Bodies Bodies Bodies and Nope are good examples of how sometimes the secret to a good horror story is not taking itself too seriously. Making use of hints of comedy to provide viewers with a breather before the scares, it’s also a good tool to keep them engaged with the characters.
However, there are movies that use humor on another level, in a way it almost takes over the narrative completely, but effectively. In other cases, a film gets so comfortable in its own absurdity that using a serious approach could potentially ruin the whole fun.
The Cabin In The Woods (2011)
The Cabin In The Woods takes advantage of every single horror convention to turn them into a bloody mess. The film openly mocks its own audience by portraying a team of “scientists” who use a group of innocent people visiting a cabin in the woods to satisfy what their public wants to see the most, a zombie, a ghost story, a flesh-eating creature, and so on.
Hilariously self-aware and cleverly playful, the cliché isolated cabin set-up added to the stupidest decisions made by the main characters challenge viewers to think about how saturated modern horror conventions are. The result is a priceless final hour, where literally everything can happen.
The Babysitter (2017)
It’s difficult to think of a villain that looked so charmingly terrifying in the past years as Samara Weaving in The Babysitter. A boy named Cole is caught up in a wicked plot after staying up past his bedtime, discovering that his attractive babysitter is in fact the head of a satanic cult that will do anything to keep his mouth shut.
With an unbelievable body count and an extraordinary amount of blood, The Babysitter is one of those so-bad-they’re-good movies and a fun ride with no boundaries whatsoever. Most of the characters are brainless except the main antagonist and the main character, which in turn leads up to a hilarious final face-off that escalates into a disaster of unforeseeable proportions.
Drag Me To Hell (2009)
One of the most creative Sam Raimi movies, Drag Me To Hell showcases some of his best trademarks. A loan officer is tormented by terrifying souls that try dragging her to hell after she evicts a poor old lady from her house, leaving her with no choice but resorting to desperate measures in an attempt to stop the curse.
Typical of Sam Raimi’s style, Drag Me To Hell counts with several over-the-top visual effects and chaotic narrative choices that eventually only make things more difficult for the characters. In the end, Raimi manages to deliver an incredible punch line when the specifics of the curse are revealed, and soon all the horror elements and frights feel like a brilliantly crafted dark joke.
House (1977)
House is that kind of horror film where literally anything can happen. The movie starts like a usual haunted house story as the young Gorgeous takes six of her peculiar friends to visit an ancient family house in the Japanese countryside.
It doesn’t take long before the movie turns into a festival of weirdness, utilizing bold editing and blending both old and new techniques to convey psychedelic visual effects, viewers have no choice but to watch every bit of reality give space to some of the most bizarre scenes ever put onscreen, always maintaining a balance between horror and comedy. House is a bold experiment, and viewers will have the time of their lives if they watch it without expecting it to make sense at the end.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is actually surprisingly sweet when taking the moving friendship between the main characters and even the spark of romance that is developed throughout the story into account. What holds the film back from a lighthearted narrative, however, is the many over-the-top depictions of violence and the presence of some of the most unlikable teenagers ever put onscreen.
Tucker and Dale are two friends who are carrying on an easy-going way of living in the woods, but their peaceful routine is corrupted by a group of paranoid college kids who take them as killers. The movie’s body count escalates into something unimaginably hilarious, but the film doesn’t need to push the humor too hard because the characters are naturally funny as the horror elements unfold at ease.
The Faculty (1998)
The Faculty was one of the precursors of a wave of parody movies inspired by horror classics. Using mostly great body horror movies such as The Thing and The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers as a source, they employ a high-school setting to convey an epidemic of aliens, as the students begin to suspect their teachers harbor a bizarre secret.
Taking advantage of several teen movie tropes and stereotyped characters, The Faculty manages to be a parody of both high-school comedies and horror films. But even with the countless references and overused jokes, the movie’s mystery is conducted in a thrilling fashion, offering several sequences that are highly effective when it comes to horror but would quickly drag if it wasn’t for the precious moments of comical relief.
Fresh (2022)
Fresh is one of the most innovative horror films of 2022 so far, and it’s the perfect story to go in fully blind. With a 40-minute-long introduction, viewers witness a seemingly innocent relationship develop after Noa and Steve meet awkwardly at the grocery store. Everything changes when Steve’s wicked instincts are revealed.
The tonal shift after Fresh‘s initial 40 minutes doesn’t stop the movie from delivering horror with effective hints of comedy. Addressing some of the darkest themes anyone could put onscreen with happy-go-lucky songs and inventive editing, humor helps the movie to turn into something equally disturbing and comical. Viewers owe that mostly to Sebastian Stan’s performance as a charming embodiment of evil.
Better Watch Out (2016)
Better Watch Out tricks the viewers more than once about what kind of movie it is. It starts off as a typical Christmas prank movie, then there’s a home invasion, and finally, everything leads to the embodiment of evil in the shape of a twelve-year-old.
On a seemingly quiet winter night, a young babysitter is surprised by strange intruders, but everything seems to point at something much more wicked. The movie changes the roles of the good and the bad guy several times, all the while paying homage to movies like Home Alone to deliver an unforgettable night filled with twists and sadistic pranks. Providing a fresh perspective to the genre, Better Watch Out is definitely the kind of film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, especially when considering its outrageously ironic final scene.
Fright Night (1985)
Fright Night is quite an overlooked gem from the 80s given it totally innovates the vampire formula. Hilariously self-aware and with a range of charming and charismatic characters, villains included, the film follows the teenage boy Charley Brewster and the team he sets up to prove his new neighbor is a real vampire.
Fright Night doesn’t limit itself to a simple vampire hunt story. Characters are drawn into a chilling game of cat and mouse that involves ancient curses, the living dead, and even an unusual romance. The film quickly gets comfortable with its own absurdity, and the supernatural blends into the drama hilariously.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
At this point, fans are already familiar with Edgar Wright’s style and everyone can agree that his specialty is movies that don’t take themselves too seriously, often playing with the boundaries between what’s for real and what’s a total joke. Perhaps the example that best showcases this type of storytelling is Shaun of the Dead, a zombie tale that reads as a sharp satire of the modern world’s meaningless human interactions.
The uneventful routine of the ordinary Shaun is threatened by the flesh-eating zombies that are taking over London. Amid the chaos and danger of the situation, Shaun tries to set the deal on his monotonous relationship, his best friend’s requests, and the setbacks at his local pub.
