Where classic horror meme formats come from
Most horror memes reuse one moment from one film: a face, a line or a pose. The moment is often decades older than the meme. Here is where eight of the best-known formats started.
Pennywise in the storm drain
Pennywise comes from Stephen King's 1986 novel. Tim Curry played the clown in the 1990 miniseries directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, and Bill Skarsgård played him in Andy Muschietti's 2017 film. The storm-drain scene and the “we all float” line give the format a fixed setup: a friendly offer from somewhere it should not come from.
“Here's Johnny!”
Jack Nicholson improvised the line while his face pushes through the broken bathroom door. He was quoting Ed McMahon's introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Kubrick, who lived in England, did not know the reference and almost used another take. The image now stands for any unwelcome entrance.
Ghostface on the phone
Kevin Williamson wrote the opening call in which the killer asks Casey Becker about scary movies and turns horror trivia into a threat. Roger L. Jackson voiced Ghostface. The question “What's your favorite scary movie?” became a caption that works on any reply.
Michael Myers standing still
The mask was a Captain Kirk mask that production designer Tommy Lee Wallace bought for $1.98 and painted white. Carpenter often shows Michael standing motionless behind a hedge or a washing line, so the format is simple: a calm figure in the background of an ordinary scene.
“I want to play a game”
James Wan directed and Leigh Whannell wrote the screenplay from a story by both. Jigsaw speaks through Billy the Puppet on a tape recording. The line sets up a cruel choice, so the meme pairs it with tiny, everyday dilemmas.
The Sunken Place
In Peele's directing debut, a hypnotized man falls into a dark void while someone else controls his body. Peele won Best Original Screenplay at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018. “Sunken place” became shorthand for being silenced or trapped in your own head.
The Babadook as a Pride icon
A Tumblr user joked in October 2016 that the Babadook is gay. In December 2016 a screenshot of Netflix listing the film among LGBTQ titles went viral, and by June 2017 the character was a Pride Month joke symbol.
Out of the television
Sadako climbs out of a well on a cursed videotape and then out of the TV set itself. Gore Verbinski's 2002 American remake, The Ring, repeated the scene with Samara. The format shows anything crossing from a screen into real life.
Why horror formats spread
One readable frame. A face through a door or a mask behind a hedge reads in a second, even for people who never saw the film.
A line that takes any caption. “What's your favorite scary movie?” and “I want to play a game” are setups. The joke is whatever follows.
Fear turned into a shared joke. Laughing at a monster takes away its power, which is why the Babadook could become a mascot.
The films keep coming back. Remakes and sequels, from The Ring in 2002 to It in 2017, introduce each moment to a new audience every few years.
Horror movie marathon planner
Enter your films and runtimes, a start time and a break length. The planner shows when each film starts and ends and when the marathon finishes. Five classics from the formats above are filled in.
Runtimes are the UK cinema running times in the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) records for each film's first UK cinema release, rounded to the nearest minute: Halloween (1978) 91 min, Scream (1996) 111 min, Saw (2004) 102 min, Get Out (2017) 104 min and It (2017) 135 min. Other listings can differ by a minute or two, and DVD, TV and streaming versions run differently. Breaks are only counted between films. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is sent.
Horror meme FAQ
Which film is the “Here's Johnny!” meme from?
The Shining (1980), directed by Stanley Kubrick. Jack Nicholson improvised the line as a reference to Ed McMahon's introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
Is Pennywise from the 1990 miniseries or the 2017 film?
Both. Pennywise comes from Stephen King's 1986 novel It. Tim Curry played him in the 1990 miniseries directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, and Bill Skarsgård played him in the 2017 film directed by Andy Muschietti.
Why is the Babadook an LGBTQ icon?
It started as a Tumblr joke in October 2016. In December 2016 a screenshot of Netflix listing The Babadook (2014) under LGBTQ films went viral, and in June 2017 the character became a Pride Month joke symbol.
How long is a five-film horror marathon?
Halloween, Scream, Saw, Get Out and It (2017) run 543 minutes back to back. With four 10-minute breaks the marathon takes 583 minutes, or 9 hours 43 minutes.