69+ Funny Horror Movies
Humor can lower our inhibitions and make us more susceptible to impending horror.
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Making a movie that elegantly blends horror and comedy isn’t easy. Throw in too many jokes and you have an overdone spoof; not enough, and the comedic angle is lost. Humorous moments can lower our inhibitions and make us more susceptible to impending horror. Inversely, they can soften the blow of brutality with absurdist humor. It takes a lot of finesse to evoke such a range of emotions. The rare talents that can correctly balance horror and comedy create something that is better than the sum of its parts.
Filmmaker Jordan Peele had a long career in comedy as a stand-up comedian, Mad TV cast member and co-creator, writer and actor on Key & Peele before writing and directing his first film, the psychological horror movie Get Out (2017). While Peele’s move from comedy to horror was puzzling for some, those who understand horror immediately saw the connection. Jason Blum (who produced Get Out) said: “I’d take a comedy director over an action director or any other genre, because they know the timing of a joke and the timing of a scare can have the same intention.”
This list catalogs the best horror comedy movies, comedy horror movies, black comedy movies and camp classics. See the FAQ section for a breakdown of these subgenres.
Table of Contents
Old Funny Horror Movies
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Based on the successful Broadway play, Frank Capra’s film follows Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), who elopes with his childhood neighbor Elaine (Priscilla Lane). The couple visit their families separately to announce the marriage before their honeymoon, but Mortimer is sidetracked by his family’s shocking revelations and theatrics. Specifically, his brother believes he is Teddy Roosevelt, his aunts regularly target unmarried men for murder and his other brother is also a serial killer.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
A Mel Brooks comedy horror movie parodying the story of Frankenstein. Gene Wilder portrays the neurotic and eternally frazzled Dr. Frankenstein—which he insists is pronounced “FRONK-un-shteen.” Marty Feldman plays his assistant Igor, who mistakenly returns with an abnormal brain that gives the monster (Peter Boyle) an extremely low IQ and an usually high sex drive. Madeleine Kahn plays the monster’s eager bride.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978)
This parody cult classic was produced with a budget of less than $100,000. The United States president assembles a team of experts to halt the sudden threat of sentient tomatoes murdering people. The politicos prove to be believably inept at protecting citizens until one discovers that the tomatoes’ Achilles heel is the song “Puberty Love” by future Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron.
Funny 80s Horror Movies
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Legendary comedy filmmaker John Landis wrote and directed this funny werewolf movie about two American backpackers, Jack and David, hiking the moors in Yorkshire. Ignoring warnings from locals not to trek the territory during the full moon, the friends are attacked by a werewolf. Jack dies and David, having been bitten, is informed by his undead friend that he is now a werewolf. The movie won a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, and it was the very first Academy Award winner in the category of Best Makeup.
Ghostbusters is the highest-grossing comedy of the 1980s and landed itself a spot on the National Film Registry for its cultural significance. Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis play a trio of professors-turned-paranormal-investigators. Sigourney Weaver also stars as a sexy client who hires the Ghostbusters to exterminate a ghost infestation in her Manhattan apartment. Ghostbusters received critical acclaim and was nominated for two Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Song.
Gremlins (1984)
A man purchases a cute little creature as a gift for his son at an obscure shop. He is warned that he must follow three rules: the creature cannot be exposed to sunlight, do not let the creature touch water and never feed one after midnight. When someone accidentally spills water on the new pet, it spawns five more creatures. Soon the town is overrun with gremlins.
Clue (1985)
A black comedy murder mystery that flopped at the box office but now has a cult following. Clue is inspired by the board game and sees six guests arriving at a mansion for a mysterious dinner party. When the host is murdered, the guests try to find the killer among them. The film has three different endings, which were originally shown at different theaters and included in the VHS version back-to-back. Clue is remembered for its dry humor, campy characters and Tim Curry’s breathless detective work in the third act.
See also: 29 Fun Facts About the Cult Black Comedy Murder Mystery ‘Clue’ (1985)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Warehouse employees at a medical supply company accidentally release a toxic gas that results in reanimated dead rising from their graves in search of sustenance (brains). Then, a group of punk kids hanging out at the graveyard realize they are at ground zero for the zombie apocalypse. Return of the Living Dead modified the “rules” of a zombie film by featuring fast-moving, intelligent zombies capable of speaking.
See also: 22+ Best Zombie Movies
Re-Animator (1985)
Mixing reanimated corpses and mad scientists with deadpan human, Re-Animator is beloved by critics and horror fans. The movie centers on Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), a medical student who discovers a way to reanimate dead humans. With his medical career is on the line, Herbert and his roommate Dan sneak into the morgue to prove his findings but the reanimated corpses become murderous zombies.
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Based on the off-Broadway musical, Little Shop of Horrors, and 1960 horror comedy The Little Shop of Horrors, this movie follows a geeky florist who discovers one of his plants is not only sentient — it feeds on human blood. Resembling a Venus flytrap, the little plant successfully attracts customers to the failing floral shop. At first the florist feeds the plant, named Audrey II, his own blood, but it grows out of control and demands more flesh.
See also: 9+ Best Killer Plant Movies
Beetlejuice (1988)
Beetlejuice is an iconic fantasy comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton. The title character, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), is summoned by the ghosts of a dead couple who simply can’t stand the annoying family that’s moved into the house that they haunt. Keaton has said most of his lines were improvised.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
With a title like Killer Klowns from Outer Space, this comedy sci-fi horror movie is as ridiculous as it sounds. Evil aliens who look like creepy clowns descend from outer space to feed on the inhabitants of a small town. The klowns also enjoy typical clown behavior, like pie-ing their victims in the face with acidic pies.
An enigma among movie fans, Evil Dead II is a comedy horror film that is both a remake and a sequel to director Sam Raimi’s previous work, Evil Dead (1981). Generally fans and critics find Evil Dead II to be a sequel that is superior to the original. The film follows Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) as he reads from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis at a cabin in the woods and accidentally releases the Kandarian Demon, which kills his girlfriend Linda and turns her into a deadite. Archaeologists and their guides arrive at the cabin, which leads to a battle between them, Ash, and the deadites.
New Funny Horror Movies
A monster comedy horror movie starring Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as Val and Earl, best friends and handymen looking to get out of their small town of Perfection, Nevada. Before they can leave, the friends discover the body of a townsperson who died of dehydration while clinging to an electrical tower. Puzzled as to why they didn’t just climb down the tower, Val and Earl then discover the town is infested with giant worm monsters. Kevin Bacon has said he originally took the role because he needed the money, but has since been impressed by the filmmaking experience and cult following of Tremors.
See also: 25 Trivia Facts About ‘Tremors’ (1990)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
A Valley Girl cheerleader in Los Angeles is told she is The Slayer, fated to protect the world from vampires. Reluctant to take on the labor of slaying when she could be shopping at the mall, Buffy eventually accepts her role as the Chosen One. In a climactic battle at her high school senior dance, Buffy slays vampires, supported by her new beau Pike (Luke Perry). Writer Joss Whedon was unhappy with the comedic elements of this film and eventually created the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) in his own vision.
See also: 31 Trivia Facts About ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (1992)
Madeline (Meryl Streep) and Helen (Goldie Hawn) are petty rivals obsessed with outdoing each other and winning the affection of Ernest (Bruce Willis). In a desperate attempt to stay young both women consume a potion that promises them eternal youth. However, they also receive a (belated) warning to care for their bodies. Instead, the women try to murder each other and end up uglier than before despite mortician Ernest’s best efforts. The women come to realize that the potion doesn’t offer eternal youth; instead it gives them eternal life and will eventually make them walking corpses. Death Becomes Her‘s CGI effects earned the film an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Leprechaun (1993)
A goofy horror comedy movie about a mean-spirited leprechaun who will do anything to recover his stolen pot of gold. After being released from the crate he was locked in for a decade, the leprechaun believes a man and his teen daughter Tory (Jennifer Aniston) have his gold. Together with their handymen, the family tries to locate the missing gold before the leprechaun murders them.
See also: 70 Trivia Facts About the ‘Leprechaun’ Franchise
Scream is a slasher comedy movie that is both very scary and very funny. In small town Woodsboro, California, high school students are taunted over the phone and in person by a masked killer (Ghostface). At the center of this murder mystery is Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), whose own mother was murdered the previous year and whose boyfriend, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), is the prime suspect. When school is cancelled due to the murders, the teens throw a party and as the night winds down, the killer’s identity is revealed.
See Also: A Very Deep Dive Into the Easter Eggs and Horror Trivia in the ‘Scream’ Movie Universe
Scary Movie (2000)
A wildly popular slasher parody that poked fun at horror tropes and some of the biggest films of all genres around the time it was released. The plot is a mash-up of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream with a group of friends covering up a hit-and-run and then being stalked by a killer in a Ghostface costume. While Scary Movie really isn’t scary at all, horror fans will find plenty to laugh at.
In this zombie comedy, slackers Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) are best friends with no ambition. When they realize a zombie outbreak has begun in London, they decide to rescue Shaun’s mom and Liz, his ex-girlfriend. The film was a box-office success and received two nominations at the British Academy Film Awards. It won Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards and Best Screenplay at the British Independent Film Awards.
This zombie comedy is set in a 1950s-like universe where humanity has already won a war against zombies. As a result, zombies have been domesticated (via a collar and remote control) into servants to perform thankless menial labor. A family buys a zombie servant and nicknames him “Fido.” Fido manages to kill the family’s neighbor and is sent back to the company that sold him. The family’s young son Timmy then sets out to rescue his former “pet.”
Slither (2006)
A sci-fi comedy horror movie about small town in South Carolina that is taken over by sentient alien parasites that turn residents into zombies. Survivors target the leader of the hive mind to see if they can stop the invasion before there’s nothing left. In order to get just the right balance of comedy and horror, director James Gunn reportedly told actors: “We are making a funny movie, but we are not making a comedy.”
After zombies overtake the United States, a neurotic survivor (Jesse Eisenberg) sets out for Columbus, Ohio to see if his parents are still alive. Along the way he meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) — the survivors refer to each other as their hometowns to prevent emotional attachment — and the two travel together. The two also meet Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who complicate matters. The four survivors enjoy what’s left of life (they even get to meet Bill Murray) while killing zombies and making their way to an amusement park in California.
A sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, was released in 2019.
A Norwegian comedy horror movie about a group of students who are attacked by zombie Nazis. The friends learn that the cabin where they were vacationing was previously occupied by Nazis who eventually froze to death in the mountains. After unearthing a box of Nazi treasure, the students become the zombie’s targets. It is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds.
Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)
Hillbilly pals Tucker and Dale visit their rundown cabin, which they excitedly refer to as a “vacation home.” They cross paths with a group of college kids at a gas station, and Dale tries to introduce himself to one of the girls, Allison. His nervousness is mistaken for creepiness, scaring the group. After the college friends are settled at their campsite, they tell stories of a massacre committed by hillbillies 20 years earlier. While skinny-dipping, Allison hits her head and is saved by Dale and Tucker, who were out fishing. But her friends misconstrue the situation and believe she’s being kidnapped. They launch an attack to save their friend, but one by one the group accidentally kills themselves in a hilarious series of mishaps.
A group of college friends set out for a weekend trip to a remote cabin. Unbeknownst to them, lab workers are watching and controlling their actions as part of a sacrificial ritual. If they don’t die, with “the whore” first and “the virgin” either last or surviving, the world will be consumed by the Ancient Ones. The workers use pheromones and mind-altering drugs to hinder their rational thought. Monsters are released to kill them based on which object they touch in the cabin’s cellar and, ultimately, they’re attacked by a family of zombies. Two of the friends manage to escape, finding the nightmarish underground facility responsible for the sacrifice. When security guards corner them, they hit a button to unleash every caged monster, causing mass chaos and perhaps the end of the world.
John Dies at the End (2012)
This British comedy horror movie centers around two slackers and a mind (and universe) altering drug called “soy sauce”. After consuming the drug, David (Chase Williamson) gains the power to talk to his friend telepathically. The two continue with their day in their small town, where supernatural occurences are out of control.
Warm Bodies (2013)
Nicholas Hoult stars as the undead love interest in this romantic zombie comedy. Eight years into the zombie apocalypse, a zombie who believes his name starts with R meets a survivor named Julie (Teresa Palmer). After eating the brains of her boyfriend, R’s attraction to Julie causes him to help her survive. R’s heart begins beating again as he falls in love with Julie.
Housebound (2014)
Kylie is sentenced to eight months of house arrest after being caught trying to steal an ATM. She is forced to stay with her mother Miriam and stepfather, neither of whom she gets along with. Miriam believes their house is haunted and reveals that it used to be a halfway house where a murder occurred. While initially skeptical, Kylie comes to believe in the haunting. Her psychologist disputes the claims and pushes for Kylie to be institutionalized.
The Final Girls (2015)
Scream queen Amanda and her daughter Max get in a car accident following an audition, and Amanda is killed. Years later, Max attends a double feature of her mom’s slasher films with friends, but the theater catches fire. She cuts a hole in the screen with a machete, and the trapped friends step through, unknowingly walking into the movie’s universe. The group uses the rules of the slasher genre to try to save the film’s characters, with Max hopeful that rescuing her mom in the movie will give her a chance to reunite in real life.
Mayhem (2017)
The ID-7 virus causes people to act impulsively and immorally, even leading some to kill. Derek (Steven Yeun) is a lawyer who recently won a client’s case by proving the virus was responsible for his murderous actions. He climbed the corporate ladder but has grown disillusioned with success. His company asks him to take responsibility for an important mishandled case, but Derek refuses and security comes to escort him out. Before he can be thrown out, the building goes into lockdown after ID-7 is detected in the ductwork. The building erupts into pandemonium and Derek joins forces with Melanie (Samara Weaving), a woman whose loan he had to deny earlier. Together they decide to hold the higher-ups responsible by any bloody means necessary.
Happy Death Day (2017)
A college student is murdered on her birthday. She wakes up the next day and eventually realizes she’s stuck in a time loop. In order to stop living out her own murder day after day, she needs to uncover the identity of her killer.
It (2017) and It: Chapter Two (2019)
While being a genuinely scary story about a group of outcast kids who meet a monster who feeds in their town every 27 years, both movies are also filled with the humor of a close knit group of friends. The 2017 film features the immature humor of teenage boys while the 2019 movie is mostly about adults, with real life comedian Bill Hader among the cast. Pennywise also has some comedic moments (his dancing, for instance).
Mom and Dad (2017)
Masses of parents attempt to kill their children after static transmission causes hysteria in this black comedy horror movie. Carly and her brother fight back against their homicidal mom and dad, along with the help of Carly’s boyfriend Damon, who was forced to kill his own dad in self-defense. Their grandparents arrive as the static has affected them, too.
Parasite (2019)
This Academy Award for Best Picture winning film is a South Korean black comedy thriller about class struggle. The Kim family are poor and live in a basement apartment in a working-class district of Seoul. The Park family are rich, affluent, and snobby. When an ambitious member of the Kim family lands a job as a tutor for the Park family, they help members of their family land jobs for the Kims one by one. But, who in this equation is the real parasite?
Villains (2019)
Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe star as Mickey and Jules, a criminal couple on the run. When their car runs out of gas in a rural area, they break into a seemingly empty home to siphon gas from a car in the garage. Their efforts are thwarted when the homeowners arrive and eventually the “villains” and the victims swap places. Villains is a reverse home-invasion film that offers its audience a little bit of everything: anxiety-inducing thrills, perfectly timed comedy, fulfilling character development, and even a few feel-good moments.
Little Monsters (2019)
A down-on-his-luck man named Dave is staying with his sister and nephew, Felix. He agrees to chaperone a field trip in hopes of impressing Felix’s teacher, Miss Caroline. During the outing, zombies overrun a nearby testing site and attack the class. They try to find refuge in the gift shop, but children’s celebrity Teddy McGiggle, who is there filming his show, locks them out. Dave breaks in and grants them access. The group has to fight the zombies and escape before the military bombs the farm.
Satanic Panic (2019)
Pizza delivery driver Sam is feeling disgruntled during her first day of work. When her last customer stiffs her on a tip, she decides to re-enter the mansion and demand one. Instead, she interrupts a satanic coven.
Ready or Not (2019)
Samara Weaving plays Grace, a young woman who marries at wealthy new husband’s family estate. Grace is excited to have a real family after growing up in foster care but during a post-nuptial family tradition, her new family targets her in an extremely high stakes game of hide and seek. It turns out the family fortune was acquired through a promise to a Satanic man named Le Bail and failure to eliminate Grace by daylight means the entire family will die.
Freaky (2020)
Freaky is a funny body swap movie about a high school student, Millie, who switches bodies with a serial killer. The serial killer is thrilled to have a new, less threatening, body to live in while Millie realizes if she doesn’t get her body back in 24 hours, she will be trapped as an old homeless man forever. This movie takes place in the same universe as Happy Death Day (2017).
I Blame Society (2020)
A low-budget black comedy horror movie about a struggling filmmaker named Gillian who decides to make a documentary based on a compliment she’d been given that she would be able to commit the perfect murder. Despite her friends and boyfriend being pretty sickened by the project, Gillian becomes obsessed. Her life is transformed as she gets closer to nailing the perfect ending (and the perfect murder).
Barbarian (2022)
A horror movie with some very funny moments (usually due to the comedic delivery of Justin Long). Georgina Campbell stars as a woman visiting Detroit who learns a man (Bill Skarsgård) is already staying at the AirBnb she booked. The two decide to stay together for the night, but uncover a dark secret in the home’s basement. Eventually the AirBnb’s owner, disgraced actor AJ (Justin Long), joins in on the chaos.
See also: An Extremely Unhinged Scene With Justin Long Was Cut From ‘Barbarian’ (2022)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
A comedy horror movie that is a Gen Z spin on a slasher whodunit. It follows a group of (mostly) wealthy friends who gather at a mansion for a hurricane party. After playing a murder-in-the-dark party game called “Bodies Bodies Bodies”, the power goes out and friends start dying one by one. As the survivors try to figure out who the killer is, they turn on each other in hysterical ways.
The Blackening (2022)
A comedy slasher movie about a group of Black friends who head to a cabin in the woods to celebrate Juneteenth. Poking fun at horror movie tropes, the friends discover they must play a game in order to survive. They are given trivia questions about African American culture, such as naming both actresses who portrayed Aunt Vivian in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. If they answer incorrectly, someone from the group dies.
The Menu (2022)
A black comedy horror movie about a couple (Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy) attending an extreme fine dining experience on an island. As the meal progresses, Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) reveals his sinister intentions that all his guests will be dead by the end of the night. The film satirizes the culture of food and dining snobbery as Chef Slowik has lost his passion for cooking due to inane dinners and the demands of success in the food world.
More Funny Horror Movies:
- Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) is a funny horror comedy about a sea creature that takes place during the Cuban revolution.
- A Bucket of Blood (1959) is a morbid comic satire about a homicidal sculptor.
- Eating Raoul (1982) a hipster couple decides to kill their neighbors and sell their meat at a new restaurant, cannibal eats and laughs galore in this one.
- The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) a mental patient crashes a teenage slumber party in this funny slasher flick, which moves between being a serious film and parody.
- Once Bitten (1985) another funny vampire movie, this time with Jim Carrey playing a virgin being stalked by vampire.
- Night of the Creeps (1986) the corpse of a boy who swallowed a “space slug” in the late 1950s suddenly comes to life in the mid-1980s.
- They Live (1988) a group of manipulative aliens weasel their way into world domination.
- Heathers (1989) Winona Ryder and Christian Slater take teen angst to a whole new level.
- Ernest Scared Stupid (1991) A family friendly horror comedy featuring Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell.
- Army of Darkness (1992) a huge blunder turns a hero into a villain.
- Dead Alive (1993) a rat-monkey creature from the South Pacific sets off a zombie apocalypse after biting someone.
- Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) another spoof from Mel Brooks, this time taking on the history of Dracula. It has some very very funny scenes and skits, like “Bring me a stake, medium rare!!”
- To Die For (1995) Nicole Kidman stars as a woman desperate to be famous in this black comedy thriller.
- Bride of Chucky (1998) while the 80s evil-doll movies were always campy and comical, it wasn’t until the release of this movie in the late 90s that the franchise officially embraced the horror comedy genre.
- Office Killer (1997) is a unique dark comedy/slasher movie about office culture in the late 90s that is even more relevant today. Notably this is the only feature film by famous artist Cindy Sherman.
- The Host (2006) a scary South Korean monster movie with a few very funny moments.
- Jennifer’s Body (2009) a popular teen girl becomes a succubus and finds joy in eating high school boys.
- This Is the End (2013) a bunch of partying dudes are thrust into the apocalypse.
- What We Do In The Shadows (2014) a mockumentary about a group of vampires living together. It is perhaps the funniest vampire movie ever made.
- Cooties (2014) a weird virus turns kids into monsters.
- Life After Beth (2014) a young man mourns the death of his girlfriend Beth (Aubrey Plaza).
- The Love Witch (2016) a darkly funny movie about a witch who is obsessed with finding love.
- 12 Hour Shift (2020) a horror comedy about a drug-addicted nurse (Angela Bettis) involved in failed organ trafficking heist.
- Vicious Fun (2020) a down-on-his-luck horror nerd stumbles upon a support group for serial killers.
- Werewolves Within (2022) a comedy horror movie about a small town in Vermont where someone is a werewolf.
- Renfield (2023) an action comedy horror movie the is a modern story about Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and his unhappy assistant, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult).
- Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2024) a Québécois comedy horror movie about a sensitive vampire who is starving due to her unwillingness to kill and the suicidal young man she befriends.
FAQ: Frequently asked questions about funny horror movies:
What is the funniest horror movie?
Humor is subjective, but we’re die-hard Scream (1996) fans. Kevin Williamson’s blend of horror and comedy is so well-balanced viewers might not even notice how funny Scream is until they’ve seen it several times (as it is first and foremost very scary). Matthew Lillard’s performance in particular is horror comedy excellence and the perfect counter-weight to Skeet Ulrich’s portrayal of Billy Loomis as a deathly serious teen psycho.
Movies like An American Werewolf in London (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), Tremors (1990), Dead Alive (1992), Jennifer’s Body (2009), Cabin in the Woods (2011), One Cut of the Dead (2017), Ready or Not (2019), Freaky (2020) and Barbarian (2022) are also widely considered among the best horror comedies ever made.
Since preferences for comedic style vary from viewer to viewer, the best way to identify the best horror comedy movie is to watch the films on this list and choose for yourself.
What is the difference between horror comedy and comedy horror?
In film, the primary genre is mentioned first. A horror comedy is primarily a horror movie with comedy elements. A comedy horror is primarily a comedy movie with horror elements.
However, a film’s genre is up for interpretation (and they are also sometimes miscategorized), leading to different genre labels for the same film depending on where you look.
What is the scariest comedy movie?
Young Frankenstein (1974), Return of the Living Dead (1985), Beetlejuice (1988), Scary Movie (2000), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Zombieland (2009), Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010), This is the End (2013) and What We Do In The Shadows (2014) are all very funny films with plots familiar to horror fans. As these movies are primarily comedies, none of them are very frightening. The scariest comedy movie would probably be a black comedy because they feature something that is darkly scary in real life.
Death Becomes Her (1992) is a good candidate for the scariest comedy movie of all time as the plot, told in a hysterically funny way, centers on something universally frightening: the inevitability of aging and death.
What is a black comedy?
Black comedies utilize humor to make a morbid situation funny. Also called “gallows humor”, black comedy is irreverent and can serve the function of making dark subject matter more palatable or to ventilate tension when enduring an uncomfortable or distressing experience.
Iconic black comedy films include Female Trouble (1974), Better Off Dead (1985), Clue (1985), Weekend at Bernies (1989), Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991), Death Becomes Her (1992), Serial Mom (1994), To Die For (1995), Fargo (1996), Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) and Jawbreaker (1999).
What is the best black comedy horror movie?
American Psycho (2000) is both a hilarious black comedy and a scary horror movie.
What is the difference between comedy and camp?
Notoriously hard to define, camp is often described as “so bad it’s good.”
A campy film can be one that is unintentionally bad in a way that is funny and appealing. While the film was made with the intention that it is serious, scary or tragic, it ends up being enjoyed by viewers for wildly different reasons. A famous example of this is Showgirls (1995), which was meant to be an erotic drama but is instead beloved by viewers as a raunchy camp classic. Campy films can also be intentionally funny dark comedies with an over-the-top theatrical aesthetic, like Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997).
Camp has a long history in queer communities where it is an intentional style in drag performances, queer media, fashion and colloquial conversations.
Camp was popularized by writer Susan Sontag in her essay Notes on ‘Camp‘ published in 1964. She argued that camp exists when the viewer is so removed from what they are seeing (because the work is poorly produced, dated or outlandish, for instance) that this distance allows them to see the elements on display through a new perspective, one in which the viewer finds absurdity in what is being portrayed. Sontag wrote “Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It’s not a lamp, but a ‘lamp’; not a woman, but a ‘woman’.”
What is the best campy horror movie?
Camp is especially popular in horror, where there is an endless selection of low-budget, ridiculous movies to be enjoyed through the lens of camp.
The best campy horror movie is probably Sleepaway Camp (1983) due to the salacious 80s fashion (men in short shorts) and over-the-top kill scenes in addition to the shocking (and preposterous) twist-ending. Another contender is The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), a comedy horror musical that was initially negatively reviewed, but continues to gain new fans through midnight showings that often include cosplay and fan performances.
See our full list of the best campy horror movies here.
Further reading:
- 19+ Funny Slasher Movies
- 16+ Must-See Campy Horror Movies
- 21 Hilarious ‘B’ Horror Movies You May Not Have Heard Of
- 22 Goofiest Villains in Horror Movie History
