By Erin Lashley, MoreHorror.com

It takes a lot to shock the average horror junkie, because our favorite films are by definition shocking. Because of the nature of these films, often the most jaw-dropping moments aren't necessarily the goriest ones, but rather the surreal non sequitur scenes that virtually come out of nowhere and just as quickly return there. Sometimes we realize upon repeat viewings that such moments do actually move the plot along. However, sometimes they just can't be explained away.

Bad chop suey, Pieces
In the middle of the film, an undercover cop played by Lynda Day George is walking across the dark college campus following a figure (Bruce Le) who she thinks might be the killer. Suddenly, he turns on her and begins attacking her with kung fu moves.

A student who is helping the cops, Kendall (Ian Sera), appears just as suddenly and stops the attacker, who he recognizes as his kung fu professor; the embarrassed professor apologizes and explains away his behavior as the result of some "bad chop suey."

He leaves and is never seen again. Obviously the scene could have been a failed attempt at a cheap jump scare, like the many scenes in movies where someone is scared by a housecat.

The boring real world explanation is, of course, that director Juan Piquer Simon was using Bruce Le in another movie and wanted to promote that film by giving him a cameo, but wouldn't Le have been just as happy with a cameo that made some sense?

Della Reese in the butcher shop, Psychic Killer
Yes, Touched By an Angel's Della Reese appears in this low-budget horror film in a rather colorful scene. The movie is about a man (Jim Hutton) who is falsely accused of murder. When he is released from prison, during which time his mother died because he was not there to care for her, he seeks revenge, while utilizing astral projection of all things, on all those who contributed to her death.

First of all, it is debatable whether the butcher (Neville Brand) who dies after his encounter with Reese is even tangentially responsible for the mother's death. But right before Hutton kills him, he engages in a ridiculous argument with Della Reese's character over his thumb's presence on the scale and his high prices.

The butcher's ad hominem attacks on Reese could be padding of the running time, or they could be just another example of why he needs killing. Whatever the reason, the argument is what most people remember about this film, even though the butcher's death is one of the most violent scenes.

The helicopter, Demons
It is anyone's guess as to why a helicopter crashes through the ceiling of the movie theater in which Urbano Barberini and Natasha Hovey are trapped with a horde of demons.

To be honest, screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti's plotting choices alone could entirely populate a list like this.

We don't know anything about the circumstances of the crash, or whether it was the impact that killed the men inside.

All we know is that it happens, and that it indirectly serves as a deus ex machina. Did Sacchetti write himself into a corner?

Did producer Argento demand that director Lamberto Bava use the helicopter because dammit, they paid for the use of a helicopter? Who cares? It's a great WTF moment in film.

The Garbageman, The Video Dead
The Video Dead is one of those bad zombie movies that is so entertaining you wonder if they were actually making a parody, a theory which is supported by the Garbageman's cameo.

Most of the plot centers around a haunted TV that murderous zombies can walk into and out of. One night Jeff finds the TV in the basement of his new house, and, while smoking a joint and watching the one show the TV plays, is surprised to find a hot chick stepping out of the TV to make out with him.

As if that wasn't weird enough, when she disappears back into the TV, the Garbageman (so called because he disposes of human garbage, natch) kills her; he then shows Jeff that she was actually a monster.

The Garbageman gives Jeff a warning and then fades into the static. Then Jeff asks him to wait and he reappears with an expectant look on his face that makes me laugh every time. Of course, after that, he's never to be seen or referred to again.

The entire scene, as you might guess since I'm putting it on this list, has nothing to do with the zombies that dominate the rest of the movie. If you've seen and liked the movie, though, you're probably a fan of the Garbageman. Shoot, I'd watch a whole movie about him.

Bear and the B.J., The Shining
You might think that WTF moments belong solely in the realm of the B-movie. Nope. Stanley Kubrick gave us plenty of head-shaking scenes in The Shining. But the one that stands out the most is during the climax of the film, when even Wendy (Shelley Duvall) has begun to see the ghosts in the Overlook.

While she's running around with her big knife, we see a strange sight from her point of view, followed by a dizzying zoom in: it's a man in a bear costume on his knees in front of an older man who angrily sits up at the intrusion as they both stare into the camera.

There's no backstory on the characters, and it's just such a surreal sight, especially the bear suit guy who we are given with no context.

Are they ghosts, or have we been given a peek into another dimension? It's hard not to laugh, but if you actually saw those two in a building that was supposed to be occupied only by you and your family, you'd freak out.

June Palmer's nighttime excursions, Lake Mungo
This WTF we don't see, but rather hear about, which doesn't make it any less weird.

We know that everyone deals with grief differently, and on one level Lake Mungo is all about a family dealing with their grief after the drowning death of their young teen, Alice.

But about halfway through the film, we find out that her mother, June, has been grieving in a unique way even for this movie: at night, she breaks into her neighbors' houses while they're sleeping and hangs out. To feel normal again, ya know?

It's all very matter-of-fact, and there are no repercussions or even feelings of embarrassment, it seems.

Still, in a movie which also includes a backwards driving scene, real and fake ghost encounters, a more sinister series of break-ins, and a radio psychic, June's revelation manages to stand out.

Disembodied voice, Jacob's Ladder
I left this one for last on the list because, in addition to being quite surreal, this moment is genuinely frightening.

Jacob's Ladder is, at least in the spoiler-free description, a film about the horrible hallucinations that Jacob (Tim Robbins) suffers after a harrowing experience in the military. Along with all the things he sees, or thinks he sees, he also has back problems which at one point land him in the hospital from hell.

Lying in his bed, Jacob wishes aloud to go home, when from the side of his bed he hears a terrifying but indifferent voice abruptly say, "Dream on." And the first time you see the movie, you think the camera is going to pan over to show you what nightmarish creature has said it, but it never does.

You're left imagining what it might have been, which is much worse, especially considering not only the extremely cold tone in which the words are spoken, but also the nature of all the awful things the movie does show us.