The last 15 years have truly been a golden age ofhorror movieswith comedic aspirations, with plenty of examples of brilliant films capable of doling out scares and laughs in equal measure. Horror and comedy have always gone hand-in-hand, with the absurdist nature of terrifying thrills and laugh-out-loud jokes being a natural fit for one another. Classichorror comedies of the 80slike theEvil Deadmovies have been given a run for their money by more recent takes on the subgenre.
Horror comedies can exist on a wide spectrum between either ends of the two concepts. Some exist ashilarious ensemble comedieswith a few spooky elements thrown in for good measure, whereas others are more straightforward horror movies too bizarre to fully take themselves seriously. Whatever the case, the last 15 years have seen an unprecedented number of excellent horror comedies surface into relevancy.
10The Menu
2022
Most horror comedies aren’t overly concerned with leaving audiences with a thought-provoking message to chew on, but 2022’sThe Menuis a truly brilliant film. The movie stars Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy as a young couple who earn the exclusive privilege of dining at a world-renowned haute cuisine chef’s private island restaurant, one of the highest-class eateries in the world. Before long, the guests realize that the elaborate multiple-course meal the chef has planned will include their own deaths.
Ralph Fiennes, having plenty of experience playing both villains and offbeat goofballs, strikes a perfect balance between humor and horror with his eccentric Chef Slowik. The wealthy patrons of his establishment unleash some bitterly funny gallows humor as the end of their meal, and lives, looms closer and closer over the course of the experience. Above all else,The Menudeserves praise for the way it’s able to examine the sharp divide between consumers and providers through the lens of the classism present at all levels of food service.
9Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil
2010
The idea of a group of lost college friends being hunted down byterrifying rural hillbilly slashersis a well-worn trope of the horror genre, butTucker & Dale vs. Evilflips it on its head. The film centers on a pair of rustic best friends on vacation who stumble across a party of preppy college kids, only to be mistaken for a pair of murderous rural serial killers. In the ensuing chaos, Tucker and Dale have to defend themselves from defamation and a very real psychotic killer bent on taking revenge for a series of hilarious misunderstandings.
The top-notch dark comedy ofTucker & Dale vs. Evilrelies on elaborate, bloody misunderstandings that weaponize dramatic irony like a spiked flail. The college kids literally sprint to their own deaths in front of Tucker and Dale’s eyes out of sheer unfounded fear, only made worse by the pair’s awkward social skills. Taking slapstick humor to its natural gory conclusion,Tucker & Dale vs. Evilis a clever subversion of a typical horror movie premise.
8The Cabin In The Woods
2012
WhileTucker & Dale vs. Evilmight be a funny take on a specific classic horror movie trope, 2012’sThe Cabin in the Woodsis a brilliant celebration of the genre as a whole. The movie presents a stock-standard premise of a group of college partiers who enjoy a vacation at an isolated, creepy cabin in the middle of nowhere only to be killed off one-by-one at the hands of undead slashers. But the whole exercise is revealed to be a carefully-planned ritual perpetrated by a mysterious white-collar organization.
The Cabin in the Woodsfinds a brilliant way to tie every horror movie ever made together by supposing that a single company is behind the careful assassination of innocent kids, all in the name of harvesting blood for angry slumbering gods. The film’s infamous final chaotic setpiece is a love letter to all sorts of horror movie monsters, and the gore never quite outshines the humorous, upbeat tone. Funny, creative, and frightening at times,The Cabin in the Woodsis a masterclass tribute to a whole genre.
7Freaky
2020
Sometimes a creative twist is all that’s needed to keep a stale genre fresh, andFreakyre-invigorates the horror comedy with a clever gimmick. Named after the famousbody-swap movieFreaky Friday, in which a mother and daughter trade bodies,Freakyputs the same limitation on a typical slasher villain and his final girl. Through profane magic, the serial killer known as the Blissfield Butcher swaps places with the innocent teen girl Millie, leading to all sorts of bloody chaos.
Freakyis carried by the double-duty performances of its starring duo. Kathryn Newton shifts her performance on a dime, going from an awkward teen to a silent, purpose-minded killer, and Vince Vaughn is hilarious as a disheveled sadistic murderer suddenly given the personality of a squeamish high schooler. Beyond the obvious comedy to be mined from the premise,Freakykeeps up its comedic momentum with strong one-off jokes and some creative kills.
6Happy Death Day
2017
Arguably, the groundwork forFreakyas a horror comedy that put a slasher movie bent on a classic supernatural comedy was laid withHappy Death Day.A classictime-loop movie in the vein ofGroundhog Day,Happy Death Dayfollows the perspective of a stuck-up, popular college girl who gets trapped in a time-loop on her birthday. Each version of the day is punctuated by a killer in a baby mask taking her life, forcing her to investigate her murderer’s identity in order to break the cycle.
Happy Death Dayis shockingly upbeat for a horror movie. Despite the relative lack of stakes due to the protagonist’s many deaths resetting her life, the film manages to prod the truly horrifying circumstances of being forced to re-live a single day over and over again. With a signature blend of coming-of-age comedy and existential crisis, it’s no wonderHappy Death Daywas popular enough to spawn a sequel,Happy Death Day 2U.
5This Is The End
2013
With an ensemble cast featuring the biggest comedic names of the 2010s,This Is the Endis a totally unique and almost objectively hilarious romp through a terrifying apocalypse. The film follows a party of real-life actors playing themselves, including Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Jonah Hill, and Jay Baruchel, which is interrupted by the literal end of times. As the Christian rapture unfolds, demons roam the Earth and the planet is ravaged by disaster, forcing the actors into a desperate bid for survival.
This Is the Endhas an all-star cast of famous comic celebrities that do what they do best, creating hilarious caricatures of themselves as they stumble through armageddon. Michael Cera gets a particularly standout performance in the post-apocalyptic romp through Los Angeles, invigorated by the classic chemistry of Seth Rogen and James Franco. Laden with chemistry, gags, and surprisingly horrifying imagery,This Is the Endis an indulgent self-referential roast of 2010s comedy.
4Barbarian
A masterclass inmisleading advertising, 2022’sBarbarianwas billed as a thriller centered around a young woman who books a Detroit Airbnb only to find it already occupied by a charming, but possibly not trustworthy visitor. In reality, this simple premise is only the tip of the iceberg, asBarbariansoon descends into a monstrous tale of kidnapping gone wrong that abruptly switches gears into a new character’s perspective. For as horrifying as it is,Barbarianis undoubtedly hilarious, as well.
Few films are able to be genuinely frightening while still maintaining a humorous edge likeBarbariandoes, with its playful monster booping the nose of its victims and quickly proving their faith in their surroundings wrong. The jarring moment in which the perspective suddenly swaps over to Justin Long’s character, who in and of himself adds a great deal of comedy to the macabre story, is one of the most abruptly hilarious cuts in horror history.Barbarianproves that comedy needn’t necessarily come at the expense of tension.
3One Cut Of The Dead
A landmark in 2010s Japanese cinema and a cult classic overseas,One Cut of the Deadis one of the most creative zombie movies ever conceived. The film initially seems to use found footage to tell the tale of a director attempting to make a captivating zombie movie, only to be assaulted by real zombies in the process. Soon, however, the curtain is pulled back, and the film is revealed to actually be following the making of that movie in and of itself.
This film-within-a-film-within-a-film premise offers some hilarious comedy antics that only such a creative premise could facilitate.Once Cut of the Dead’s title refers to the final in-universe movie’s nature as a live-broadcast single take, meaning that no mistakes can be made. The story goes in-depth explaining the odd peculiarities of the final product audiences saw due to these limitations, making for a hilarious homage to horror filmmaking.
2The Substance
2024
Breaking into history as one of the fewOscar-Nominated horror films,The Substanceis one of the most captivating scary movies of the last decade. Centered on an aging starlet who yearns to recapture the beauty of her youth in order to maintain relevancy,The Substancesoon devolves into a nauseating spectacle of body horror examining the expectations laid on women by modern culture. For as disgusting as the film can be, it’s also an alarmingly hilarious experience.
The Substancemakes no efforts to disguise its knowingly ham-fisted message, throwing subtlety out the window in favor of raw shock factor. This allows for some comedically over-the-top beats that spit in the face of comedic convention, feeding into the larger-than-life nightmarish world crafted by director Coralie Fargeat. By facing its horrors with a bright spotlight,The Substancerevels in the disgusting joys of its Cronenbergian imagery.
1What We Do In The Shadows
2014
A horror comedy popular enough to inspire a spin-off series years later,What We Do in the Shadowsis Taika Waititi’s offbeat masterpiece. A mockumentary, the film presents itself as a documentary following the lives of four vampires, Viago, Vladislav, Petyr, and Deacon, trying to get by in the modern day New Zealand. Eventually, a mishap turns one of their would-be victims, Nick, into a vampire as well, further introducing the antiquated vampires to the modern world.
Really, the story is just at thin excuse for Waititi to level a gut-bustingly funny avalanche of vampire-themed humor at the viewer. The clashing of past ideologies and current sensibilities is a hilarious juxtaposition that keeps the jokes coming, not to mention iconic lines like “Leave me to do my dark bidding on the internet!” and “We’re werewolves, not swear-wolves”. Even if it’s far from the scariesthorror movie,What We Do in the Shadowsis spooky enough to qualify as one of the best horror comedies of the last 15 years.
