Pushing Daisies follows Ned (Lee Pace) as he tries to be a successful piemaker and helps a local private investigator in his free time. Ned has a supernatural ability to wake the dead for one minute, which proves to be just long enough to get a few clues about the victim's murder.
Pushing Daisies has a unique approach to its visuals and its comedy when covering the dark subject matter of death and murder - and of course, romance. Here are some films that have a similar feeling to Pushing Daisies and are worth checking out for any fan of the show.
Heathers (1988)
Heathers is a darkly humorous film that stars Winona Ryder and Christian Slater as two outsiders, Veronic and J.D., at their high school. The two become friends and J.D. helps Veronica take down her so-called friends the Heathers who rule the school. Things quickly become dark as J.D. decides to go down a more murderous path than Veronica had in mind and she has to decide whether she's with him or against him. The quirky humor and dark subject matter is similar to Pushing Daisies and the movie is worth checking out.
Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)
Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene star in Little Shop of Horrors as Seymour and Audrey, two co-workers at a local flower shop in Skid Row. Seymour discovers an odd plant one day that brings attention to the failing shop while also giving Seymour more confidence in himself and brings him and Audrey closer together. The plant, named Audrey II, suddenly becomes bloodthirsty and demands more and more until Seymour has to confront the horrific and huge monster. The film's main romantic plot and musical interludes are similar to Pushing Daisies.
Fargo (1996)
Fargo is a dark comedy from the Coen Brothers that follows a small-town sheriff looking into the murder of a state trooper. The plot becomes more complex when the two professional criminals who murdered the trooper were paid to kidnap a man's wife so the man could collect ransom money.
The crime and the small-town interactions between the characters is very similar to Pushing Daisies and the way the characters go about solving a crime even though Fargo doesn't have a supernatural focus like Pushing Daisies.
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a highly regarded art critic in this Netflix horror film that delves into the supernatural. Mysterious deaths begin to happen after an artist's work is found and displayed without permission. The paintings begin to target and entrap those who don't appreciate art and are only in the art world for the money and prestige. The moral and ethical implications of the deaths and the inventive way the paintings come to life to exact their revenge is similar to Pushing Daisies.
The Lobster (2015)
The Lobster is all about finding your soulmate before each and every person runs out of time to find love and are turned into an animal. The characters in this film have 45 days to find a soulmate or they are turned into an animal of their choice. The quirky comedy of The Lobster and the odd dystopian and supernatural world is all similar to Pushing Daisies and Ned's supernatural ability to wake the dead.
Death Becomes Her (1992)
Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn star as two feuding women in the dark and silly comedy Death Becomes Her. Streep's character is a famous performer and Hawn is a meek author who went to school together and Hawn is determined to get revenge after her husband leaves her for Streep. The two delve into the supernatural as they take an experimental drug that gives them both immortality, but it comes with a price. The dark humor of the film and the supernatural angle makes it similar to Pushing Daisies.
Knives Out (2019)
Knives Out is a hit in the mystery and comedy genre as the film follows There are surprising moments throughout Knives Out, yet it still feels very familiar at times, which attributes to the popularity of the film as it feels new yet nostalgic. The film follows Detective Blanc as he tries to solve the murder of the murder mystery author and patriarch of a wealthy family by investigating the house and all family members.
The whodunit setup and the comedy surrounding the main murder and the death and destruction throughout the film is all similar to Pushing Daisies as Ned and Emerson hunt for killers and solve crimes with twists and turns.
Warm Bodies (2013)
Warm Bodies is a Romeo and Juliet adaptation that re-imagines Romeo as a zombie and Juliet as a woman who is still alive. The two are separated by the zombie apocalypse and their divide is between alive and undead, similar to Ned and Chuck on Pushing Daisies. R and Julie try to convince their undead and alive friends that they're both trustworthy and the two belong together even during the tragic zombie plague that has infected the world.
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, and Sam Rockwell star in this comedy filled with outrageous antics and dark humor. Farrell portrays a struggling writer looking for his next story and becomes inspired by his two insane friends (Walken and Rockwell) who kidnap rich people's dogs and claim the reward in their free time. The crazy characters and the wildly shifting plot is a similar setup to Pushing Daisies.
Shaun Of The Dead (2004)
Shaun of the Dead takes a comedic approach to zombies, which is similar to the approach that Pushing Daisies has to the undead. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg star in the Edgar Wright film as two best friends who are thrown into a zombie apocalypse and have to fight to survive throughout the hilarious and sometimes gory antics in the film. The comedy throughout the gore and dire situation of the zombie apocalypse is the same type of humor that Pushing Daisies provides.