A thin line separates a scream from a laugh. Both serve as a way to release pent-up tension and tend to be amplified within appropriate settings, be it a group event at a theatre or a solo experience at home on a dark and spooky night. While they might appear to be incompatible on the surface, the horror and comedy genres have proven time and time again to mesh well in the right hands.
Considering many horror films are not scary and many comedies struggle to be funny, successfully blending the two genres is hardly an easy feat. Thankfully, some exceptions do exist. Here are five horror-comedies that are truly terrifying, along with five movies that are just hilarious.
The focus will be on horror-comedy and not comedy-horror films, as the latter focus predominantly on humor and often venture into parody territory. The Scary Movie series and the hilarious Tucker & Dale vs. Evil are examples of comedy-horror films.
Terrifying: Slither
Prior to Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn got his start as a writer on Tromeo and Juliet, Scooby-Doo, and Dawn of the Dead, before making his directorial debut in 2006's Slither. An isolated town, a literal alien presence, and body mutilation, Slither combines various popular horror conventions to create a project that is just as likely to unsettle someone's nerves as it is their stomach.
Although laughter is not prioritized over scares, Slither does show flashes of Gunn's wit, which is further enhanced by Elizabeth Banks and Nathan Fillion's comedic chops.
Hilarious: Cabin In The Woods
Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard and directed by the latter, Cabin in the Woods works as a slasher film and a laugh-out-loud comedy that satirizes the "cabin in the woods" horror subgenre. The film is known for playing with character archetypes and lures the audience into a false sense of familiarity through a fairly conventional opening act. However, it is only a matter of time before the surprises and laughs arrive.
Cabin in the Woods has its frightening moments, but they are vastly outnumbered by the film's many, many gags. It should be mentioned that familiarity with the horror genre is recommended to fully appreciate the jokes.
Terrifying: Housebound
A New Zealand film by a first-time director, Housebound is a relatively recent release that flew a bit under the radar. A smartly written and fantastically performed addition to the haunted house subgenre, this 2014 movie centers around Kylie Bucknell, a woman who is put under house arrest at her parents' home following a botched ATM robbery. Once there, she begins to suspect the house might have a ghost problem.
Horror veterans are unlikely to find Housebound especially frightening, but newcomers to the genre should enjoy the thrills (and quite a few chuckles) offered by the movie.
Hilarious: Night Of The Comet
Night of the Comet is a classic '80s B-movie that acts as a send-up to older zombie, sci-fi, and doomsday films while doing a solid job of being all three. Along with disintegrating many humans, a comet also triggers a zombie apocalypse, which ends up being a pretty big buzzkill for the Belmont sisters.
Night of the Comet takes its ridiculous premise seriously, a creative decision that only makes the genuinely funny writing and likable characters all that more memorable.
Terrifying: Drag Me To Hell
From the master of horror-comedy, Sam Raimi, comes 2009's Drag Me to Hell, an acclaimed film that leans more towards the former rather than the latter genre. Christine Brown rejects an old lady's plea to extend her mortgage and is rewarded with a curse that is set to culminate with a one way trip to Hell.
Drag Me to Hell is campy, frantically paced, gloriously over-the-top, and frequently terrifying. The humor mostly comes from the film's outlandish premise, while the horror is a result of Raimi's masterful direction.
Hilarious: Tremors
Released in 1990, Tremors is a cult classic that features Kevin Bacon going up against enormous subterranean worms. As a monster movie, Tremors is intense and action-heavy rather than straight-up terrifying, especially since most of the story takes place in the daylight. However, the Graboid worms are genuinely intimidating, mainly due to their huge size.
Tremors also boasts a charismatic cast who know how to deliver a joke, and there are plenty of them in this horror-comedy.
Terrifying: An American Werewolf In London
An American Werewolf In London's iconic transformation scene is so unforgettable and frightening, it is possible to forget that John Landis created a horror-comedy rather than just a traditional horror film. As great as that aforementioned scene is, An American Werewolf In London has a lot more to offer than just that.
The 1981 classic strikes just the right balance between gore, body horror, tension, and shock comedy to stand as an all-time great.
Hilarious: Shaun Of The Dead
The first in Edgar Wright's Cornetto trilogy, Shaun of the Dead is not only a loving tribute to classic zombie films like Dawn of the Dead but also a hilarious satire that avoids becoming a parody of the genre.
Shaun of the Dead's zombie apocalypse setting is very familiar, but its world is populated by British comedy characters who cannot decide whether to be annoyed, amused, or terrified by the walking dead. Either way, the end result is comedy gold.
Terrifying: Scream
Scream is hailed as one of the best horror franchises of the '90s, a reputation earned through its creative kills, nightmarish but disturbingly human villains, and an intimidate knowledge of the ins and outs of the slasher genre.
Even if the sequels would prove inconsistent, Wes Craven's 1996 original was a clever subversion of the genre's cliches that its director helped establish. Its self-aware humor is dark and memorable, while its scares compare favorably to the slasher genre's greatest creations.
Hilarious: Re-Animator
In all honesty, Re-Animator is a prime candidate for both sides of this article. It is terrifying and hilarious, often in the very same scenes. A gifted medical student who has created a formula capable of bringing corpses to life, Herbert West is consumed completely by his experiments, not even flinching in the face of murder or graphic displays.
Re-Animator is gory and, for the most part, played straight by the cast, with Jeffrey Combs delivering a particularly chilling performance as West. Horrifying as it can be, Re-Animator is also a masterclass in deadpan humor, even if it might take multiple viewings to appreciate all of the film's comedic nuances.