Comedy

An Undying Legacy: The Punk Rock of Horror “Do you ever wonder about all the different ways of dying?” So begins a film that delves into the humourous morbidity inherent within us all. “The Return of the Living Dead,” directed by Dan O’Bannon in 1985, reanimates the zombie genre with a self-aware wink and a…

A Recipe for Terror: “Motel Hell” “Meat’s meat, and a man’s gotta eat.” This grisly mantra from the 1980 horror-comedy Motel Hell sets the tone for a film that simultaneously repulses and amuses. Directed by Kevin Connor, Motel Hell takes viewers into the twisted world of Farmer Vincent Smith and his sister Ida, who run…

A Chilling Ménage à Trois of Terror “Death is the truest form of love.” Such a chilling proposition sets the tone for Roger Corman’s 1962 triptych of horror, Tales of Terror. This anthology adapts the macabre imaginings of Edgar Allan Poe into a three-course meal of the gruesome and the supernatural, each segment aiming to…

Groovy: Summoning the Deadite Hordes “Good. Bad. I’m the guy with the gun.” This line, delivered by the ever-charismatic Bruce Campbell, perfectly encapsulates the cheeky, irreverent spirit of “Army of Darkness,” the third installment in the cult-favorite “Evil Dead” series. Helmed by director Sam Raimi and released in 1992, “Army of Darkness” continues the accidental-hero…

A Grimy Reckoning in Tight Spaces: “Stalled” Unleashes Confined Chaos “They say when you die, you crap yourself…” This offbeat opening to Stalled perfectly encapsulates the film’s blend of horror and cringe humor. Released in 2013 under the direction of Christian James, this British horror-comedy traps viewers within the most unlikely of apocalyptic battlegrounds—a bathroom…

Embracing the Reaper: “A Grim Becoming” “Death is only the beginning,” whispers a voice as chilling as the grave, setting the tone for the horror-comedy fusion that is “A Grim Becoming.” Directed by Adam R. Steigert and released in 2014, the film takes audiences on a darkly humorous journey with Raphael, a driven and ambitious…

A Bloody Misunderstanding: “Tucker & Dale vs Evil” “It’s a good day to die!” Not your typical battle cry for a couple of lovable hillbillies on a fishing trip. Directed by Eli Craig, “Tucker & Dale vs Evil” (2010) turns the horror genre on its head with a deliciously twisted satire that combines gory slapstick…

The Taste of Horror: A Fresh Bite into Peter Jackson’s Splatterfest “If you don’t feel well tomorrow, you know who to blame!” exclaims an alien invader in the darkly comedic horror movie “Bad Taste.” Released in 1987, this low-budget outlier marked the directorial debut of New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson. It’s a schlockfest that follows…

An Auspicious Plunge into the Undead “It’s not every day you see a rain of fish that heralds an apocalypse of bloodthirsty zombies.” This line might as well encapsulate the delightfully off-kilter world of Undead, a 2003 horror film hailing from Down Under. Directed by the Spierig Brothers, the movie combines zombies, aliens, and a…

A Gory Line Between Laughter and Screams “Party’s over.” With this disarmingly understated line from Peter Jackson’s cult classic Dead Alive (also known as Brain Dead), one might not immediately picture the fountains of blood and absurdity that define the 1992 horror-comedy. Before delving into a world where the grotesque dances with the ridiculous, let’s…

From Beyond the Grave: Unravelling “The Frighteners” “Death ain’t no way to make a living!” – so quips Frank Bannister in the spectral comedy-horror romp that is “The Frighteners,” directed by Peter Jackson before his epic foray into Middle-earth. Released in 1996, the film follows con artist Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) who, after a…

A House Where Horror and Humor Collide “It’s warm, it’s happy, and it’s safe. Once I believed that. But I was wrong…” These words set a chilling tone for the 1986 horror-comedy House, directed by Steve Miner. In the midst of the ’80s horror craze, this film emerges as an oddity with its blend of…

“Ein, Zwei, Die!” – A Chilling Twist on Zombie Lore Marching into a Snowy Abyss Frosted with the chilling suspense and rising dread that one expects from a relentless horror flick, “Dead Snow” (2009), directed by Tommy Wirkola, is a thrillingly bloody foray into the wintry wilderness. The movie beckons viewers with a group of…

“Hell is a teenage girl.” – A Deeper Bite into ‘Jennifer’s Body’ Directed by Karyn Kusama and released in 2009, ‘Jennifer’s Body’ gnaws at the typical tropes of horror with a dark, comedic twist. The film follows Anita “Needy” Lesnicki (played by Amanda Seyfried) as she grapples with the transformation of her best friend, Jennifer…

Epidemic of Fear: Zombies of Mass Destruction “We’re Americans! We don’t get terrorized. We terrorize!” bellows a character from the small town of Port Gamble, thrust into chaos in the 2009 horror flick “Zombies of Mass Destruction.” Directed by Kevin Hamedani, this indie film satirizes post-9/11 paranoia while offering a generous helping of gore. Seen…

Reanimating Comedy: The Unconventional Terror of “Dead Heads” “The afterlife is a lot like high school,” quips one of the undead protagonists of Dead Heads, a 2011 horror comedy directed by the Pierce Brothers. Mingling reanimated corpses with road trip antics, Dead Heads veers off the beaten path, taking an unconventional route through the zombie…

“You’ve Got Red on You” – The Unconventional Chill of Shaun of the Dead In the filmic universe of horror, comedies usually sit at the kids’ table—seldom taken seriously and rarely acknowledged for the ingenuity they can bring to the genre. Edgar Wright’s 2004 masterpiece, Shaun of the Dead, shatters this glass ceiling with a…

Whispering Dread: A Prelude to Terror in “Evil Dead” “Join us,” an eerie voice beckons from the dense forest encircling a remote cabin, setting the tone for the vile horrors that await in Sam Raimi’s cult classic, “Evil Dead.” Released in 1981, this low-budget shocker serves up a visceral experience that has cemented its status…

“Groovy”: The Unholy Rebirth of Camp Horror in Evil Dead 2 “We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound ‘fine’?” It’s lines like these from Sam Raimi’s 1987 horror excursion that solidify Evil Dead 2 as a masterpiece of macabre comedy woven into the fabric of horror cinema. It is a…

Shear Terror or Sheer Absurdity? A Critique of “Black Sheep” “There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand… and they’re pissed off!” – With a tagline that promises as much baa as it does blood, “Black Sheep” (2006), directed by Jonathan King, presents a unique fusion of horror and humor. The film adopts the lush…