Creepy Comedies and Hilarious Horrors: Movies that Mix Giggles with Gore

I am a fan of horror films, but I hold a special affinity for horror films that include an element of humor or, conversely, comedies that are in some way scary.

Movies that blend humor and horror can be divided into two general categories, there are those funny movies with elements of horror, movies found in the Comedy section of the video store, and there are those scary movies that also make you laugh, movies that would be categorized as Horror.

The key to the first kind, let's call them Creepy Comedies, is that the elements of terror must be played straight. In other words, the humor must come from everything but the supernatural or horror elements.

For the second kind of film to succeed - let's call these Hilarious Horrors - the humor is best drawn from scenes in which the gore or gross-out factor is so over-the-top that it makes the viewer laugh as much as squirm. If gore is not in evidence, then the humor must come directly from the script, through clever dialog and/or self-referential details.

Here are a few examples of movies, both Creepy Comedies and Hilarious Horrors, that do it right:

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

The granddaddy of them all, this one set the bar for the humorous treatment of horror. As mentioned above, the reason this movie succeeds is that the monsters, including Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolfman (plus a laugh-out-loud funny cameo by a fourth "monster") are treated seriously. Bud and Lou, of course, are at their hilarious, bumbling best, but the Count and his minions, played by those actors who made the characters famous (at least cinematically-speaking) - Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr, respectively - are written and portrayed with complete, scary seriousness

Ghostbusters (1984)

Like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Ghostbusters includes a cast that consists of some of the greatest comedy names of its day. The main characters are in no way meant to be taken seriously, but the ghosts, however, are, with few exceptions, portrayed as genuinely scary. Though not on par with, say, Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street, some of the scenes and images in Ghostbusters are at least as scary as those in Poltergeist.

Gremlins (1984)

The horror here is not entirely serious, but many of the laughs produced by the monsters are self-referential in nature, spoofing classic films and horror/Christmas movie clichés, and so must be included in any list exploring films that successfully mix horror with humor. The gory, over-the-top effects are also as funny as they are gross.

Jeepers Creepers (2001)

This is a genuinely scary and often disturbing movie, but beneath the frights is a humorous undertone indicating that the filmmakers did not intend for their work to be taken too seriously. In fact, Jeepers Creepers explores and explodes many monster-movie clichés, ensuring that many gags and jokes will be of special appeal to true horror fans.

Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

Behind the Mask is filmed as a mockumentary following the preparations of this generation's next great supernatural slasher, Leslie Vernon. It mines its humor from the same source as the Scream movies, through self-reference and genre mocking, but, in my opinion, it does so far more cleverly, answering a few dozen fan-boy questions and featuring a fantastic performance from its lead, Nathan Baesel. An absolute must see for any fan of supernatural slasher flicks.

Trick R Treat (2007)

A ridiculously fun homage to Halloween (the holiday, not the movie). Trick R Treat is divided into four loosely but cleverly linked vignettes, much like the old Creepshow and Tales from the Darkside movies. This is a love note to Halloween and all that it stands for; namely, fun and frights. The gore is as funny as it is gross. Highly recommended.

Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Zombieland (2009)

Both movies deal with zombies and, like Ghostbusters, though the main characters are funny, the monsters are gross and scary, created with make-up effects that would not be out of place in any George Romero film. A similar treatment of the subject can be found in the Ghost House-released indie film Dance of the Dead (2008).

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Here is a perfect example of a movie using its gross-out scenes to induce laughter. Some scenes are so ridiculously gross that one cannot help but laugh. Though the subject matter is serious (and it can be argued that the entire film is a metaphor for eating disorders, which is deadly serious), the film is presented with the filmmakers' collective tongue stuck firmly in their collective cheek. From Sam Raimi, who previously made Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, two other horror movies with a similar not-too-serious treatment of gore.

Hope you find something here that will give you both laughs and nightmares.