Humor & Horror: Laughing Through The Pain

    Horror Comedies are almost the Black Sheep of cinema. Studios have no idea how to market them and, in most cases, these films tend not to do well at the box office. It is only later that they achieve success through rentals and cable viewings. Slowly over time building an almost cult following. The ones that do the best understand how to mix these two genres.

    Effective Horror Comedies never forget that they are a horror film. The scares and the laughs both need to occur at regular intervals. Far too often though this isn’t the case. A horror film can work with small moments of humor in it if used in the right context.

Cover of Evil Dead II

Evil Dead II: Sam Raimi’s highly effective and entertaining sequel to his debut film The Evil Dead took audiences by surprise upon it’s initial release. The original Evil Dead was a straight horror film. The sequel adds humor and is very effective. Bruce Campbell returns as Ash and quickly becomes the victim once again of the pesky demonic forces that ruined his previous trip to the woods. Why anyone would go anywhere near the woods again after being tormented before is beyond my ability to explain, but then again Ash isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Insanity is soon unleashed as Ash battles for his life.

Dead Alive: Peter Jackson made this insane zombie film that remains one of the most excessivelyover the top gore filled movies ever made. It’s hard to imagine after watching this film that he would later direct The Lord of the Rings trilogy and be considered an A list director.

Cover of Idle Hands [UMD for PSP]

Idle Hands: A pot smoking loser has his hand possessed by a demonic force and attempts to deal with the problem while also trying to impress the girl of his dreams.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil:Two hillbilly’s are mistaken for inbred backwoods killers by a group of college students on vacation. Insane fun.

Cover of Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead: Two slackers deal with a zombie outbreak in the UK.

Botched: An American thief in Russia attempts to steal an ornate cross that belonged to Ivan the Terrible and quickly discovers that he’s in way over his head.

Night of the Creeps: Two college students break into a medical research facility in order to steal a corpse so they can join a frat. They pick the wrong corpse and soon the world is threatened by alien slugs.