SNL’s Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders Sells A Wes Anderson Horror Film

For anyone who has ever wondered what a Wes Anderson horror movie might look like, Saturday Night Live skit “Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders” has the answer. Some dismiss the works of Wes Anderson as overly twee, while others hail the director as a modern-day auteur. Love or hate him, one thing is for sure – audiences always know when they’re watching a Wes Anderson movie. Whether it’s a portrait of familial dysfunction in The Royal Tenenbaums, the coming-of-age story Moonrise Kingdom or stop-motion animation like Isle Of Dogs, Anderson’s work has a unifying identity that makes them distinctly his.

From his use of limited but striking color palettes and retro, symmetrically designed sets to his quirky characters and snap zooms, there are several telltale signs in most of Wes Anderson’s movies that make them instantly recognizable. Throw in some Futura font, a soundtrack crammed full of pop tunes from the 60s and 70s and a cast that includes Owen Wilson or Bill Murray and you’ve got the perfect recipe for an Anderson film.

By the looks of it, director Rhys Thomas and cinematographer Alex Buono – the makers of SNL skit “Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders” – are well-versed in the world of Wes Anderson tropes. Shown during a season 39 episode hosted by Moonrise Kingdom star Edward Norton, “Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders” affectionately lampoons Anderson’s works by imagining what his take on the horror genre would look like. The skit tells the tale of a quirky family led by Owen Wilson – with Norton a hilarious impression – who find their retrofitted home under attack by an unusually polite, well-dressed gang of murderers. Watch “Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders” in full below.

The attention to quintessentially Wes Anderson details in “Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders” is amazing. There’s the kitsch set design, a cast made up of his recurring collaborators (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Angelica Huston and Adrien Brody included) and those striking color palettes typical of his movies. It’s even narrated by Alec Baldwin – a nod to his narrator role in The Royal Tenenbaums – and features a meat cleaver-wielding stop-motion mouse among its cast, while the fact the murderers’ arsenal of weapons includes a gramophone and a falcon is a hilarious touch.

While his films are typically comedy-dramas, the director – who counts 1968 horror Rosemary’s Baby as one of his favorites – admitted in an interview with writer Donna Tartt at the 2015 Rome Film Festival that he had thought about dipping his toes into the horror genre. Who knows, maybe a Wes Anderson horror movie along the lines of “Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders” could one day become a reality.