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Quahog's finest have a knack for stumbling into some seriously scary situations! Join us as we count down the most memorable horror movie references from "Family Guy!" From the Griffin house getting the "Poltergeist" treatment to Stewie channeling his inner Hannibal Lecter, these moments prove that even animated comedy can give you chills. Which spooky "Family Guy" reference is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00I have a secret to tell you.
00:02What is it?
00:03Come closer.
00:05I see good food at competitive prices.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:10And today, we're looking at the most memorable horror movie references from Family Guy.
00:15Stewie, what are you doing?
00:18They're here.
00:21Number 20.
00:22Peter buries his father, Pet Sematary.
00:25Family Guy is an over-the-top cartoon, but when a main character dies, they usually stay dead.
00:32Such is the case for Francis Griffin, although Peter does try to revive the man who raised him.
00:37I don't know if you can hear me right now, but I hope you know.
00:41I love you, Dad.
00:42On his deathbed, Francis tells Peter what he really thinks of him, and it's not a sentimental sitcom moment.
00:49Not ready to let Francis go, Peter gets the bright idea to bury him in the Pet Sematary.
00:54Of course, that didn't work out for Lewis Creed in any adaptation of Stephen King's 1983 novel.
01:01It all goes about as well for Peter, with Francis coming back even more argumentative than before.
01:10Okay, I'll bury him in a regular cemetery.
01:12At least Francis is easier to take down than Gage, prompting Peter to bury him elsewhere.
01:17Number 19.
01:19Chris to the rescue.
01:21The Blob.
01:221958's The Blob became a B-movie classic, with effects that are still pretty inventive almost 70 years later.
01:29It's the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life.
01:31That said, it's not like the effects are so believable that they blur the line between reality and fantasy.
01:37They do for Chris Griffin, who not only thinks The Blob is real, but the people on TV are in
01:43danger of it.
01:44When yelling at a woman on screen doesn't get a response, Chris decides to rescue her himself.
01:50He charges at the TV, crashing so hard that he knocks himself out while shattering the screen.
01:55I'll save you!
01:58This might seem like one of Chris' dumber moments, but if you think about it, he prevented The Blob from
02:03doing any further harm by destroying the TV.
02:07So there's that.
02:07Number 18.
02:10Frankenstein's Male Monster.
02:12Frankenstein.
02:13It's one of the most iconic and most parodied scenes in pop culture.
02:17Dr. Frankenstein bringing his creation to life.
02:20It's alive!
02:21It's alive!
02:22It's alive!
02:25In the name of God!
02:27Now I know what it feels like to be God!
02:29This experiment is a success in this cutaway gag, but Frankenstein's hunchbacked assistant has a question.
02:36Why did he create a male monster instead of a female one?
02:40Frankenstein knows where Igor's going with this, pointing out that it would have been far more messed up if he
02:45brought a woman to life and expected her to perform sexual favors.
02:49I don't know, man.
02:50You just shouldn't have made a guy.
02:52Igor still finds the doctor's choice questionable.
02:55Well, we guess he'll eventually make The Bride of Frankenstein, which is kind of misleading since she's the creature's intended
03:03bride, not Frankenstein's.
03:06But that's a whole other tangent.
03:09Number 17.
03:10Tom Tucker as Michael Myers.
03:13Halloween 4, The Return of Michael Myers.
03:16While John Carpenter's original is the only Halloween film that everyone considers a masterpiece, some of the sequels have gained
03:23cult followings.
03:24Halloween 4 is one of them, with Peter being among the fan base.
03:29Did you just say that George P. Wilbur was Tom Tucker's stage name?
03:32Who the hell is George P. Wilbur?
03:34That's the guy who played Michael Myers in Halloween 4, the greatest movie of all time!
03:38Little did Peter realize that George P. Wilbur, the actor who played Michael Myers in Halloween 4, was actually a
03:45stage name for Tom Tucker.
03:46Despite knowing Tom personally and re-watching the film numerous times, Peter never put two and two together.
03:53As he pops in the 1988 live-action film, though, Peter suddenly recognizes the voice behind the mask.
03:59It is him!
04:00I can't believe it!
04:01I mean, that's like my favorite movie ever!
04:03Peter is surprised that Tom didn't have a longer acting career, although, technically,
04:08Wilbur was also in Halloween, The Curse of Michael Myers.
04:11So, was that Tom too?
04:14Number 16.
04:15Don't get Cleveland wet.
04:17Gremlins.
04:19Family Guy has made a few Gremlins references.
04:21In one instance, Peter ignores the no feeding after midnight rule, turning a mogwai into the nanny.
04:28What could happen?
04:34The most unexpected revelation is that Cleveland's biology is similar to that of the mogwai.
04:40Sunlight apparently won't kill Cleveland, but if you get water on him, mischievous creatures will pop out of his back.
04:47Peter learns this the hard way when he splashes Cleveland aboard a boat, dooming the beachgoers on the shore.
04:53The funniest part is the uncomfortable looks on the guys' faces as they watch the mayhem Peter caused, with Joe
05:00awkwardly driving the boat away.
05:08Of course, we're not sure why Cleveland doesn't spawn more Gremlins every time he takes a bath.
05:14Number 15.
05:16Dinner with Pinhead.
05:18Hellraiser.
05:18Although the character is nicknamed Pinhead, many still tend to call him Hellraiser after the movie's title.
05:25Peter does so when he travels back to the 80s, ready to raise some hell.
05:29That's right, Peter.
05:30You're 18 years old again.
05:32At least that's how everyone will see you.
05:35He points to the 1987 film as an example, but this Pinhead isn't quite as intimidating as the one Doug
05:42Bradley portrayed.
05:43Sitting down to dinner with his significant other, Pinhead asks her if she wants any salt.
05:49Pinhead has a surprise in store for her, however.
05:52He loosened the shaker, causing her to over-salt her steak.
05:56Ah, gotcha, that's more salt than you wanted.
06:00Pinhead snickers like a five-year-old who thinks his prank is far more clever than it actually is.
06:05At least, he didn't open any wounds to rub the salt in.
06:09Number 14. Stewie and Annabelle, The Conjuring Franchise.
06:14Even if she wasn't demonically possessed, Annabelle is a freaky-looking doll that no child would want to play with,
06:22except Stewie Griffin.
06:24Going through old photos in the attic, Stewie tells Annabelle about his plans for Rupert's.
06:29I'm going to do something really nice for Rupert. Show him how much he means to me, Annabelle.
06:34It would be wholesome to see Stewie conversing with his toys if the toy in question weren't a vessel for
06:40evil.
06:40While we naturally don't hear her speak, Stewie can understand Annabelle, telling her not to kill anybody.
06:47Although, he might get back to her later.
06:49The next time Stewie addresses Annabelle, he realizes that her rocking chair is empty.
06:54We don't see Annabelle again, but based on Peter's startled reaction off-screen,
06:59we can assume that the Griffins might need to call the Warrens.
07:03Holy s**t, what is that?
07:05Number 13. Giggity.
07:08It. Hanging out in the sewer to prey upon unsuspecting ladies?
07:13Who else but Quagmire?
07:15I owe you, Lois. You've opened up a whole world of middle-aged legs to me.
07:21Oh my god, Quagmire is terrorizing middle-aged women and I'm responsible for it.
07:26I've created a monster.
07:28During a rainstorm, a woman in a familiar yellow raincoat loses her Luna Bar, chasing it down to a storm
07:35drain.
07:36Looking inside, she doesn't encounter Pennywise, but another predator dressed as a clown.
07:41Although we're more concerned for the woman's well-being, Quagmire is actually the one in a perilous situation.
07:47He's stuck in the drain, asking her to call the Department of Water and Power.
07:51Please call the DWP. I'm stuck in here.
07:54That doesn't make Quagmire any less creepy as he appears with a red balloon over the title, Gig-a-T.
08:01Number 12. Toshio on Camera.
08:05The Grudge.
08:06This joke suddenly takes a grim turn, although that's par for the course when it comes to Family Guy.
08:12And I worked really hard on taking a picture of myself every day for a year and then setting the
08:16photos to an emotional song.
08:18Peter has taken a picture of himself every day for a year, which he shows to his pals in a
08:24musical montage.
08:25The pictures seem routine until something small, bluish, and deadly creeps into the frame.
08:31It takes Peter a few days to notice, but he eventually comes face to face with the ghost of Toshio
08:37Saeki.
08:37After that, Peter endures a series of sleepless nights, informing his friends that they might have to sell their house.
08:44Yeah, so we're thinking about selling the house.
08:47Even if they do, Toshio is hiding behind their booth, meaning that he can follow Peter anywhere.
08:54Hopefully, Kayako isn't haunting Peter, too.
08:57Number 11. Quagmire and Freddy.
09:00The A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
09:03Of course, Quagmire would be an acquaintance of Freddy Krueger.
09:07Quagmire and Joe are on a mission to make Peter laugh so hard that he craps his pants.
09:12Get out of here, Quagmire! I just put on clean pants!
09:16At least their dirty joke can't reach Peter in his dreams.
09:20Or can it?
09:21As Peter turns in for the night, Quagmire goes to sleep, meeting up with everyone's worst nightmare.
09:28Quagmire pays Mr. Krueger to deliver the joke via Peter's dream.
09:33Hey, Freddy is the quippiest of all the slasher villains.
09:36While we don't get to watch Freddy at work, he was clearly successful based on the ensuing bed defecation.
09:43As Peter awakens to his soiled sheets and a livid Lois, he realizes that even in deep slumber, his pants
09:52aren't safe.
09:53When you poop in your dreams, you poop for real.
09:5610. Get away from her, Bruce!
10:00Aliens.
10:01While not as horror-heavy as the previous film, Aliens still contained some of the franchise's most intense imagery.
10:09Most notably, the Xenomorph Queen.
10:12Get away from her, you bitch!
10:15This is one creature you don't want to encounter around the corner, but the Queen would be far less horrifying
10:22if she talked and sounded just like Bruce.
10:25As Ripley and Newt attempt to escape, the Queen stops them dead in their tracks.
10:30They seem more confused than scared, as the Queen, and her tiny inner jaw, converse about eating them, in an
10:37unusually soft-spoken, polite manner.
10:39You think you can just up and run away? You crazy.
10:42Aside from the Queen's mouth movements, she otherwise stands perfectly still.
10:47Which, weirdly, makes it even funnier as she rattles on about how Ripley and Newt aren't getting out of her
10:52grasp without a fight.
10:549. Fire Island.
10:57The Jaws franchise.
10:59The Alien Queen isn't the only movie monster that Bruce's voice has somehow infiltrated.
11:05We suppose it's fitting that he'd voice the Great White from Jaws, as the filmmakers named the mechanical shark's Bruce,
11:12after Steven Spielberg's lawyer.
11:14You're gonna need a bigger boat, right?
11:17Unfortunately, Spielberg didn't return to direct Jaws 2 or Jaws 3 or Jaws 4, and definitely not Jaws 5, which
11:25is set on Fire Island.
11:26The shark prepares to chow down on two male swimmers floating above, but not before nonchalantly talking about it for
11:33a bit.
11:34Seeing how he already ate a kid, the shark reconsiders having another meal.
11:39I got a whole bunch of rosy teeth to chew you with.
11:42Dinah, dinah, dinah.
11:44He figures he's earned the extra carbs, though, gulping up two swimmers in the most casual manner.
11:50Still, scarier than the last Jaws movie.
11:538. Trump the Birds.
11:56With his 1963 classic, Alfred Hitchcock proved that he could make something as commonplace as Birds scary.
12:04Those gulls attacked.
12:06Now, Lydia, attack's a pretty strong word, don't you think?
12:09I mean, birds just don't go around attacking people without no reason, you know what I mean?
12:14Kids probably scared them, that's all.
12:17These birds attacked.
12:18While the film doesn't end with a final attack, it's still eerie watching the birds gathered in one place, stalking
12:25our heroes as they drive off to an uncertain future.
12:29The Griffins have a similar encounter on a road trip, although instead of birds, they come across a flock of
12:34Trump supporters at a diner.
12:36Sensing that they're not welcome, the Griffins order their pancakes to go.
12:40After exiting the restaurant, they find even more mega-hatted strangers perched outside.
12:46Some of them even squawk the president's name as the family seeks refuge in the car.
12:51While they get away, the road ahead is murky.
13:017. Meeting Hansen.
13:04Children of the Corn.
13:06In the 1984 adaptation of Stephen King's short story, a character named Mr. Hansen has a cafe named after him.
13:13After church, we went to Hansen's, just like always.
13:16Maybe that's the connection Peter made when Hansen, the boy band, showed up at his house.
13:21With their bus broken down, the brothers ask if they can use the Griffins' phone.
13:25For a teenage girl like Meg, it's a dream come true.
13:29For Peter, it's a nightmare, jumping to the conclusion that these long-haired kids are actually the children of the
13:34corn.
13:35Holy crap, it's the children of the corn!
13:38Without even thinking twice, Peter reaches for the shotgun he just so happened to have lying around while sitting on
13:45the porch, firing away.
13:47We'd like to say this is satirical, but let's be honest.
13:50Peter's reaction is a reflection of America.
13:546. Summoning Samara.
13:57The Ring.
13:58Peter once popped in the cursed videotape from The Ring, but it fortunately didn't have Samara Morgan on it.
14:04Peter, don't.
14:05They say if you watch that video, you die.
14:07Ah, that's a lot of baloney.
14:09Alas, the tape was 1987's Mannequin, which is just as hazardous to one's health.
14:15In another instance, a vaping Chris inadvertently releases the vengeful Samara by making a ring.
14:20Although she scares off Chris and Stewie, Samara is being pursued by someone even more menacing, Glenn Quagmire.
14:28The ghost runs away screaming as Quagmire crab walks after her.
14:32Come back here, you!
14:33Ah!
14:34Giggity, giggity, crabity, giggity.
14:36It's even creepier when you take into account how old Samara is in the movies, but we suppose that's why
14:43Quagmire is the real monster in all of this.
14:46Number five, Stewie of the Lambs, The Silence of the Lambs.
14:51In an episode parodying Best Picture Winners, Family Guy dedicated a segment to one of the few horror films to
14:58take the top prize.
14:59Hello, Clarice.
15:01Dr. Lecter, I need your help.
15:04Nope, nope, nope. I'll only help if there's a quid pro quill.
15:07Okay, what is it?
15:08I want Mario Lopez to record my outgoing voicemail message.
15:12Stewie, as Hannibal Lecter, is a given, with Lois in the role of Clarice Starling.
15:18Lois' performance is so effective that they give her the Oscar mid-monologue, yet they still rudely play her off
15:25with music.
15:26In another inspired bit of casting, Chris is Buffalo Bill, which makes sense since Seth Green based his character's voice
15:33on the fictional serial killer.
15:35It puts the off-brand lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
15:41Not the first time Family Guy made that connection.
15:44We're thankfully spared the dance here, although Green leans even deeper into the Bill voice.
15:49So, it's Green doing an impression of Bill as Chris doing an impression of Bill.
15:56Yeah.
15:57Number four, Jason Voorhees, The Friday the 13th Franchise.
16:02Jason Voorhees is a hockey-masked, machete-wielding psychopath of few words.
16:08His Family Guy counterpart shares the same physical appearance, but this Jason speaks with the voice of Jackson Douglas, Alex
16:16Borstein's former husband.
16:18Sir, how does it feel to have the lake back?
16:20Well, I tell you, Tricia, as a local resident, I feel like I can once again take pride in my
16:25community.
16:25While Jason sounds like a sensible, eloquent, perfectly normal human being, his actions reflect something darker behind the mask.
16:32Whether he's doing an interview with Tricia Takenawa, buying a cabin, or dropping his son Justin Voorhees off at camp,
16:39there's almost always fresh blood on Jason's machete.
16:43Even when there isn't, there will be soon enough.
16:46Love always protects.
16:47Always trusts.
16:48Yet this never gets a reaction out of bystanders.
16:52After so many sequels, we suppose people are just desensitized to Jason's violence.
16:58Number three, Come Play With Us, Stewie, The Shining.
17:02When the Griffins inherit a pewter-schmidt mansion, Stewie stumbles upon two new playmates.
17:08They're the Grady twins from Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining.
17:12Come play with us, Stewie, forever and ever and ever.
17:17Although he owns a tricycle, Stewie is more like Jack Torrance than Danny Torrance.
17:23He even quotes Jack as he prepares to take out the twins.
17:26Not with an axe or a rope mallet like in Stephen King's book, but with a rocket launcher.
17:31It's Stewie, so we don't ponder where he got it.
17:34What we do wonder is how he blew the sisters up if they were already ghosts.
17:39Does that mean they died twice?
17:40We guess even the rocket launcher didn't finish them off for good, as Stewie runs them
17:45over with his aforementioned trike in another episode.
17:52Number two, Stewie Wilkes, Misery.
17:56This episode parodies three works of Stephen King, although only the middle section draws
18:01from one of his horror stories.
18:03A send-up of misery casts Brian as a most unfortunate writer who gets into a car accident upon running
18:10over Mr. King.
18:11Oh my God, Stephen King!
18:16Hey, this'd make a neat story.
18:21Done.
18:22His biggest fan, Stewie Wilkes, rescues him, but his savior quickly turns into his captor.
18:27Like Annie, there are some serious red flags.
18:30Stewie is even more direct, asking Brian if it'd be okay to kill him over his latest manuscript.
18:37To be fair, Brian says it's alright, which she comes to regret.
18:42Stewie insists on her rewrites, and one without any cop-outs, like in the movie Contact.
18:48Well, that's it, Stewie.
18:49The book is done.
18:50Can I go now?
18:51Brian complies, but Stewie isn't letting him go.
19:01Before we continue, check out this single from Sound Mojo's Aria, Songs from Iran, reimagining
19:07Persian melodies as modern rock, metal, and pop songs.
19:10Check out the full track and album below.
19:27Number one, Peter Geist, Poltergeist.
19:31Where most of these references are contained to getaway gags or segments, this entire episode
19:36is a parody of Poltergeist.
19:38Upon desecrating a Native American skull, Peter brings a curse to his house.
19:43Peter, I really think you should put that back where you found it.
19:45This leads to Stewie talking with the TV people about Friends and its ill-fated spinoff.
19:51Prognostic, since Joey was officially cancelled later that month.
19:55After Stewie gets sucked into the other side, more supernatural occurrences arise, with Peter
20:01turning into Hank Hill, Chris being haunted by Ronald McDonald, Herbert fighting a giant
20:06tree, and Meg's bum serving as a bridge between worlds.
20:11Bruce as the spiritual medium is also oddly fitting.
20:15Okay, let's talk to some spirits.
20:17Hey, how y'all ghosts doing?
20:19Even once the curse is lifted from their house, Peter's instinct is to put Meg out rather than
20:26his television.
20:27What's your favorite Family Guy horror parody?
20:30Let us know in the comments.
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