Last night's Saturday Night Live was a delightful zip into left field, with Edward Norton as the first-time host (a feat he pulled off despite a project to promote) and pop savant Janelle Monae as the musical guest (also, her first turn on the legendary soundstage). Skit for skit, we would argue that this was the season's best episode to date, with smart, offbeat humor dominating the show.
The highlight? We're partial to Monae's "Dance Apocalyptic" performance — it was sharp, bombastic, and ingeniously directed. (Seriously, you need to watch — if this girl doesn't finally conquer pop, something's wrong.)
But, in the spirit of the season, we're going to bestow the honor on the parody trailer, "The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders." In a nutshell: Imagine if Halloween was directed by Wes Anderson. Cue the erudite, "quirky" terror! Classic Anderson characters are resurrected as the victims, including one very neurotic Owen Wilson (played by Norton) and his "terrifying wife," Gwyneth Paltrow (a.k.a. Margot Tenenbaum). When they realize they're about to be murdered, they futz around and intellectualize. Andersonian all the way. The result: the most mild-mannered slasher promo in history. The writers killed it on this one, so major props, SNL. P.S. Bonus points for the Edith Piaf portrait lurking in the survival kit.