Comedy and horror often rely on the same element of surprise to provoke the desired reaction with their audience. And over the years, Saturday Night Live has used that similarity to find laughs undermining various horror tropes and scenarios. Although Halloween usually brings out the spooky side of SNL, the show would go into horror-tinged territory no matter when it was. Of course, the most popular of these sketches seems to be the two appearances of guest Tom Hanks as David S Pumpkins, so setting him aside, here are 11 other greater sketches that are either set at Halloween or invoke its spooky vibes.
Note: Most of these sketches are available on SNL’s official YouTube channel with the exception of “Return Of The Coneheads” and “Mr. Death.” These two can be seen in their individual full episodes available for streaming on Peacock.
Exorcist II (Season 01, Episode 07)
With the release of Star Wars still two years away, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist was the reigning box office champ of the 1970s. And while blaxploitation producers had already done their own version of The Exorcist with 1974’s Abby, Saturday Night Live turned in their own version with guest host Rhichard Pryor serving as an assistant priest for the exorcism of a possessed little girl played by Laraine Newman. Pryor’s work here and in the rest of the episode was the first spark that would ultimately lead to his own, albeit shortlived, prime time sketch series two years later. It should be not that that while I can see the impulse to criticize the show and producer Lorne Michaels for casting its second black lead in this sketch with outside actor Thamulus Rasulula instead of cast member Garrett Morris, it should be noted that this was done at Pryor’s request.
Return Of The Coneheads (Season 03, Episode 04)
Halloween wasn’t much of a topic for sketches in the early years of Saturday Night Live, but Dan Aykroyd’s creation the Coneheads were certainly tailor-made for the holiday. In this, the sixth of 11 sketches to feature the cranial enhanced aliens who claimed to be from France, Beldar (Aykroyd) and Prymaat (Jane Curtin) attract the attention of their neighbors (Gilda Radner and Bill Murray) after they hand out fried eggs and six-packs of beer to the local trick-or-treaters.
Mr Death (Season 03, Episode 15)
Perhaps not one of the spookiest sketches SNL has ever done, but it does contain a core sweetness amid its dark underpinnings. Guest host Christopher Lee plays Death, who visits a small girl (Laraine Newman) to apologize for taking her beloved pet dog. Written by Alan Zweibel and Gilda Radner – though Newman managed to lobby hard to get the role over Radner as she was a big horror film fan and wanted the chance for a scene with Lee – the piece is more of a slice of life sketch that the show has moved away from in the years since. And Lee’s comment about the girl’s fifteenth birthday in the future is very chilling.
Helmsley Spook House (Season 12, Episode 03)
As the spokesperson in the commercials for her luxury New York hotels in the 1980s Leona Helmsley came across as demanding of the staff for the benefit of her guests. It would later come out that she was downright abusive to her employees in addition to committing several counts of tax fraud. Although she has pretty much faded from the public’s consciousness over the decades (she died in 2007), she was very much in the public eye and Nora Dunn’s take on her in this fake commercial for a haunted house atop one of her hotels captures the public persona she strived to project while hinting at the absolute monster she was off-camera.
Vincent Price’s Halloween Special (Season 34, Episode 06)
Bill Hader has never been shy about his love of old Hollywood, and that is certainly on display in the six sketches where he portrays iconic horror film actor Vincent Price as the host of various holiday specials during the Golden Age of Television. Among those sketches, Halloween is the only holiday to get the treatment twice, and while both of them are good (and the SNL YouTube channel has sandwiched them together below), the first is the better with that week’s host Jon Hamm plays James Mason (a last minute change from the originally scripted Dean Martin) while cast members Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen play Gloria Swanson and flamboyant pianist Liberace, all intent on not acting like they are on the family show that Price insists they are.
Trick Or Treat (Season 34, Episode 06)
Is Halloween a time to dress up like someone else or a time to express your inner self that you would normally keep hidden? That’s the question that seems to underlie this rather dark sketch. Will Forte plays newcomer to the neighborhood Jeff Montgomery, introducing himself to home owner Jon Hamm on Halloween night. But is his Halloween costume that of a sex offender who is required by law to notify the other people on the block who he is or is he an actual predator hoping to use the holiday as camouflage? It is a cleverly written sketch that finds the humor in what could be one of a home owner’s biggest fears.
Stefon On Halloween (Season 38, Episode 05)
Halloween is always a great holiday for fun parties, and who better to let us all know about some great spooky shindigs happening in New York City than Weekend Update’s very own City Correspondent, Stefon? Whether you are looking for a hot spot on the Lower Upper Side or a place where you can relax eating fraisins (Raisins that look like Fraiser) or trying your luck at a human pinata, Stefon has just the place for you to head to.
The Merryville Brothers (Season 38, Episode 05)
The third of three sketches featuring the animatronic Merryville Brothers (Taran Killam, Bill Hader and whomever is the guest host that week), this installment finds haunted house ride patrons Jay Pharoh and Vanessa Bayer stranded as the ride breaks down and the Brothers keep getting closer. All three sketches succeed on the physical acting involve – Hader’s demented stare as he hits his triangle is an all-timer – but this one is put over the top by the introduction of a surprise fourth Brother.
The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders (Season 39, Episode 04)
It would be an understatement to say that director Wes Anderson has a very unique signature style, both visually and in the kinds of stories he tells. But what if he decided to turn that whimsical style to a story about homicidal home invaders? It would probably look pretty much like this pre-tape, “The Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders.” From that week’s host Edward Norton’s hilarious impersonation of Owen Wilson to perfect music selections to the dead-on capturing of Anderson’s formalistic visual style, this piece is probably one of the best film parodies the show has ever done.
Chad (Season 44, Episode 14)
Pete Davidson’s oblivious stoner pool boy Chad was pretty much an instant hit when he debuted in season 41, thanks in part to his hilariously weird makeout moment with guest host Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Since then, Chad has been placed in a number of situations to various degrees of success, though perhaps the best iteration of the formulas is this one which essentially puts him in the Drew Barrymore role from the first Scream film. And a fun jump scare cameo from Mikey Day as a pizza delivery guy rounds the piece out.
Chucky (Season 47, Episode 17)
If there was any SNL cast member specifically built for Halloween, it’s Sarah Sherman. Her standup often featured fun, tongue-in-cheek gross out gags, so it seems natural that she would play a riff on a character like the possessed doll Chucky from the Child’s Play films. The twist here is casting Chucky into the corporate America workplace, where he fits in as well as can be expected. Chucky creator Don Mancini liked the sketch so much, he gave Sherman a shout out on social media and would cast her in a guest role in the third season of the Chucky TV series.
