For a long time now, serious fans of the horror, thriller, and sci-fi genres, and any adjacent sub-genres, have known that ridiculous is not a bad thing. An absurd premise, goofy character, or silly set of circumstances turned into a scary but self-aware nightmare is often the recipe for something brilliant - or at least thoroughly entertaining. If we didn’t know this already, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot is proving it all over again with early reviews and reception that are already setting it up as one of the surprise gems of 2019. That’s not precisely a horror film, but you get the gist. And its absolutely bonkers premise got us thinking, what might the next ridiculous yet awesome horror flick be? From murder holidays and deadly escape rooms to killer clowns and found footage mayhem, to killer Santas and human-freaking-centipedes, it feels like we’ve seen just about everything. Just for fun though, here are some ridiculous, fun ideas that actually seem like they could probably get made into semi-comedic horror and/or action movies. ‘Khan Rising’ Genghis Khan is arguably the greatest conqueror the world has ever seen - and by many accounts, one of the most brutal. He also happens to have been one of the most prolific procreators in human history, to the point that it was said in 2010 that 1 in 200 men is a direct descendant of the warlord. Overlooking how ludicrous that number is, let’s focus on the fact that this means 0.5% of all human men share blood and DNA with a brutal, conquering warlord of legendary prowess. What’s to stop one of them - or all of them - from admiring the ancient ancestor to the point of taking up his cause in the modern world? It’s the perfect premise for an over-the-top horror/action flick. ‘Boss Fight’ This is a horror concept that would bleed into sci-fi and/or fantasy as well, but it’s also the one of these ideas that might be best suited to catch a wave of interest based on modern entertainment and pop culture. The idea is simple: Imagine a virtual reality game in which you fight your way through levels, as in Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Then imagine that it’s all fun and games until the final fight - the ‘Boss Fight’ - at which point what happens in VR happens in real life. A virtual monster would terrify and smite human gamers, leading to increasing panic and some kind of dramatic group effort among characters to end it all (of course, simply not playing the game wouldn’t come up). ‘Fantasy Football For Life’ Fantasy sports are absolutely massive these days, catering to tens of millions of people. They’ve brought about entire new companies, handled billions of dollars in transactions, and even spawned a TV comedy ("The League"). Fantasy sports are known to come in a variety of contest styles as well such that people can construct their leagues most any way they like, in terms of how to draft, how to manage teams, etc. Some leagues are known to come up with creative punishments for losers however, and there is undoubtedly a tongue-in-cheek horror film to be made about a fantasy football league so intense the losers die. Yes, it’s morbid, but it would have a huge built-in audience of fantasy players, and if it were done with a comedic touch it could actually be a brilliant mockery of how seriously some people take this activity. ‘Lost In Imaginationland’ This idea borrows directly from the brilliant animated comedy "South Park," so naturally it would require permission from the show’s creators (or better yet, they’d just do it themselves). Imaginationland, for those who aren’t familiar, is a fantasy land at the core of a three-episode series within a season of "South Park," and it’s where everything people have ever imagined lives - from Narnia’s Aslan to Middle Earth’s Orcs. Naturally there’s as much potential for horror and tragedy in such a place as anything nice, and while "South Park" touches on this, it would be wild to see a movie - maybe even a live action movie - dive all the way into the evil side of this hilarious, absurd fantasy land. ‘The Man Who Saved Earth The Hard Way’ This is another idea that’s borrowing a bit from other sources. First off, clearly the title is inspired by the aforementioned Hitler/Bigfoot movie coming out this year. Second, however, it’s actually taking inspiration from one of Dan Brown’s books. Best known for The Da Vinci Code, Brown - for all the criticism he takes for his actual literature - is a master of suspense and dastardly plots. One such plot, in the book Inferno, actually makes you think a little bit though. The villain in that book isn’t trying to kill people or blow something up, but rather wants to render a significant portion of the world infertile as a means of aggressive population control. It’s not exactly a cool move, but more than most villainous plots, you can at least see your way to the logic of it. A horror film built around a similar concept - or a much nastier version of it, if it were going to be a more brutal and problematic film - could actually be quite engaging.
