top 15 scariest Looney Tunes episodes
By Shantleen Dhanoa
To celebrate 100 years of Warner Brothers, here are the scariest episodes of its animated masterpiece! This list features both classic and modern episodes.
15) Book Revue (1946)
Scare Factor: 1/10
(Daffy, frustrated by the noise, has everybody to stop the ruckus so that he can impersonate Danny Kaye, a popular singer and sings in a mock-Russian accent.)
This episode follows several literary characters (in the form of grotesque parodies of Hollywood stars or references to 1940s American pop-culture) having a late-night party in a book shop. Daffy, frustrated by the noise, has everybody stop the ruckus so that he can impersonate Danny Kaye (a popular singer) and sings in a mock-Russian accent. He then wanders into Little Red Riding Hood, where he warns the little girl of the Big Bad Wolf. Little Red Riding Hood screams at the sight of the Wolf, who chases Daffy instead of the girl, after she runs away. After a wild chase sequence, the Wolf pins Daffy down, but a policeman notices this and has the Wolf arrested and put on trial while Daffy escapes offscreen. The Wolf escapes from prison but falls into Dante's Inferno- literally!
Everybody else celebrates, which annoys the Wolf who tells them to pipe down.
Commentary
The scare level for this episode is Low. Though the Wolf's murderous cravings for the little girl and later Daffy, as well as the grotesque designs of some of the book characters are creepy, they aren't enough to frighten the average viewer.
It is honestly more bizarre than scary.
14) Ali Baba Bunny (1957)
Scare Factor: 2/10
("It's mine, mine, mine!")
On their way to Pismo Beach (in California), Bugs & Daffy end up in Ali Baba's Cave instead, where Daffy greedily claims the treasures for himself. Daffy repeatedly gets into trouble with the Sultan's guard for this and a reluctant Bugs comes to his rescue each time. However, when Daffy severely angers a genie with his mischief and rudeness, Bugs realizes that he can't help Daffy this time and escapes, leaving Daffy to face the music.
Bugs eventually makes it to Pismo Beach and is joined again by Daffy, now the size of an insect. Daffy’s misbehavior continues, and Bugs traps him in a clam as a punishment after Daffy greedily claims the clam's pearl for himself.
Commentary
This is still a very mild episode. Although Daffy's punishment is quite disturbing because he gets zapped by the genie. The episode is similar to a Victorian cautionary tale, and a mild one, as Daffy escapes punishment for his misdeeds until the very end.
13) Hitting the Trail for Hallelujah Land (1931)
Scare Factor: 3/10
Warning: Contains racial stereotypes!
In the Antebellum Era (1815-1861), Piggy and his girlfriend Fluffy have misadventures on a steamboat. Piggy falls overboard whilst dancing happily with the other passengers and is nearly eaten by an alligator but manages to escape. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom (the pigs' friend and Fluffy's slave?) wanders into and gets lost in a cemetery, where three skeletons torment him with their singing. He escapes on a broken boat, which sinks. Tom nearly drowns but is rescued by Piggy.
A Victorian stock villain (and the episode's final antagonist) kidnaps Fluffy. Piggy rescues Fluffy by capturing the villain on a mail hook and leaving the villain over a running buzz saw as the protagonists rejoice.
Commentary
The antagonists themselves are at a low-to-medium scare level, but the ending where the villain is left dangling over a running buzz saw, which is probably sawing off his buttocks while the heroes celebrate? Come on! It's disturbing enough to see a villain trying to kidnap a woman only for him to be left dangling over a buzz saw, whilst screaming for help!!! Hypocrites.
12) Ounce of Prevention - In the Kitchen (1982)
Scare Factor: 3/10
This was originally a segment in an educational film entitled Ounce of Prevention (1982), which was later broken up into a trilogy of one minute public service announcements. Here, Bugs Bunny teaches both children and adults about the dangers of the kitchen. The kitchen utensils come alive, turn menacing and jump at the camera, but become less threatening when Bugs shows the audience how to make the kitchen safe for children.
Commentary
The only scary thing about this PSA is the jump scares, where the kitchen items come to life and jump at the viewer, which could easily frighten young children.
11) Dummies in the Dark (2023)
Scare Factor: 4/10
The episode opens with Daffy and Porky watching a horror movie. Porky (an avid fan of horror movies) appears perfectly calm, while a frightened Daffy cowers behind a cushion (I'm surprised that it isn't vice-versa). A blackout occurs and the two protagonists are forced to find the power box in the darkness after a frightened Daffy destroys the only flashlight in a frenzy. After a series of sight gags (which mainly consist of takes on the good old "eyes in the dark" visual gag) the two manage to turn the power back on, but are chased off by the ogre from the horror movie they were watching, who appears straight out of nowhere!
The ogre then asks the audience: "What did I say?"
Commentary
This episode is full of bizarre sight gags that are borderline scary (especially for the very young), especially when the two main characters' eyes distort! However, some of the gags are pretty cute, such as Daffy (seemingly shrunken down) sliding on Porky's eyes and then appearing in one of Porky's eyes as if it were a spotlight. Overall, I did find this episode enjoyable.
10) Daffy's Southern Exposure (1942)
Scare Factor: 5/10
(The fox and weasel attempt to trick a cold and starving Daffy.)
You probably didn’t realise that filmgoers back in 1942 were expected to watch Daffy refusing to migrate for the winter, only for him to nearly die of starvation and hypothermia, and then be taken in by a fox (or wolf?) and weasel, who want to eat him because they are tired of eating nothing but canned beans!
(You'll be sorry!")
The episode opens with Daffy reading a newspaper which features a beautiful figure skater, and deciding he wants to experience winter for himself. Knowing of the consequences, the rest of the flock yells "You'll be sorry!" and flys off without Daffy, who's far more excited about snow and ice skating. He initially becomes happy with the arrival of winter as he skates and dives in his pond, but when his pond freezes over and a snowstorm arrives, he begins crying out for food and even attempts to eat his own hand (whilst hallucinating it as a sandwich). He eventually finds a log cabin and is overjoyed when he realizes that there's food but doesn't overhear a fox and weasel (the cabin's residents) complaining about having to eat nothing but canned beans for the winter. The villains disguise themselves as kindly old ladies, take Daffy in and then proceed to fatten him up with beans! Daffy quickly realizes how much danger he’s in and manages to outwit both villains before fleeing to South America, where he finds sanctuary.
Commentary
While not as dark or as serious as the Lazy Grasshopper starving from the cold in The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934), Daffy crying from starvation and later getting fattened up by two predators disguised as old ladies feels like a morbid concept for a 1940's comedy short film. The scare level is Medium as the short is still light-hearted despite the darker moments of Daffy starving from the cold and nearly getting eaten by the fox and weasel.
9) Show Biz Bugs (1957)
Scare Factor: 6/10
(Don't try this at home!)
Daffy attempts to upstage Bugs during a musical performance using unorthodox methods, only for either Bugs or karma to undo his plans. Some of the gags in this short are disturbing. The more morbid gags include Bugs managing to saw Daffy in half during a magic trick (that's obviously supposed to be an illusion), Daffy getting blown up by an explosive xylophone that was meant for Bugs (leaving him dirty and partially featherless), and the infamous ending where Daffy commits suicide by ingesting flammable chemicals, eating a lit match and then exploding onstage!! Bugs congratulates Daffy for his deadly act, as the latter reappears as a ghost, floating up to heaven.
Commentary
The ending was so controversial, that it got censored on television airings, out of fear that children would imitate the scene and accidentally kill themselves! Probably for the best!
8) One Beer (1991; Tiny Toons)
Scare Factor: 7/10
This is the most controversial episode of the spin-off series Tiny Toon Adventures which was banned for 22 years! Here Buster, Plucky and Hamton find a beer bottle, drink from it and transform into misbehaving drunken bums, despite being 12 years old! The drunken boys rudely interact with their female classmates, skip school and steal a police car. The police car leads the troublesome trio on a perilous journey that sees them getting electrocuted in an underground railway followed by Plucky driving everybody off a cliff, where they fall to their deaths and become angels ascending towards heaven. The trio then reveals that it was all just a ruse in order to teach the audience that drinking alcohol is dangerous and end the episode by hoping that they never have to do it again.
Commentary
This was supposed to be an obvious parody of the notoriously scary anti-drinking PSAs that were popular at the time. But it backfired, probably because One Beer depicted underaged drinking! However, it does a really good job at frightening the audience, even though it's obviously not as disturbing as, for example, Britain's Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives (1987-1997) series of PSAs. The scariest moments are the nightmarish climax where the drunken protagonists go on a perilous drive towards their deaths, and the scene where they are electrocuted and their skeletons are shown.
7) Birds Anonymous (1957)
Scare Factor: 8/10
("Birds is strictly for the birds!")
Unusually enough, this episode covers the topic of addiction, with Sylvester's cravings for Tweety Bird being an allegory of alcohol addiction. The episode opens with Sylvester getting caught trying to eat Tweety. He is caught by another cat, who's revealed to be the leader of an organization named "Birds Anonymous," or B.A (based on "Alcoholics Anonymous"). Sylvester tries to get clean. But the temptations are too great when he is faced with a TV showing a turkey dinner, bird-themed music playing on the radio and Tweety himself (as house pets, Sylvester and Tweety live together). Every time Sylvester gives in to temptation, the leader cat appears and stops him from eating Tweety by covering Sylvester's mouth or by force feeding him alum (causing Sylvester's mouth to shrink). By the end of the episode, however, the B.A leader cat also succumbs to his own addiction, forcing Sylvester to restrain the leader cat while Tweety jokes about it.
Commentary
The scare level for this episode is rated ‘Nightmare’ for its accurate allegorical portrayal of addiction (namely alcohol addiction). From Sylvester going insane due to an overdose of bird imagery, to the scene where he wakes up with blood-red eyes from insomnia caused by his attempts not to think about Tweety (or any birds for that matter) and Sylvester's meltdown from not being able to eat Tweety. Definitely one of the darkest/scariest episodes and highly recommended as a psychology class resource.
6) Scaredy Cat (1948)
Scare Factor: 9/10
("Meow?")
Now we're getting to the really nightmarish episodes, so brace yourselves...
Porky and his cat Sylvester move into an old house, which is home to a cult of murderous mice! Porky is oblivious to the truth of the house, while Sylvester witnesses the ritualistic killing of another cat by the mice (which happens offscreen) and tries to warn Porky, who refuses to believe Sylvester. In fear of suffering the same fate as the murdered cat, Sylvester points a gun to his own head, but Porky quickly snatches the gun off Sylvester. Porky reluctantly allows Sylvester to sleep with him, but every time Sylvester rescues Porky from the mouse-cult, an oblivious Porky scolds him.
When Sylvester is knocked unconscious from rescuing Porky yet again, Porky places his seemingly delusional cat in a laundry basket, which is lowered into the basement for three whole hours! When Sylvester is returned to the upper floor once the three hours are up, he's wide awake, with his fur pale and standing on its ends. He walks back to the bedroom and treats Porky and the audience to a jump scare by staring at the viewer and saying "Meow," (see the above image). Porky takes Sylvester downstairs to show him that there's nothing dangerous about the house, but in doing so he gets kidnapped by the cult. Sylvester initially escapes, before returning to beat up the mice and rescue Porky (after being convinced by his conscience to do so). The executioner mouse (the only member of the cult left standing) hits a seemingly victorious Sylvester on the head despite Porky's warnings to Sylvester, before removing his hood and exclaiming (in a German accent) "Pussycats are the cwaziest [sic] peoples!"
Commentary
Personally, I think that the scariest scene in the entire episode was the jump scare with Sylvester looking at the viewer (just looking at the image itself can give you a heart attack), which is somehow even scarier than the mouse cult who murders cats and their owners for their own sadistic pleasure! Starting with this episode, all of the remaining entries are rated Off-The-Scale.
5) His Bitter Half (1950)
Scare Factor: 9/10
(Warning: Contains a comedic portrayal of marital violence!)
In yet another "cautionary tale" starring Daffy, we see him looking at a newspaper ad which says that a "refined, lady duck" is looking for a man to marry. Daffy responds to the ad and is hastily married. But Daffy didn't get to know his bride at first, and the bride (we'll call her Martha) doesn't realize that Daffy is actually a gold digger. Martha and Daffy arrive at Martha's house, and she's revealed to be an abusive and domineering middle-aged widow who beats up Daffy and makes him do all the chores, while at the same time constantly spoiling her undisciplined son Wentworth. Martha refuses to punish Wentworth, instead she and Wentworth punish and pin the blame on Daffy. They treat him like a slave rather than a family member.
When Wentworth gets Daffy into trouble at an amusement park, Martha assumes that Daffy is drunk and scolds her husband rather than her son. Later Wentworth puts Daffy through a living hell when they were playing with fireworks on the Fourth of July (Independence/National Day in the US). In response to this, Daffy refuses to take Wentworth to the zoo, resulting in him getting most of the feathers plucked from his body as a punishment. This, however, finally encourages Daffy to leave his abusive family behind.
Commentary
This episode was a nightmare to sit through. It's supposed to be a comedy, yet it still manages to be mean-spirited and flat-out disturbing all the way through, especially Daffy's graphic injuries sustained throughout the episode! His Bitter Half ironically proves that violence towards men by women is no different than vice-versa.
Additionally, Daffy suffers this abuse:
Martha slaps Daffy's bill off his face when he refuses to do all the chores, isn't the family rich enough to hire a maid?
Martha gives Daffy an extremely hard kick in the butt when he initially refuses to play with Wentworth.
Shortly after the above incident, Wentworth scalps Daffy whilst pretending to be an Indian (Native American).
4) Rotund Rabbit (2021)
Scare Factor: 9.5/10
In yet another attempt to hunt Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd fattens him with carrots, which is ironically the real-life side effect of giving rabbits carrots. Bugs becomes morbidly obese, and Elmer initially celebrates his victory but because of the rabbit's weight, Elmer has difficulty pushing him everywhere. Bugs rolls onto everything, causing Elmer to realize that the only solution is to attempt to eat Bugs with a fork, which causes Bugs to deflate into a shrivelled-up corpse.
"Wear me," Bugs croaked.
Elmer runs away screaming, so Bugs looks for someone else to scare: the audience. He creeps up onto the screen and announces "That's all folks!", with a creepy smile on his face and a carrot in his hand, ending the episode. This episode sickened me, mainly due to its ending with the jump scare, and the rabbit's appearance: he's so skinny that he's basically a living skeleton and his drooping blue eyes look like they're about to pop out of their sockets!
Commentary
Thankfully, this is the last episode on the list to feature a jump scare.
3) Bubble Dum (2020)
Scare Factor: 9.7/10
(Is bubblegum supposed to be cute?)
Daffy finds a piece of chewing gum on the sidewalk and happily chews the gum. He eventually grows bored of the gum and throws it away, before accidentally stepping on it. He struggles to get it off, and ends up tearing his feathers off, causing him to scream!
Then he gets stuck, in the gum again... So what does he do? His skeleton comes out of his body and walks off the screen (the most unwatchable scene), only for Daffy return to normal when he finds the piece of gum and repeats the line from the start of the episode.
Commentary
This could potentially put a young viewer of bubblegum, 'nuff said!
2) The Wise Quacking Duck (1943)
Scare Factor: 10/10
(Daffy happily bathing himself in grease.)
This is the scariest classic episode, filled with morbid jokes that somehow managed to dodge the censors. It opens with Mr. Meek telling the audience that his wife forced him to kill a duck for dinner, by threatening to murder his pet goose! He spots Daffy, who hides behind a haystack. Mr. Meek chops the haystack with an axe, only for him to hear the duck screaming and crying, with blood and feathers flying everywhere. It is revealed that Daffy was actually faking it using ketchup and his own feathers, and pretending to be beheaded.
Daffy proceeds to cause more mischief, performs striptease and has a gun shoved up his beak twice, and getting shot the second time. As if seeing Daffy lose all of his feathers wasn't disturbing enough, he also gets thrown into an oven where he's burnt alive!!! The audience and Mr. Meek are treated to the sound of Daffy screaming and choking inside the oven. Mr. Meek rescues Daffy, who instead of thanking him, happily bathes himself in grease!
Commentary
I wouldn't be surprised if a kid saw this on Boomerang and was traumatized by the sight of Daffy nearly getting cooked! In fact, the scariest scenes in this episode consist of Daffy screaming, choking and crying!!
1) Traffic Cop Stop- Lead Foot (2022)
Scare Factor: 11/10
AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!
Who allowed this abomination to air on TV???!!
Hats off to this episode, which within just one minute, managed to disgust and horrify its audience... on Valentine's Day!!!
Daffy gets pulled over by Porky, and replaces Porky's head with his own by using his "lead foot" to erase Porky's head and then quickly scribble his own in its place. This is followed by them falling in love, getting married and having mutant duck-pig children.
Commentary
Not only is this episode creepy, it's also homophobic. For obvious reasons, this is the scariest Looney Tunes episode of all time!