LMFAO’s Non-Stop Party

Maybe it’s just me, but I think the idea of being resigned to an EDM dance party for the rest of eternity is one of the most terrifying scenarios brought up on this list. This sketch works so well due to the slow build of it all, and seeing Key and Peele become increasingly erratic and freaked out by all of this. Their eventual realization that this is their Purgatory and they’re incapable of escaping—even after killing themselves–is a colossally messed up ending that you wouldn’t expect out of an EDM sketch. It’s part of why it cuts so deep.

Continental Breakfast/Airline Continental

Okay, it’s really just the endings here. As delightful as Peele’s portrayal of an overly exuberant traveller who’s just enamored with basic amenities is, there’s nothing scary about it (unless you’re really afraid of gluttony). For whatever reason though, both “Continental Breakfast” and its sequel choose to borrow from classic horror cinema for their codas, with “Breakfast” pulling from The Shining and “Continental Airline” servicing up Twilight Zone: The Movie’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” Both completely kill it production-wise and as a result evoke the creepy terror from the films that they’re referencing.

Roommate Meeting

A roommate meeting is a great premise wherein to base a sketch, especially if your apartment is experiencing a poltergeist. Part of why this sketch is so successful is that from the start it’s clear that all of the roommates’ problems are resulting from this ghost. But as loud and as broad as the performances in the foreground are, the ghost material going on in the background is expertly handled and a great counterpoint. The way the ghost just dips into frame is genuinely creepy and it actually jumps out in your face in a way that will scare you! Your guard is let down by the rest of the sketch, which allows the ghost device to really let loose.

Hall of Mirrors

The showdown at the hall of mirrors is no doubt one of my personal favorite horror/thriller clichés. Like most of their parodies, Key and Peele know exactly what they’re lampooning here and push the joke far. Peele’s deranged get-up—complete with echoing crazed voice–is perfect, and the layout and design of the hall of mirrors is really one of the more beautiful things that the show has put together (seriously, with the neon lights and gels being used this could pass for a scene out of Michael Mann’s Manhunter). As absurd as all of this is, seeing Peele infinitely refracted around a concerned Key as the soundtrack mounts is powerful stuff. You just get lost in the tension and fear, and plus, bloodshed!

Dubstep

Slightly taking a page out of “LMFAO’s Non-Stop Party’s” book, this sketch appears to innocently explore the Dubstep phenomena before taking a twisted turn for the worse. It’s amazing seeing the music just infect their bodies and take them over. Some of the most disturbing images from the show’s run are contained in this innocuous seeming sketch. We see teeth and fingernails being torn off, nuclear fallout, and one of our characters trying to end his life at the end of it all. Monsters and demons have their certain appeal, but sometimes Key & Peele’s scariest stuff could come out of something like this.