The Best Movie Pranks

The remake of the movie adaptation of the Stephen King novel “Carrie” came out this past Friday. The most iconic scene in the novel and its adaptations is a prom prank that leaves Carrie covered in pig’s blood, causing her to lash out telekinetically and (spoiler alert) kill pretty much everybody in the movie. In honor of the release of this adaptation, the Arts Blog recounts the best pranks in movie history:

The Dead Horse in “Animal House”
Arguably the first “prank-within-a-prank,” frat king Bluto (John Belushi) convinces young Flounder (Stephen Furst) to kill a fascist ROTC captain’s horse and put it in the dean’s office. Unbeknownst to Flounder, Bluto has filled the gun with blanks. However, when Flounder chickens out and shoots the gun at the ceiling, the horse dies of a heart attack, resulting in the most tragic equine scene since the horse head in “The Godfather.”

The White Paint in “Dazed and Confused”
In the second biggest prank of Ben Affleck’s career (after his appearance in the “Jenny from the Block” music video), incoming high school freshmen pour white paint all over his character Fred O’Bannion as revenge for his hazing ritual of paddle-whacking their behinds. O’Bannion then goes on a hilarious tirade against those around him (the second funniest thing in Affleck’s career after his appearance in “Jenny from the Block”).

The Flaming Bag of Dog Poop in “Disturbia”
Two sniveling kids put a bag of flaming feces on Kale Brecht’s (Shia Labeouf)’s doorstep, knowing that he is under house arrest and can’t run after them. Kale’s anger pushes him over the edge, and he stabs and screams at his ankle bracelet to no avail. This is arguably the least violent of the pranks on this list (in a horror movie about the serial killer next door).

Various Assaults in “Home Alone”
Arguably more a sadistic survival mechanism than a legitimate prank, Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) camps out in front of a doggy door and shoots a burglar (played by Joe Pesci) in the genitals with a BB gun (oddly reminiscent of Pesci’s death scene in “Goodfellas”). The branding of the film, which is chock-full of potentially lethal attacks by the eight-year-old Kevin, as a comedy and a kid’s movie is arguably one of the least responsible marketing decisions of all time. After seeing this movie, not only are millennials pathologically horrified of robbery, but they also think that almost castrating, stabbing, and biting burglars is a better call than attempting to leave the house.