Horror can be a difficult genre to get into. While its fans enjoy feeling the tension provided by a good horror movie, those who are less experienced with the genre often don’t enjoy that feeling. But, for many, a comedic tone can help to remedy this issue.
Horror comedies are a great way to get into the genre. Horror is all about building tension, but laughter is all about relieving it. As a result, the best horror comedies don’t stay tense for too long because they know when to put audiences on edge, while also knowing when to make them feel comfortable with a joke. The filmmakers behind these movies expertly blend screams and laughs to create horror films that are perfect for those who don’t typically like the genre.
- ‘Evil Dead II’ (1987)
- ‘Shaun of the Dead’ (2004)
- ‘Zombieland’ (2009)
- ‘Ready or Not’ (2019)
- ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (2012)
- ‘Gremlins’ (1984)
- ‘Freaky’ (2020)
- ‘Tucker & Dale vs. Evil’ (2010)
- ‘Killer Klowns from Outer Space’ (1988)
- ‘Happy Death Day’ (2017)
If you don’t include Braindead (1992) then you are dead to me. The other glaring omission is An American Werewolf in London, perhaps it leans more into horror than comedy for the writer of the listicle (Braindead may suffer from the opposite issue) but it’s in the mix.
I’d have also liked to see Body Melt on there. Bubba Ho-Tep would be a good shout too. Also…Society, Brain Damage (1988), Re-animator, Reform of the Living Dead, Feast (2005), One Cut of the Dead (2017), Dead Snow, Grabbers, The Final Girls (2015), Severance (2006), I Am Hero, The Menu (2022), Theatre of Blood (1973), etc.
- ‘Ready or Not’ (2019)
It’s my least favourite Samara Weaving comedy horror - The Babysitter and Mayhem are both great.
I didn’t realize Mayhem was counted as horror, which is why I didn’t talk about it. We really enjoyed Ready or Not, but Mahem is easily my favorite
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil felt to me much more humor than horror. I get why it’s still in that class, but even early going in the viewer realizes that it’s all a big misunderstanding and stereotyping. And honestly, I rooted for Tucker and Dale from the beginning. Hmmm, I guess many horror fans do that for the monsters too.
Tucker and Dale doesn’t get enough love imo. So few people I’ve met have watched it. I was late to the game on it too but it had me in stitches throughout. Really seems to me like a gem hidden in plain sight.
Tucker and Dale is great and I suggest it to anyone with an interest in comedy horror. I’ve watched it quite a few times now and what I really appreciate is that there’s a point where the story doesn’t really allow the initial conceit to carry on and yet it transitions nicely into the rest of the film where it would have been very easy to fumble the ball at that point.
