It isn’t really a dinner party until your plate is full of squirming maggots/worms or until the shrimp cocktail comes alive and gives you a jump scare.
Here are just some of the dinner parties in film and TV over the years that have left behind a long-lasting, albeit also very gross and nightmarish impression (may contain spoilers)
1. The Bisgetti Scene in ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ (Movie, 2014)
Inspired by the movie “Lost Boys,” vampire flatmates Viago, Vladislav, and Deacon try out their devious party tricks on Nick, one of their virginal house guests in this silly but often sinister horror mockumentary. While initially played off as harmless fun, with the vampires serving Nick a plate of canned bisgetti (or spaghetti, as the humans call it), he then hypnotises him into thinking he’s devouring worms. Ultimately this scene takes an unsettling turn as Nick ends up being the main course instead!
The instrumental background score comprising of screeching bagpipes and fast paced drums further heightens the sense of paranoia. Nick finds himself being pursued across the dark and endless corridors by three bloodthirsty hosts who like to toy around with their food, unexpectedly bumping into Viago feasting on the other house guests. Later he finds Vladislav, who shape-shifts into a humanoid cat to spook him out, before it all culminates in a fatal twist of fate.
2. Guillermo’s Family Get-together in the ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ (Spinoff series, 2019—)
The TV adaptation of “What We Do in the Shadows” takes the dark humour of the movie up a notch. Therefore, it is only befitting for the writers to slip in a dinner party scene that feels as brazen as the aforementioned bisgetti sequence. In episode 7 of season 4, Laszlo, Nandor, and energy vampire Colin Robinson take off on a nightly hunting trip with their human neighbour Sean Rinaldi, while Nadja gears up for a “Mamma Mia!” watch party with her fellow vampiric girlfriends. Free at last from his daily and fatigue-inducing duties as a familiar, Guillermo De La Cruz decides to take some much needed time off himself by throwing a dinner party for his family at the manor.
However, things go south pretty quickly when Nadja drops in at the dinner table and learns that everybody in the De La Cruz household is strictly anti-vampire! A cat and mouse chase ensues, resulting in an angry pack of vampire hunters baying for blood, wooden stakes being launched across the room (and also dodged), Guillermo fearing that his job and loyalty is now on the line… and of course, one very cross vampire queen.
3. Jen Invites her Awkward Colleagues Over for Dinner in ‘The IT Crowd’ (TV series, 2006—2013)
In this British workplace comedy that took cringe comedy to exceptional new heights and that would fuel meme culture for years to come, Jen (Katherine Parkinson) invites her work colleagues from the IT department—the introverted Moss (Richard Ayoade), the overconfident ladies man Roy (Chris O’Dowd), and the reclusive goth from the boiler room Richmond over for a social gathering with her boyfriend. What starts out as a polite gesture immediately morphs into a comedy of errors, as each of her colleagues is socially inept and experts in the art of ‘foot in mouth’—especially when it comes to making small talk at the dinner table.
It doesn’t help that Jen’s boyfriend name is Peter File, and one mispronunciation is all it takes for tempers to flare and awkwardness to follow! While this dinner date isn’t exactly as doomed as when Moss unexpectedly found himself in the company of a cannibal in a previous episode, it definitely takes the cake in realistically depicting every introvert’s worst nightmare.
4. The Banana Boat Dinner Scene in ‘Beetlejuice’ (Movie, 1988)
The highly eccentric Tim Burton excels at striking a fine balance between disturbing and hilarious in this iconic and darkly humorous dinner party scene from the Halloween favourite, “Beetlejuice.” Recently deceased Adam and Barbara are not too happy when their house is usurped by a group of posh dinner guests and decide to give them a taste of their own medicine via a good old fashioned haunting.
Watching the confused guests fear for their lives as they flay their arms about involuntarily, as if they are puppets on a string, while “The Banana Boat Song” by Harry Belafonte plays on full blast in the background is equal parts amusing and daunting. However, the cherry on top of the cake is of course, when the shrimp cocktail comes alive and literally reaches up to grab a bite too. Oh, the horrors!
5. Badminton’s Crew Gets their Comeuppance in ‘Our Flag Means Death’ (TV series, 2022—)
Considering that the pilot episode of the HBO Max series “Our Flag Means Death” was directed by Taika Waititi, it’s not at all surprising that the climax of the episode is a dark, hilarious, occasionally improvised, and ultimately chaotic joyride that you have to see to believe.
After the self-proclaimed Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) crosses paths with his childhood bully Nigel Badminton (Rory Kinnear), the duo sojourn in private in Stede’s cabin, leaving their respective crews to have their own bit of fun in the dining area below the deck. Unfortunately for Badminton’s unsuspecting crew, a pirate’s idea of fun involves a whole lot of good old fashioned bloodlust, mayhem, and an ungodly amount of physical violence (mainly stabbing and eye-gouging). Stede’s close-knit and diverse crew also doesn’t take too kindly to the casually racist and classist attitudes prevailing among Badminton’s crew either, resulting in a merciless slaughterfest.
This is also not the only doomed dinner party scene in the show. Four episodes later, we see more of the pirates’ brand of mayhem as Stede and his co-captain Ed Teach/Blackbeard (Waititi) gatecrash a posh dinner party held onboard a ship full of snobby aristocrats. This leads to an ambitious and equally explosive climax that results in the aforementioned vessel going up in flames.
6. Bloodshed and Decapitation Galore During a Cruise Dinner Party in ‘Ghost Ship’ (Movie, 2002)
A marine salvage crew bites off more than they can chew after boarding the mysterious MS Antonia Graza, a rundown, abandoned, and obviously haunted cruise liner. As the movie progresses, the kill count too increases and ultimately a female crew member bravely attempts to make sense of the grizzly situation. She is aided by a young girl who is also probably the only friendly spirit with no ulterior motives onboard the titular ghost ship, and a flashback reveals the macabre events of a dinner party gone wrong.
A lot of the deaths during the party occur via spiked food and drink. However, the rest of the innocent passengers onboard the ship (including the captain) are expire in a far more gruesome fashion as a taut wire snaps loose and slices everyone on the dance floor in half! This scene alone acts as a cautionary tale that cruise liners are definitely just floating death traps…
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