Night remake.

Eli Roth's second Hostel is maybe even more gruesome than the first. So many disturbing things go down: murder, torture, power saws used as weapons, soccer played with a human head, and all kinds of the gory stuff that makes going to the movies such a magical experience. And yet the most unnerving thing to ever go down in the movie, the moment that will linger with viewers for years to come, is this blooper from Hostel: Part II, in which a gang of chained-up captives make everyone chuckle by doing a silly little march/dance.

Mel Brooks' classic Young Frankenstein perfectly skewers old Hollywood monster movies. Comedian Marty Feldman is one of the film's many bright spots, portraying Dr. Frankenstein's faithful assistant Igor as some strange combination of maniac, pet, child, creep, and vaudeville performer. All those parts come into play in equal measure during this scene, when Feldman gets a little too carried away.