Dying from laughter: The 25 most memorable horror comedies

Sometimes referred to as the first financially successful horror comedy thanks to its combination of slapstick humor and good old-fashioned monster scares, “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” amassed more than $3 million against a budget of $792,000 — still quite the sum of money in 1948. Despite Frankenstein getting top billing, the film also features Dracula, the Wolf Man and the Invisible Man, who were played by iconic Universal horror stars Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. and Vincent Price, respectively. Although Bud and Lou would meet up with a few other famous movie monsters in subsequent films, none could match the success of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.”

Most horror fans know the late Sid Haig best from his roles as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie slashers “House of 1000 Corpses” (2003), “The Devil’s Rejects” (2005) and “3 from Hell” (2019). But one of his first films was the horror comedy “Spider Baby” alongside Lon Chaney Jr. (again!), Carol Ohmart, Quinn Redeker, Beverly Washburn and Jill Banner. A twisted story about a trio of siblings who suffer from a violent, degenerative mental disorder, “Spider Baby” was completed in 1964, but the film sat in the can for four years until it was finally released as the second part of a double feature. Following positive reviews, the dark comedy has since become a cult classic in the horror genre.

“An American Werewolf in London” is violent, gory and at times truly scary, but it’s also written and directed by John Landis, the man behind “Animal House,” “Three Amigos” and “Coming to America.” This film (and Landis, of course) is often credited for inspiring the wave of ‘80s horror comedies that would follow, and Rick Baker’s special makeup effects changed the face of horror — quite literally, as the most iconic scene in “An American Werewolf in London” involved the werewolf’s physical transformation. As a result, Baker ended up winning the first Academy Award for Best Makeup.

Mix “Tales from the Crypt” with horror comic books and you get “Creepshow,” a collaboration between writer Stephen King and director George A. Romero. These two icons attracted some additional star power, with Ted Danson, Ed Harris, Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, E.G. Marshall and King himself all appearing in the five-part horror anthology. Funny and campy with Tom Savini providing the gory effects, “Creepshow” doesn’t have too many scares, but one scene is notoriously frightening. Of course we're talking about when Marshall’s character has live cockroaches burst out of his body — which, and brace yourself for this, actually involved 20,000 real roaches.

Some people think noted horror-comedy director Joe Dante’s gremlins are cool and funny, while others can’t even bear to even look at the freaky little creatures. We get it. Gizmo and the mogwais are cute when they’re little and furry, but after cocooning, they turn into murderous reptilian monsters hell-bent on destruction. Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Judge Reinhold, Jonathan Banks and Corey Feldman are included among the cast of the 1984 classic, with Howie Mandel providing the voice of Gizmo. “Gremlins” cost $11 million to make but raked in more than $153 million at the box office, eventually spawning the 1990 sequel, “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” which was more humorous, silly and cartoony than the original.

Puny, oft-bullied janitor Melvin Ferd falls into a vat of toxic waste and mutates into the Toxic Avenger, the centerpiece of the eponymous film that gave low-budget splatter master Lloyd Kaufman his breakout and remains his most famous film to date. Co-written and co-directed by Kaufman, “The Toxic Avenger” contains a frightening amount of gore, which, along with crass toilet humor, excessive nudity and bad acting, became a staple of Kaufman and Michael Herz’s seemingly endless number of horror-comedy films with Troma Entertainment —including three “Toxic Avenger” sequels. Critics were entertained but not impressed by the campy classic, which has developed a cult following...including us. We love the monster hero!

Buckets of blood, deadpan humor and resurrected corpses comprise “Re-Animator,” the 1985 horror film directed and co-written by Stuart Gordon and based on a series of short stories by H. P. Lovecraft. Although generally well received, some fans of Lovecraft were irked by what they saw as an exploitation of the author’s work. However, Lovecraft considered “Herbert West — Re-Animator” to be pulp trash, as he basically attempted to write a more gruesome interpretation of “Frankenstein,” so an exploitation film seems fitting. And, boy, was it over the top. Makeup effect artist John Naulin called “Re-Animator” the bloodiest film he ever worked on, having used 24 gallons of blood for filming — 10 times more than he had previously ever used.

After making 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead,” screenwriters and filmmakers George A. Romero and John A. Russo split, with the former’s next zombie film being “Dawn of the Dead” (1978) and the latter’s being “The Return of the Living Dead” (1985). By comparison, the film developed by Russo — but written and directed by Dan O’Bannon — was notable for being more edgy and darkly comedic in nature and is also credited for introducing the concept of zombies craving brains instead of flesh. It cost $4 million to make this punk rock zombie flick, but “The Return of the Living Dead” returned more than $14 million at the box office, and its popularity led to four sequels.

Space slugs attack townspeople in “Night of the Creeps,” an intentional B-movie from the brain of writer and director Fred Dekker. Dekker may have been disappointed by the theatrical performance of his debut effort, but “Night of the Creeps” eventually earned cult classic status for its myriad cliches, constant comedy and even some legitimate scares. 

Six years elapsed between 1981’s “The Evil Dead” and its 1987 sequel. When writer and director Sam Raimi return to pen “Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn” with the addition of Scott Spiegel, a longtime friend of Raimi, and star Bruce Campbell, the lifetime of laughs shared among the trio came through in the script. Although still frightening at times, the 1987 horror film has much more of a comedic, slapstick tone than its acclaimed predecessor — including many humorous scenes with Campbell and his severed hand — which resulted in even better reviews.

Tim Burton’s dark comedic masterpiece “Beetlejuice” might not seem so scary, but tell that to our 6-year-old selves, who watched the 1988 film way too early in life. There is literally a scene where Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) try to be as frightening as possible to scare away the Deetz Family (Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder). Just Burton’s second feature film, “Beetlejuice” helped solidify the filmmaker’s place as a legitimate director thanks to the $74 million box office haul. Beetlejuice. There. Now we said it three times.

If you’re coulrophobic, you might find the titular characters in “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” a bit scary. Otherwise the 1988 film is more comedic in nature. Sure, the bumbling clowns kill a few dozen people, but most of the deaths are bloodless and silly — like getting eaten by a shadow puppet, being trapped in cotton candy or death by pie. Endlessly rewatchable, crazily campy and unabashedly ‘80s, “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” is a bona fide cult classic.

Also known as “Dead Alive” in the States, “Braindead” was the fourth film directed by Peter Jackson. Yes, the same Peter Jackson of “The Lord of the Rings,” but don’t expect any hobbits to be found here. Instead, “Dead Alive” contains an obscene, excessive and tasteless amount of gore — not to mention plenty of cheap scares, bad decisions, innocent victims and even some zombie copulation. One scene actually features a horde of the undead attacking and devouring a party full of people until one of the guests liquifies the horde with an upturned lawnmower. It’s bloody brilliant and caused Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times to quip, “It makes something like ‘Re-Animator’ seem like a UNESCO documentary about Mother Teresa.”

“Scream” is a slasher film that is at the same time a satire of slasher films, as the characters in Kevin Williamson’s witty script discuss classic horror films, elements and tropes, before falling into those very cliches themselves. No surprise, as the 1996 movie was directed by horror master Wes Craven, who was no stranger to getting audiences to both cringe and chuckle. It was the producers who got the last laugh, though. Not only did they kill off the biggest name in “Scream” (Drew Barrymore) in the first few minutes, but the film also slashed its way to $173 million at the box office, three sequels and a TV adaptation.

Mary Harron’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ terrifying novel “American Psycho” divided critics from the moment it was first screened at Sundance. Still, audiences flocked to cinemas to see Christian Bale play a shallow, materialistic and homicidal yuppie who chops up his victims with axes and chainsaws while discussing Huey Lewis and the News. If that’s not frightening and funny to you, then we can’t be friends.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost starred in a number of buddy comedies, but the first was still the best: 2004’s Edgar Wright-directed zombie invasion flick “Shaun of the Dead.” Co-written by Pegg and Wright, the sharp script is packed with pop culture references and earned nominations at both the British Independent Film Awards and London Film Critics’ Circle Awards. Graphic, intense and laugh-out-loud funny, “Shaun of the Dead” also earned two BAFTA nods, including Outstanding British Film.

James Gunn’s directorial debut is a B-movie that pays tribute to B-movies — no surprise considering Gunn studied under gross-out god Lloyd Kaufman — but the budding filmmaker put together plenty of scares to make “Slither” a well-balanced body horror comedy. Carrying the star power of Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker and Jenna Fischer, “Slither” won only a couple awards, but one should be of particular interest to horror fans: the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Highest Body Count.

Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin formed a rag-tag group of zombie apocalypse survivors in the 2009 comedy “Zombieland.” Although it was filled with laughs and featured a hilarious appearance by Bill Murray, the post-apocalyptic tale was also legitimately scary thanks to frequent kills, gory deaths and a zombie that can run. (Repeat: They can run!) Directed by Ruben Fleischer in his cinematic debut, “Zombieland” eventually grossed more than $102 million, earned two Saturn Award nominations and swept the Scream Awards — winning Best Horror Movie, Best Cameo and Best Ensemble, in addition to six additional nods. It took a decade, but the sequel “Zombieland: Double Tap” hit theaters on Oct. 18, 2019.

What if the “killers” in slasher movies weren’t actually killers, the deaths were all accidental and the whole situation was just a big misunderstanding? That’s “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil,” a 2010 comedy starring Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine as the titular characters, a pair of hillbilly friends who cross paths with a group of college kids on spring break and experience a series of unfortunate mishaps, mix-ups and dismemberments. After screening at Sundance and South by Southwest (and winning the Audience Award at the latter), “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” flatlined in theaters but found success on various streaming services. Although something of a lighthearted comedy that also has some heart, the deaths are gruesome and the tension in these moments mimic real slasher movies — somehow striking a perfect horror-comedy balance.

“The Cabin in the Woods” sounds like a horror movie cliche, and that’s the point. On first glance, the Joss Whedon-produced film is another gnarly slasher about a group of stereotypical college kids who go to a deserted cabin in the woods and are picked off one by one. But beneath the surface, the fatal events unfolding are carefully orchestrated by unseen forces, and the fate of humanity may depend on it. If you’ve seen a lot of slasher horror movies and want another one that’s imaginative and anything but traditional (not to mention hilarious and featuring Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford and Sigourney Weaver), be sure to add “The Cabin in the Woods” to your queue. As a warning: Prepare to see almost every type of horror villain known to man.

I don’t know how we found “Stitches.” It barely appeared in theaters and didn’t receive much critical acclaim, but fans of horror films found it entertaining and word spread quickly in that community. Dark, twisted and dripping with blood, the funniest part of “Stitches” is the creative way the victims meet their grisly demises, as Stitches the Clown (played by British funnyman Ross Noble) utilizes all the tricks and gags in his bag to eliminate his foes. If you’re a fan of pitch-black comedies and clown killers, “Stitches” will have you in stitches.

“Warm Bodies” is a romantic comedy, but it’s also a zombie film boasting its share of jumps, thrills and kills. It happens to boast a pretty strong cast as well, including Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, John Malkovich and Dave Franco. Rewarded with a Teen Choice Award, “Warm Bodies” also earned $117 million at the worldwide box office.

“Housebound” is the kind of horror-comedy that seems like a legitimate horror film about a haunted house but slowly transitions into comedy as the plot progresses. Filmed in New Zealand with a Kiwi cast, “Housebound” was written, directed and edited by Gerard Johnstone in his directorial debut. It doesn’t appear amateurish in the least, and “Housebound” is actually an impressive film that will make you jump in fear and roar with laughter in a rare combination for contemporary horror movies — as evidenced by its various accolades and certified fresh rating of 95 percent.

If you thought the battling of Nazi zombie hordes in Tommy Wirkola’s 2009 film “Dead Snow” was entertaining, you’ll love 2014’s “Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead.” It has Soviet zombies! And English dialogue! And Martin Starr! The sequel takes a more comedic turn than its predecessor and was rewarded with slightly stronger reviews. Although the laughs increased, it certainly wasn’t at the expense of any of the flesh-chewing, bone-crunching, zombie-smashing and other gratuitously gruesome sights and sounds.

Take the vampire concept and put it in a mockumentary format in the vein of “The Office,” and you have something resembling “What We Do in the Shadows.” Co-directed, co-written and co-starring Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement — as well as Jonathan Brugh, Ben Fransham and Clement’s “Flight of the Conchords” castmate Rhys Darby — the spoof definitely leans toward the comedy side but carries a creepy vibe at times, especially whenever Fransham’s 8,000-year old Nosferatu-esque character, Petyr, is shown. The overwhelmingly positive response to “What We Do in the Shadows” led to two TV spinoffs.