An entertaining horror movie comes from the compelling narrative and strong main characters, and adding a touch of comedy can elevate the terror beyond their initial potential. Entertaining horror-comedy movies need standout characters, good gags, and solid scares. Audiences love a good story, even if the same plot has been made before. While the Scary Movie premises are all based on other horror movies, this franchise's numerous entries are considered cult classic movies because they're entertaining and funny.
Some of the best horror comedy movies came out of the early 2000's, and there's a continued demand for horror comedies because the lighter moments in them make audiences realize the dark, twisted horror movie they just watched might actually be comical if presented differently. The jump scare, car won't start, possessed doll tropes of something frightening like Annabelle can become hilarious put in a dark comedy like M3gan. While the horror-comedy genre might be oversaturated, there are some entertaining horror-comedies that will always be enjoyable.
10 The 'Burbs (1989)
Directed by Joe Dante
The 'Burbs is a dark comedy directed by Joe Dante, starring Tom Hanks as Ray Peterson, a suburbanite who grows suspicious of his eccentric new neighbors. As strange events unfold, Peterson and his friends become increasingly convinced that something sinister is happening next door. The film explores themes of paranoia and suburban life with a humorous twist.
CastTom Hanks , Bruce Dern , Carrie Fisher , Corey Feldman , Rick Ducommun , Wendy Schaal , Henry Gibson , Theodore Gottlieb
Director Joe Dante
Writers Dana Olsen
The 'Burbs is a terrific horror-comedy (and one of Tom Hanks' earlier movies). Hanks plays Ray Peterson, a family man who fears the family next door is involved in a Satanic cult. The 'Burbs is an entertaining movie filled with organ music and a goofy family who come across as the typical, next-door, nosey neighbors anyone would have in the suburbs. Similar to other adventurous horror-comedies movies from the 80s, the characters put themselves in front of danger and decide to scope out their suspicious neighbors by any means necessary, including breaking and entering into their house.
The film was perfect for the 80's because it showcases a time where people cared about their neighbors and were heavily involved in their community, which makes the movie an entertaining horror-comedy.
The Burbs is filled with comedic elements that are different from other horror-comedies, including haunting dreams, explosions, and quirky lines like, "Ray, do you want them to take your family, kidnap them, tear their livers out, and make some kind of satanic pate?" Good horror-comedies feature elements that represent that time period. The film was perfect for the 80's because it showcases a where people cared about their neighbors and were heavily involved in their community, which makes the movie an entertaining horror-comedy.
9 Shaun Of The Dead (2004)
Directed by Edgar Wright
From director Edgar Wright, Shaun of the Dead stars Simon Pegg as Shaun, an ambitionless slacker who one day finds his world overrun by zombies. From a script by Wright and Pegg, Shaun of the Dead injects comedy into a typically horror-focused subgenre as Shaun and his lazy friend Ed (Nick Frost) attempt to rescue Shaun's estranged girlfriend and make it through the apocalypse unscathed.
Cast Kate Ashfield , Nick Frost , Simon Pegg , Lucy Davis , Dylan Moran
Shaun of the Dead is a cult classic movie among the horror community. This British film has dry humor and memorable zombies that make the perfect blend for a horror-comedy, zombie movie. Shaun, played by Simon Pegg, is a great protagonist because of his laid-back demeanor. His best friend and roommate, Ed, played by Nick Frost, tackle the zombies together. The duo fight together as any normal pair of best friends would try and defend themselves — with just as much internal bickering as bloodshed.
One of Shaun of the Dead's first zombie appearances surprisingly uses practical effects, as detailed by the VFX artists at Corridor Crew.
Shaun of the Dead has amusing B-stories throughout the movie that add to the themes of going through something extraordinary while being ordinary. Shaun's priorities include getting to a safe location where they can grab a beer after their long, zombie-fighting ordeal. The movie has witty lines, clever montages, and entertaining theatrical bits like where the survivors have to acts like zombies in order to get through a horde. Shaun of the Dead even has the perfect movie ending to a buddy horror-comedy, subverting expectations about the genre fusion.
8 Return Of The Living Dead (1985)
Directed by Dan O'Bannon
In The Return of the Living Dead, a mishap at a Louisville warehouse releases a gas that resurrects corpses as zombies. As the outbreak engulfs the town, Frank and Freddy, along with their boss and a mysterious mortician, struggle to survive amid the chaos and ravenous undead.
Cast Clu Gulager , James Karen , Don Calfa , Thom Mathews , Miguel A. Núñez Jr. , Beverly Randolph , Brian Peck , Jonathan Terry , John Philbin , Linnea Quigley , Jewel Shepard , Mark Venturini , Cathleen Cordell , Drew Deighan , James Dalesandro , John Durbin , David Bond , Bob Libman , John Stuart West , Michael Crabtree , Ed Krieger , Robert Craighead , Paul Cloud , Derrick Brice , Leigh Drake
Writers John A. Russo , Russell Streiner , Rudy Ricci
Return of the Living Dead is an entertaining zombie movie that revolves around a simple, fun premise — zombies strictly eat brains. The zombies in this movie are fearless, fast-paced, and unique to the horror canon. Return of the Living Dead features headless zombies, gooey zombies, half-severed zombies, and talking zombies. These undead killers are very smart and tell their own jokes, with one of the zombies even memorably screaming, "More brains!" The zombies in the film go through their own existential crisis, expressing how the pain doesn't go away and they can feel themselves rot.
A
Return of the Living Dead
follow-up directed by Steve Wolsh (
Muck
,
Kill Her Goats
) is currently in the works and set to be released Christmas 2025.
Return of the Living Dead zombies has the most expressive zombies out of any horror-comedy movie, making it very entertaining. On top of the smart zombies, the characters in the movie are very engaging and add their own funny, dark humor in moments that probably weren't meant to be comedic. If it weren't for the engaging characters in the movie, some of the moments wouldn't have come across as humorous, like when a zombie's severed arm attacks people or one of the naked zombies tackles a man. Return of the Living Dead leans into the absurd for a solid horror-comedy.
7 The Final Girls (2015)
Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
Three years after the death of her actress sister, Amanda, Max Cartwright and her friends find themselves trapped in a bizarre time loop after attending a screening of Amanda's cult classic film. Transported into the movie world, they must navigate the slasher flick's deadly tropes to survive and find a way back home.
Director Todd Strauss-Schulson
Writers M.A. Fortin , Joshua John Miller
The Final Girls is an engaging horror-comedy movie that tugs at the audiences' heartstrings. The film follows Taissa Farmiga's Max as she and her friends are sucked into an in-universe horror movie where she runs into a character played by her now deceased mom, Nancy. Max and Nancy make the perfect mother-daughter duo who bring a fun light-hearted energy to the subversive slasher through their relationship and fight against the camp killer, Billy.
The Final Girls features typical horror movie tropes and turns them into comedic moments, like when Nancy does a seductive dance number in order to lure the killer away from her daughter. There's even a thematically powerful element of self-sacrifice, with t he girls in the movie realize there can only be one Final Girl, adding self-aware existentialism to the genre riff. With the typical horror tropes and the chemistry between all the characters, The Final Girls has one of the best endings to a horror-comedy movie, that will leave audiences satisfied and slightly heartbroken.
A darkly comedic horror-thriller, The Menu focuses on a group of diners invited to a high-end restaurant on a private island by one of the world's greatest chefs. Shortly after arriving on the island, Margot Mills begins to realize something is strange beyond the perceived pompous nature of the menu. Her suspicions are confirmed when the night turns deadly as the restaurant staff begins to descend into a cult-like madness.
Director Mark Mylod
Writers Seth Reiss , Will Tracy
The Menu is a whole new type of horror-comedy movie with the unique restaurant setting and dark humor. It perfectly represents the pretentious type of restaurant foodies that people would want to avoid and adds an entertaining villain, Chef Slowik, played by Ralph Fiennes. It's a compelling and entertaining film because of the controlled chaos of the story, with the overly serious restaurant workers puincutating all of Slowik's questions with a resounding "Yes, Chef!" after every comment. The entire movie feels as if Gordan Ramsay created his own scripted horror-comedy movie.
The Menu is structured around an exclusive dinner experience and a special menu: the dishes featured in The Menu have a deeper meaning behind them.
Margot, played by Ana Taylor-Joy, brings her own sardonic and humorous layer to the movie by being less than impressed by the Chef's food and his antics. Without the dry wit, The Menu would still be an amazing stand-alone horror movie. By adding the unintentional humor, and intriguing and inherently political premise that everyone in the restaurant should die because of their rich, snobby outlook on life, it makes for one the most subtley deep horror-comedies ever released.
5 Little Nicky (2000)
Directed by Steven Brill
Little Nicky is a comedy starring Adam Sandler as Nicky, the least likely son of Satan who is sent to Earth to prevent his brothers from creating their version of hell. As he struggles with his mission, he must learn how to control his demonic powers to save the world.
Little Nicky is one of the more underrated and purely entertaining horror-comedies of the early 2000's. It's also one of Adam Sandler's best roles, because of his accent and dramatic flair. Sandler plays Nicky, one of the potential heirs to Satan. When Nicky's father decides to remain as the ruler of Hell, Nicky's brothers rebel by causing trouble on Earth, which leaves the surprisingly kind Nicky tasked with dragging his more devious brothers back to the underworld.
Aside from the suggestive humor, the premise and characters make this an entertaining movie with a lot of originality.
Little Nicky also features Patricia Arquette, Reese Witherspoon, and Harvey Keitel in main character roles. The humor is crude, inappropriate, and sometimes over-the-top. The movie doesn't stray away from being racy, as many other 2000s horror-comedies used to embrace. Aside from the suggestive humor, the premise and characters make this an entertaining movie with a lot of originality. Even the soundtrack adds another comedic layer to the film, with songs like AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" scoring important scenes. Other horror movies about hell are usually strictly horror and don't incorporate comedy and Little Nicky embraces both.
4 Mayhem (2017)
Directed by Joe Lynch
Mayhem is the perfect horror-comedy movie that showcases a very niche, entertaining subgenre — corporate horror. The movie stars Steven Yeun, Joe Lynch, and Samara Weaving as workers are trapped in their office as a virus breaks out that causes the victims to act impulsively. Mayhem is an exciting horror-comedy because of the violence, gore, and commentary about corporate America. The fight for survival goes past the 9-5 in Mayhem as the office workers get sick and start fighting each other to death.
The fight for survival goes past the 9-5 in Mayhem as the office workers get sick and start fighting each other to death.
Steven Yeun's character, Derek, is very engaging as he delivers a comedic voice-over and epic kills. His unique demeanor, plus Samara Weaving's performance as the cool Melanie, are the most epic, killing-corporate duo in cinematic history. As the two set out to kill other workers, their mundane corporate lives still catch up with them as they speak in typical corporate lingo on the phone and fight with office supplies. Mayhem is clever and an entertaining and contained, horror-comedy that office workers can relate to.
Trap is a film by writer-director M. Night Shyamalan under his Blinding Edge Pictures label. The film is part of a deal struck with Warner Bros for him to direct and produce several films under their banner.
CastJosh Hartnett , Hayley Mills , Marnie McPhail , Vanessa Smythe , Saleka Shyamalan , Malik Jubal , Jonathan Langdon , Peter D'Souza , Ty Pravong , Kaitlyn Dallan
Trap is an indirectly funny and very entertaining horror-comedy movie. Josh Hartnett plays Cooper, a serial killer who attends a concert with his daughter. Unbeknownst to him, the entire concert is a trap to capture Cooper, who must find a way out of the concert before he's caught. M. Night Shyamalan's movies are usually darker and more menacing, while Trap is more grounded and campy. All of Cooper's interactions and mannerisms are over-the-top for a serial killer who is trying to escape a pop star's concert, making his character come across as comedic.
Although M. Night Shyamalan's Trap had plenty of suspense and intrigue throughout, one tradition of the filmmaker could have made it way better.
Cooper's interactions with his daughter are bizarre, as he leaves his daughter alone for long periods of time and roams the halls of the concert. While trying to find a way to escape, he suggests the two of them two jump into a hole in the ground, leading to an exit. The whole movie is filled with dialogue that seems abnormal for a father to say to his daughter. It works really well for his serial killer character since he's supposed to be an offbeat type of person, making the movie strangely funny in a seemingly self-aware way.
2 Eight Legged Freaks (2002)
Directed by Ellory Elkayem
Eight Legged Freaks is a horror-comedy film that takes place in the Arizona town of Prosperity, where toxic waste dumping has caused spiders to grow to enormous size and become aggressive. The spiders begin to attack the town's residents, and a group of survivors, including a spider expert and the local sheriff, must band together to stop the eight-legged menace.
Director Ellory Elkayem
Writers Ellory Elkayem , Jesse Alexander
Eight Legged Freaks is a campy, horror-comedy movie about giant spiders taking over a small town after a chemical spill caused them to grow rapidly. It's tonally the same as other goofy creature movies like Gremlins, where a bunch of creatures terrorize people, and the main characters must find a way to defeat them. The creatures in Eight Legged Freaks stand out because of their exaggerated features, clumsy movements, and off-putting noises.
"It has a nice balance of self-aware laughs, poking fun at its own ridiculousness, and genuine thrills, wringing every possible fright out of the premise of giant spiders attacking people."
Even though Eight Legged Freaks is an early 2000s film, the giant spiders are still effective. The spiders flip over cars, play hide-and-seek, and even outsmart the humans they are trying to kill. The movie features David Arquette as Chris, trying to save the town from the killer arachnids, and his character brings his own funny flair to the plot. It's a subversively smart horror-comedy that's very humorous, and if it weren't for the comedic tones, it could work as a horror movie on its own because of the concept and special effects.
1 Willy’s Wonderland (2021)
Directed by Kevin Lewis
Willy's Wonderland is a 2021 horror film starring Nicolas Cage. Cage plays The Janitor, who is tasked with cleaning up Willy's Wonderland. What seems like a relatively easy job becomes a nightmare when the animatronic animals become possessed and attack the Janitor. Kevin Lewis directed the film, which got mixed reviews upon release.
Director Kevin Lewis
Writers Kevin Lewis
Willy's Wonderland is about life-sized anamatronics who are out for blood. This campy horror-comedy movie stars Nicolas Cage, playing the role of a Janitor who is caught in a fight for survival after taking a job in an abandoned family center. Nicolas Cage delivers an amazing performance without delivering any dialogue, relying on purely physical acting. His actions and character are very engaging as he navigates around and fights the animatronics. He's a whole new type of horror movie hero, and a particularly compelling one.
Nicolas Cage cult classic, Willy's Wonderland, gets a promising sequel update from writer G.O. Parsons, who says development is "trending positively."
The mayhem caused by the animatronics is uniquely different than any other doll-coming-to-life type of horror-comedy movie. They aren't the typical visually pleasing characters as they are dirty, vile, and make disturbing movements. They even deliver surprising lines like "I'm going to feast on your face!", which becomes hilarious when belted out by a ostrich animatronic. Willy's Wonderland is a violently hilarious horror-comedy and should be regarded as one of Nicolas Cage's best movie roles.
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