7 Horror Comedy Films that Will Make You Laugh Out Loud

 

The deadly combination of horror-comedy has always been one of the most popular and highly enjoyable subgenres in films. Such movies can make you laugh one minute and scream the next. They cover a broad range of emotions—from happiness to terror and happen to be equally hilarious and frightening. They are best enjoyed communally, both with friends and family. It feels even more amazing while watching alone, wrapped under the duvet cover.

So, why not enjoy this leisure time with some of the greatest horror-comedies of all time?

Here are the top picks for you:-


1. Happy Death Day (2017)

Happy Death Day is actually a great modern-day slasher film that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's got a well-defined, fun narrative. College student Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) is stuck in a time loop because she keeps getting killed on her birthday. With each loop, she tries to solve her own murder. The sequel, titled Happy Death Day 2U, released in February 2019, expands on this world.


2. Dead Alive (1992)

Timothy Balme stars as Lionel, a young man kept under the heavy thumb of his oppressive mother (Elizabeth Moody) until he falls in love. But just when he thinks he's free, his mother's vengeance comes calling in the form of a blood-soaked zombie outbreak that puts Lionel's sudden hunger for independence to the ultimate test. With flourishes of stop-motion, an ungodly amount of on-screen blood, and one of the all-time best cringe-worthy gags in the iconic soup scene, Dead Alive is one of the zaniest and most unhinged horror comedies of its time, culminating the lawnmower vs. zombie horde set-piece that ensured it would become a cult classic.


3. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

What We Do in the Shadows is an American mockumentary comedy horror television series created by Jemaine Clement that premiered on March 27, 2019, on FX. The second television series in the franchise based on the 2014 film of the same name written by Clement and Taika Waititi, the series follows four vampire roommates in Staten Island and stars Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, and Mark Proksch. It was renewed for a second season while the first season was still in progress. The 10-episode second season debuted on April 15, 2020, and in May 2020 the series was renewed for a third season.

4. Zombieland (2009)

The all-American zombie apocalypse film gets a hilarious update with this road-trip comedy that sees college student Columbus heading back home to see if his family is still alive. Along the way, he encounters a gun-toting badass, Tallahassee, and a pair of plucky sisters Wichita and Little Rock. Oh, and Bill Murray, too.


5. Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Zombies are unleashed after a couple of warehouse employees accidentally knock open a canister leaking toxic goop.

A spin-off of George Romero’s original iconic zombie pic, O’Bannon’s world of flesh-eaters is a happenin’ place, full of bodacious needle drops, graveyard boogies, and barrels packed with toxic corpses. Return is less interested in a subtle social comment, and more interested in its knock-kneed shufflers sinking their teeth into as many skulls as possible. The first of the zombie kind to introduce its corpses love of brains, that’s not the only aspect of lore that O’Bannon wove into his comedy, with one of these hungry flesh-munchers grabbing a patrol car’s radio to ask that they “send more cops.”


6. Beetlejuice (1988)

On the surface, Beetlejuice seems innocuous enough – a Halloween movie for all the family. The dinner scene, where the entire Deetz family is possessed and begins to sing the Banana Boat Song, is one example of its comedy pleasantries. Scratch a little past that and you’ll soon see the movie’s dark, dark underbelly. Tim Burton’s genre hybrid dances through a myriad of horrors, telling a story that’s pretty bleak. Adam and Barbara Maitland are killed in a car accident yet their ghosts haunt their old home, despite the arrival of new residents.

Enter the world’s leading bio-exorcist, Beetlejuice. The film’s funniest elements find this deranged demon, Michael Keaton in arguably his widest-ranging role, attempting to first skirt his responsibilities, before unleashing a torrent of holy horrors on the new family. Being scary and being funny ain’t easy but Beetlejuice achieves both in spades.


7. Anna And The Apocalypse (2018)

In the spirit of the aging Shaun Of The Dead comes Anna And The Apocalypse, a homegrown UK horror-comedy bursting with delightful imagery and ideas. In the film, Anna (Ella Hunt) is trying to decide how her future will play out – stick around and attend university here, or try her luck in Australia, against her father’s wishes. The future, however, becomes intangible fairly quickly, as a zombie apocalypse is on the horizon.


Written by - Prachi Raheja