Horror Comedy Special (Part 1)

For almost a century, every studio has jumped on the wagon to produce as many horror movies as possible, over-saturating the genre and causing widespread numbness to the effects of horror.  Then, some time in the 1980s, people built up an immunity.

Audiences still wanted to see horror movies, but if they weren't genuinely scary, there had to be another option.

Critics will point to different eras as the birth of horror-comedy, but there's only one that matters: the 1980s.  That decade is responsible for the breaking down of 'classical' filmmaking, making way for the post-modern movement of the 1990s.


The audience was made of people who realized that the truly scary movie was rare, and that there was no 'A' for effort. If you couldn't make a movie that managed to scare the audience right up to the end, why bother making a scary movie at all?

 Compiled here are the top ten horror-comedies of all time.  Parodies aren't included, since those are found in the comedy section of your local video store.  A horror-comedy is a horror movie with lighthearted and comedic tones that work in tandem with all the scary shit that's going on .

Each entry below is ordered by which is the better example of the genre.  The star ratings tell you how much horror or comedy is in each movie.  Not all of these are from the '80s, but most are, such as...

10) Fright Night (1985)

Horror  *****

Comedy  *****

Fright Night is a gem of a movie.  For a mainstream film, it doesn't adhere to conventions in the way you'd expect.  It's as much an homage to B-movies as it is a B-movie itself.

Charley Brewster suspects that his next-door neighbor is a vampire, and no one believes him.  To convince him that it's all in his head, Charley's friends hire washed up B-movie actor Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) to put on a little show.

Of course the vampire's real, and the last two thirds of the movie are a drawn-out masterpiece of odd pacing, theatrical direction and wonderful acting.  Parts of it will scare the shit out of you, and others will have you laughing out loud.

It feels like both an '80s movie and a classic Universal horror at the same time, which a lot of people will find disjointed and confusing.  As far as horror-comedies go, it doesn't have both feet in the door.  In that sense it's pretty original, but it also means there are nine other examples that do it better.  Case in point...

9) The Lost Boys (1987)

Horror  *******

Comedy  *****

Some horror movies are made for kids, and some--just a precious few-- will scare the shit out of them.  My mother wouldn't let me see The Lost Boys when I was 7, so of course I found a way to watch it.

There's a scene where Kiefer Sutherland bites into a guy's skull.  There are also some terrifying close-ups of Alex Winter.  The movie is gothic, scary, and altogether one of the best vampire movies ever made.  And it's a comedy.

The movie follows two brothers: a teenager who wants to get laid and fit in with the cool crowd, and a comic book geek who just wants his MTV.  One is inducted into a gang of teenage vampires, and the other must save him.  It's a silly premise, but director Joel Schumacher (Falling Down, St. Elmo's Fire) plays it right.

Very right.

Corey Feldman (right, for those of you new to this thing we call life) plays Edgar Frog, basically that crazy kid in middle school who showed you his knife collection and bruised your arm for dissing Batman.  Only here he's awesome, and he hunts vampires.  He and his brother pen a comic that doubles as a vampire-hunting tutorial.

If you like naked, oiled-up men playing the sax and overblown depictions of teenage rebellion, this movie is for you.  If you don't like those things, shame on you.  Maybe you'd prefer something like...

8) Braindead (aka Dead Alive) (1992)

Horror  ********

Comedy  ******

Watching Dead Alive is like having your head put in a blender, especially during the scene where a guy's head gets put in a blender.  If you've never seen it before, think of a kid you knew who used to go to the supermarket, fill Pepsi cans with slugs and try to get the deposits.  Now imagine that kid grew up and made a movie.

Dead Alive is the story of the most adorable man in New Zealand, Lionel, and his pretty Gypsy love interest.  When Lionel's mother gets bitten by a deadly Rat Monkey, aka Simian Ratticus, she becomes a zombie and tries to eat his friends.

This movie is, hands-down, the goriest movie ever made.  If you've never seen a movie like it, you will throw up, either from the gore or because you have a low threshold for awesome.  There's a kung-fu-fighting priest, a zombie dinner party, a walking spleen, and the only lawnmower scene you'll ever need.  On top of that, there are scenes that work purely for comedic effect, like when Lionel takes a zombie baby out for an afternoon stroll in the park.  When he finally dropkicks the little rugrat you feel pretty good inside.

What did I do?

As you've probably heard, Dead Alive's writer/producer/director Peter Jackson went on to win the Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Everything when he made The Lord of the Rings.  His style and trademarks are consistent throughout the movies.  Sure, Lord of the Rings wasn't that all that funny, but watch it back to back with Dead Alive, and throw in The Frighteners (which came close to making this list) for good measure.  While you're at it, you might as well have the best night ever and watch...

7) Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Horror  ****

Comedy  ********

No movie on this list comes closer to parody than Shaun of the Dead.  It walks the genre/parody line with brilliant finesse, until at the end all you're sure of is that you had a great time.  Director Edgar Wright's hyper-edited, pop-culture-laden style should be familiar to fans of the TV show Spaced and his follow-up films, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim.  As in those movies, Wright creates bumbling, hilarious characters you can't help but fall in love with.

Billed as a "rom/zom/com" (romating zombie comedy), it is possibly the only feel-good zombie movie ever made.  Leaving the theater after Shaun of the Dead is like leaving your best friend's house on a school night.  You just don't want to go.  If you've never seen Shaun of the Dead, you're one of like, ten people in the world.  This movie is for everyone, doubly so if you enjoyed...

6) Evil Dead 2 (1987)

Horror  *******

Comedy  *******

Long before making the Spider-Man movies, director Sam Raimi was a dude with a camcorder and some really cool friends.  With a modest budget he made The Evil Dead, one of the most disturbing independent horror films ever made.  The movie got around, and suddenly Raimi had an offer to make a fully funded sequel.

With this creative and financial license, Raimi took The Evil Dead to the next level.  He made it scarier, more disturbing, psychological--oh, wait, that didn't happen.  Instead he took the money and made a giant parody of the first movie.  He called it Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.

The best way to summarize this movie is to say that a lot of wacky shit happens.  Imagine if they remade The Exorcist or Night of the Living Dead, but tried to make it more like The Three Stooges.  Take the corniest, most slapstick humor you can think of and insert it into your favorite horror movie.  That's Evil Dead 2.

Pure terror.

Bruce Campbell, hero of the cult film world, plays his signature role: Ash, badass killer of the deadites.  He's your basic college student with a run-down car and a pretty girlfriend.  When she turns into a zombie and his own hand becomes possessed, he switches to kill mode and saves the world.

If you like disturbing, necrophiliac claymation scenes and prefer your heroes to have a chainsaw for a hand, this movie is for you.

And there are five others you might like, too... (Part 2 coming soon).