8 Movies to Keep the (Pizza) Party Going After Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Don’t call this Nicolas Cage-led instant cult classic a Five Nights at Freddy’s ripoff. It’s clear from the trailer that FNAF was Willy’s Wonderland’s muse, and screenwriter G.O. Parsons openly admits it. It’s not exactly like FNAF, ‘cause lawsuits exist, but it’s close.

Cage plays a silent drifter who takes a gig as a janitor at a joint similar to Chuck E. Cheese to finance car repairs. And you guessed it, as soon as the Janitor gets locked in, the animatronic characters—inhabited by members of a cannibal cult—attack. That’s where the similarities end, and Cage’s temp gig turns into an all-night, anthropomorphic animatronic ass-kicking party.

Maybe you’ve heard the rumors about filmmaker Peter Jackson’s (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) first three films. Sandwiched between two splatterfests—1987’s Bad Taste and 1992’s Braindead, aka Dead Alive—is Meet the Feebles, a deliciously raunchy gross-out comedy that satirizes Jim Henson’s beloved The Muppet Show.

If you’re averse to childhood-ruining content like YouTube’s Meat Canyon channel and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, don’t worry—Jackson’s Feebles aren’t that similar to Henson’s Muppets. And you’ll be too busy laughing (and cringing) to notice, anyway.

In this comedy from Alex Winter (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) and Tom Stern, bad-boy ex-child-star Ricky Coogin (Winter) agrees to promote a shady corporation’s controversial chemical: Zygrot 24.

Before Coogin can collect a check, a freakshow owner (Randy Quaid) kidnaps Coogin and his friends and uses Zygrot 24 to turn the group into hideous mutant freaks. Now Coogin and his new crew—including a Dogboy (Keanu Reeves), bearded lady (Mr. T), and anthropomorphic sock puppet (Bobcat Goldthwait)—must escape Freekland or perform there in perpetuity.

Stephen and Charles Chiodo’s killer klowns landed on our planet 35 years ago, and they get more popular every year. Why? Because the Chiodo Brothers name means top-shelf practical effects work and boundless creativity.

In this sci-fi horror comedy—the Chiodos’ only film—alien clowns kill the citizens of Crescent Cove with wacky weapons like popcorn guns, cotton-candy cocoons, and shadow puppets. It’s a little creepy—and totally terrifying if you have coulrophobia—but tons of fun. And the theme song by Australian punks The Dickies is a banger.

Speaking of childhood-ruining nostalgia-skewering horror movies, this slasher-ization of late-’60s Saturday morning show, The Banana Splits, was a diabolical idea. I mean, the theme song—”Tra-la-la, la-la-la-la / tra-la-la, la-la, la-la-la”—is so innocent. Or is it?

In Danishka Esterhazy’s horror-comedy, the animatronic Banana Splits gang short-circuits upon learning their show is about to be canceled and, as the song goes, they start “makin’ up a mess of fun.” We only wish the film included a joke where Fleegle makes a victim sing “Tra-la-la, la-la-la-la / tra-la-la, la-la, la-la-la” while gargling blood.

Dustin Mills (Bath Salt Zombies, Skinless) wrote, directed, animated, edited, and even voiced some characters in this gory, raunchy, puppet-y creature-feature comedy. Teenagers accept the “On One Condition” trope and spend a night in a haunted mansion for the promise of a million bucks. Little do they know, the owner is a mad scientist who’s created a monster in the basement and plans to power-feed it with their corpses.

As an independent, low-budget, green-screen movie, The Puppet Monster Massacre isn’t high art (nor is it meant to be), but it’s funny—and you haven’t lived until you’ve seen puppet gore.