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Gary Larson had a horror fan's instincts, and The Far Side is full of panels that work as movie posters just as well as punchlines. Monsters at the door, things in the woods, ordinary suburbia turning sinister; he knew exactly which buttons to press, but always came armed with his trademark absurdist wit to soften the blow. As a long-time fan of horror myself, there has always been joy to be found by indulging in some of the grisly possibilities behind a singular moment of dark silliness.
To pick the best, I dug back through my copy of The Complete Far Side and pulled the ten panels that feel ripped straight from a horror movie or conjure up potentially ghastly scenarios. These are the Far Side comics that could have been scenes in a scary film but still bring the humor fans of The Far Side love.
Why You Should Trust Me: Gary Larson was a cornerstone of my early years and shaped a love of comedy I still carry decades later. I have amassed a large collection of his work that I revisit and reflect on often, and it's become one of my roles at MovieWeb to curate his work for these lists.
It Came From the Drain
A perfect creature-feature setup dropped into a suburban bathroom, playing on both urban legends and a staple animal of horror movies, though not quite as popular as sharks. The visual also plays out like the start of a horror movie, with a wife yelling at her aloof, disengaged partner, who just brushes her off, only to later become an alligator's snack himself. After that, you see the opening title appear, followed by plenty more alligator madness. Getting chills just thinking about it.
The Chipmunks, They Walk!
Larson goes full zombie siege here, yet instead of delivering humans, we get chipmunks. This seems like a wonderful scenario for a B-grade horror movie that coaxes you into hitting the play button. The depiction of the "dead" chipmunks is also genuinely unnerving, with Larson leaning heavily into crafting horror through colors and the lightning crack. At the same time, the little creatures are oddly adorable in their stance; just don't think of them swarming and eating the unfortunate woman a frame later.
The Texas Skin Massacre
Possibly the most purely disturbing image Larson ever committed to print. This one had slipped my mind entirely until I started pulling entries together for this list, and revisiting it was a jolt; it is far grislier than I remembered. Picture stumbling across a forest where skinned bodies hang from the branches like fruit; utterly terrifying, and it could sit comfortably in any horror film. I still don't quite know how Larson arrived at the idea, or whether it is a play on something else, but I can enjoy it for its macabre visuals as a horror fan.
Left to Hang
This Far Side strip hides a clever movie reference in its bizarre piece of storytelling. Anyone figure it out? Hint: the caller here blames Carl Denham, the showman who dragged a certain monster back to civilization in a certain classic. This is a lovely little Easter egg within the strip, but it was the concept I found genuinely chilling, the idea of a building filling with objects to no end, slowly choking out its employees. It is the kind of abstract horror concept I seek out in movies and literature, and there is an undeniable dread in being suffocated by something so mundane.
The Blob Behind the Wheel
The scene of an ice cream man melting is an obvious play on the idea of tasty confectionery melting in the heat. Yet perhaps it is the many ice-cream-themed horror stories, from the 90s Ice Cream Man to the equally goopy Ice Cream Bus by mangaka Junji Ito, that make this so unnerving. The image here could be an intro to a greater concept, though I like to picture a melted ice-cream truck driver desperately terrorizing a town as the ice cream in the back commands him to exact revenge to stay alive. Poor Harold Schwartz.
Sold Into the Pit
One of the staples of horror movies sees its victims stuck in a singular location, lured by a sadistic person who wants to play some sort of game or just torture his victims. The image of the grimy salesman is undeniably perfect fodder for a victim here, with the obvious trap set likely to work in Larson's world where people can be rather slow on the uptake. To bring it full horror, from the pit, I am going to say his only way out is to sell his captor on why he should be let go.
Return to Sender
An early outing from the very start of Larson's run, the visuals on this one are rough, but the image it conjures is delightfully daft. Horror around inanimate objects is a weird microgenre I have found myself interested in over the past year; possibly subversively, because of how integral The Far Side was to me growing up. A mailbox that eats people and spits out their bones is never going to be genuinely frightening, but that is exactly the point; it belongs to the gloriously silly end of the genre, right alongside The Refrigerator or Death Bed: The Bed That Eats.
The Painting Has Eyes
A brilliant piece of meta-horror that folds in on itself the more you look at it. At the same time, the painting's depiction and description are utterly hilarious, with the unhinged-looking Leonard going to great lengths to depict and explain his future crime. There is actually a decent horror plot hidden here: a man obsessed with painting his targets' means of demise and showing it to them before he strikes; sounds like the ideal set-up for a slasher.
Alive, and on the Menu
A plane crash is a terrifying enough prospect that it will often pop up in horror films or as a threat. How can it get any worse than that? Throw in some hungry bears who see another's tragedy as a potential snack. Of course, Larson's absurdist wit makes it more humorous, with the caption and the possible disappointment at getting the regular meal once again. The bears certainly seem to have the ideal spot and know what to expect; a treat for them and terror for those in the plane crash.
Something Wicked This Way Hops
I saved the best for last here, as we have learned in many a movie that a smile can be the most ominous expression before the horror. The caption's observation that they seem too happy is one of the great slow-burn dread lines in Larson's catalog. This is accompanied by some of his best artwork, which will have you analyzing every single creature; I am just surprised there are no ducks among the ominously happy animals.
Larson proved he could build tension as skillfully as any genre filmmaker, then puncture it with a single line, and these are my picks for his most horror-worthy panels. But the man drew enough nightmare fuel to fill a triple feature, so let us know which Far Side horror strip is your favorite, or which one you'd have added to the list in the comments.
