The 40 Best Horror Comedies Ever Made
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Leave it to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to remind us that horror movies can be funny, too. The return of the iconic ghost, starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, and Monica Bellucci, is out now in theaters. Really, it has me wondering why we don’t watch more silly horror movies. Enough with the gore! We could all use a laugh.
Since its premiere on September 6, the sequel has been warmly received by fans and critics alike. Similar to the original, this iteration follows the Deetz family. When Lydia Deetz’s (Ryder) teenage daughter, Astrid (Ortega), awakens the legendary beast, everyone is forced to deal with Beetlejuice and his antics. The result is an equally scary and hilarious fight for power that won’t leave you trembling in your seat. Sure, there are a few jump scares. But you’ll be too busy recovering from a fit of laughter to notice.
In honor of the remake, we’ve rounded up 40 funny horror movies. From The Menu to Lisa Frankenstein to the original Beetlejuice—these movies bring some light to the dark side.
Beetlejuice (1988)
When Barbara and Adam Maitland die in a car accident, they become ghosts. On the bright side, their spirits are tied to their house... where they plan to remain for eternity. Sounds nice, right? Wrong. Those dreams are crushed when the Deetz family moves in. The Maitlands try to scare them off, but the Deetz clan is unfazed. When all else fails, the Maitlands summon Beetlejuice—a wacky ghost, to say the least—to finish the job.
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The Menu (2022)
The Menu takes life as a foodie to a whole new level. Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Margot, a young woman who attends an elite dining experience with her date, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult). He’s obsessed with the head chef and promises the night will be “madness.” As it turns out, that’s no exaggeration. Let the high jinks begin!
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Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a comedic whodunit from A24. A crew of twenty-somethings take a weekend trip to their friend’s mansion. When a hurricane hits, they’re forced to stay inside and pass the time with a party game that goes hilariously wrong.
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Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
In this loose adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein tale, Kathryn Newton plays a quirky teenager who turns a Victorian-era corpse into her boyfriend. Why date regular boys when you can build a man from scratch? Apparently, all it takes is determination, a sense of humor, and a few fresh body parts.
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The Dead Don’t Die (2019)
The Dead Don’t Die takes place in Centerville—a fictional town with a big problem. The dead have risen from their graves, and they’re hungry for blood. The vicious attacks compel an unlikely group of residents to band together in a hysterical bid for survival. Did we mention that Bill Murray stars as a sheriff turned zombie hunter?
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M3GAN (2022)
No one’s done a combo of hilarious and spine-chilling as well as M3GAN. The film about a robot doll/BFF who ends up being a lot more than a little girl bargained for? It’s perfect. How can you forget M3GAN bursting into a flawless rendition of Sia’s “Titanium” right after pushing a preteen boy in front of a car? Or her fabulous dance moves before she chases down a grown man with a makeshift machete? There are so many memorable moments in this campy modern classic that you have to watch it a couple times to catch them all.
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The Lost Boys (1987)
Vampires stalking an idyllic coastal Californian town—ring a bell? Well, this Joel Schumacher feature is anything but familiar. In the creepy, bloodsucker-infested film, the vampires aren’t afraid of garlic, even when Corey Haim and Corey Feldman trick one into dumping loads of it on his spaghetti. What do the vampires enjoy? They love to ride motorcycles—and can turn your Chinese food into maggots. This eighties romp has its fair share of scares, but it makes sure to dial up the fun along the way.
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Cocaine Bear (2023)
We’ve entered an era of fully embracing camp—and we’re better off for it. And what does camp mean nowadays? To me, it’s when you take a real-life story about a bear that accidentally ingests cocaine—dropped by drug smugglers!—and turn it into a tight ninety-five minutes of over-the-top, hyper-violent, and manic shenanigans. If you want to watch drug dealers, school-ditching kids, and Ray Liotta shine in one of his last roles, this is for you.
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Housebound (2014)
Housebound takes on the classic haunted-house trope and injects it with scenes marked by gags and impeccable timing. Sure, the film is technically a horror comedy, but the narrative is darker than you might expect. Kylie, a young woman sentenced to house arrest at her parents’ home, becomes convinced supernatural forces are in her midst. As the scares get worse, she investigates the truth behind the house...and uncovers the unexpected.
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Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
Anna and the Apocalypse is the Christmas zombie musical you didn’t know you needed in your life. Why not ring in the season of candy canes and mall Santas by singing and slashing your way through a zombie apocalypse?
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One Cut of the Dead (2017)
Encountering zombies under any circumstance is usually not ideal, but for a director in the midst of filming a low-budget film about zombies, it’s terrifyingly convenient. Instead of running and hiding for dear life, a director pushes his crew to hit record and document the ravenous, flesh-eating monsters.
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Urban Legend (1998)
Not exactly humorous, but this late-nineties thriller is a hidden gem in the horror genre. Similar to Courteney Cox in Scream, a relentless reporter—here played by Jared Leto—tries to unveil the murderer on campus for his college newspaper. Even with the ridiculous premise, the combination of having Leto on his trail and Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) as a professor makes this film worth watching even if it’s not the most sidesplitting of the bunch.
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Fresh (2022)
A recent release that’s bound to become a classic. Having no success with the modern-day horrors of dating (aka dating apps), a young woman meets Sebastian Stan’s Steve, who plays a real ladykiller, a man who has an appetite for the exquisite—human meat!
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Ready or Not (2019)
Here’s a unique spin on the final-girl trope, as a bride tries to make it out alive in a game of hide-and-seek with her new in-laws. Between laugh-out-loud moments, a strong performance from Samara Weaving as Grace—a newlywed who has the worst first night of marriage imaginable—and a mere ninety-minute run time, your mind never wanders as you wait for what gory kill comes next.
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Heathers (1988)
The iconic line “F*** me gently with a chainsaw” was born in this original mean-girls eighties film, featuring goth queen Winona Ryder covering up murders and labeling them as suicides by blaming the stereotype of teenage depression. The black comedy gained a massive following, with the story being developed for Broadway and TV.
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American Psycho (2000)
Let’s see Paul Allen’s card. Starring Batman (Christian Bale) and the Joker (Jared Leto), this satire will have you laughing at the most serious times. Bale’s legendary performance leaves you wondering if what you just watched actually happened and the characters are too self-obsessed to notice, or if it is all in his imagination, sparked by his inner turmoil.
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Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Despite the name, this 2009 release is a hilarious, clever, and fun-to-watch film that constantly pushes your buttons. In true Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) fashion, the odd sense of humor completely works—plus, the director shows he’s not afraid to take risks with the controversial ending.
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Child's Play (2019)
An adaptation of the eighties classic with the same little boy, Andy, and his cute doll, Chucky, who becomes overprotective and tries to kill anyone close to him. What makes this remake hold more weight than the original, though, is how Chucky learns to kill by picking up mannerisms from the violent horror movies he watches with Andy. Not only does Chucky play a huge role in the comedy aspect, but Aubrey Plaza (as Andy’s mom) is on standby, adding heaps of extra laughs.
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Freaky (2020)
No, it’s not Freaky Friday or Friday the 13th— it’s both! Freaky is the third movie directed by Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) that makes a non-horror premise horrifying. By combining the story lines of the above films, this becomes an unconventional watch from Blumhouse Productions that actually succeeds.
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Serial Mom (1994)
An underrated story in the horror genre that started Matthew Lillard’s (Scream) career in the early nineties. A seemingly perfect mom does anything to make her kids happy—even if that means murder.
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Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)
Not the usual black comedy. Beyond just scares and laughs, Tucker & Dale has heart, teaching you not to judge a book by its cover. It dismisses common stereotypes, like the role of an intimidating antagonist in most horror movies, and instead makes you root for the main characters, who are misunderstood because of their appearance.
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This Is the End (2013)
A group of celebrity comedians (Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson) attempt to survive the apocalypse as it strikes during a huge Hollywood party at James Franco’s house. Cameos from Rihanna, Emma Watson, and, yes, the Backstreet Boys make it a celeb-fest like no other.
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What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Taika Waititi’s mockumentary about the mundane lives of vampire flatmates in New Zealand is a pure delight that led to the popular TV series. And while we love the series, you simply can’t beat the original.
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Happy Death Day (2017)
Slasher flick meets Groundhog Day in this Blumhouse production, in which a college girl relives the day of her murder over and over until she can unmask the killer and save her own life.
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Jennifer’s Body (2009)
A high school cheerleader (Megan Fox) is demonically possessed and starts killing her thirsty male classmates, while her friend Needy (Amanda Seyfriend) tries to stop to the bloodshed.
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Clue (1985)
A group of seven strangers invited to a mysterious dinner party all become suspects after one of them turns up dead. Bodies drop left and right in this slapstick whodunit based, of course, on the popular board game.
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Gremlins (1984)
Tiny, cute creatures turn into murderous monsters that wreak havoc on a small town at Christmastime. Written by Chris Columbus and produced by Steven Spielberg, it boasts genuinely horrific death scenes and a premise so ridiculous that it works. Gremlins!
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Ghostbusters (1984)
The original Ghostbusters—Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson—are supernatural exterminators who must save New York City from a spectral apocalypse. Filled with great jokes and bad CGI, it’s a classic for a reason. Who you gonna call?
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Hocus Pocus (1993)
The poet Melissa Lozada-Oliva said it best when she tweeted, “Hocus Pocus is about a Virgin invoking chaos bc he is so horny.” It’s also a family movie about witches who steal children’s souls, and with the comedic (and musical) talents of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, there isn’t a dull moment.
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Sleepaway Camp (1983)
So Sleepaway Camp may not have intended to be comedic, but it's a cult classic that’s funny as hell. Picture a campy (pun woefully unintended) version of Friday the 13th with less-than-good acting and a twist ending that you won’t soon forget. Listen to the How Did This Get Made? episode after you watch, for hilarious commentary by Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas.
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Young Frankenstein (1974)
Mel Brooks’s classically brilliant parody stars Gene Wilder as a skeptical grandson of Dr. Frankenstein who inherits his castle and learns that reanimation might be real after all.
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Fright Night (1985)
Horror-movie-obsessed Charlie discovers that his new neighbor (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire—and worse, said neighbor knows that Charlie’s aware of his true identity. Naturally, Charlie enlists the help of a washed-up actor who hosts his favorite late-night horror-movie TV show (played by a perfectly bumbling Roddy McDowall) in order to slay the beast ruining the neighborhood.
Arachnophobia (1990)
There’s nothing super funny about a movie in which a venomous spider preys upon a small New England town—a terror that for many of us is very real indeed. But while Arachnophobia may make your skin crawl, it’s also very funny; John Goodman’s turn as a goofy exterminator in the film’s second act is great comic relief, providing plenty of laughs as spiders creepily dangle and crawl all over the place.
Dead Alive (1992)
Long before he ventured into Middle-earth, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson made his directorial debut with this crazy gorefest. When his cruel mother is bitten by a Sumatran Rat-Monkey (just go with us here), young Lionel is stunned to see her rise from the dead as a blistering, festering, cannibalistic monster. Can Lionel keep his zombie mother a secret from his new girlfriend?
Zombieland (2009)
The all-American zombie-apocalypse film gets an uproarious update with this road-trip comedy, which sees college student Columbus heading back home to see if his family is still alive. Along the way, he encounters gun-toting badass Tallahassee and plucky sisters Wichita and Little Rock. Oh, and Bill Murray, too.
Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1987)
Bruce Campbell returns as Ash in Sam Raimi’s sequel to/sort of remake of his 1981 cult-classic directorial debut. Immediately after the events of the first film, Ash and his girlfriend, Linda, take a romantic vacation...to a similarly creepy cabin in the woods. As expected, all hell breaks loose—literally—when the ancient evil is unleashed once again and Ash must fight an army of demons in order to escape.
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
This bait-and-switch directed by Drew Goddard (who co-wrote it with Joss Whedon) begins as your typical horror flick: Unwitting college students travel to a remote cabin in the middle of nowhere for a boozy, druggy, sex-filled weekend away, with monsters of varying sorts waiting to off them one by one. But it has a postmodern twist, turning the slasher film into a hilarious horror satire.
Scream (1996)
A group of teens is stalked—and slowly picked off one at a time—by a masked and hooded killer who just so happens to have an obsession with horror movies. But in Wes Craven’s postmodern slasher satire, the killer also happens to have a cheeky side.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
John Landis turned the werewolf genre on its head with this horror comedy following a pair of American tourists, David and Jack (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne), who are attacked by a wolf in the English countryside. Sole survivor David wakes up in a London hospital—only to be greeted by the undead apparition of Jack, who delivers the harsh news that David will transform into a werewolf during the next full moon.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Edgar Wright made his directorial debut with this horror spoof, co-written by its star, Simon Pegg. The titular Shaun spends his mediocre days shuffling to and from work, playing video games with his best friend, and pining for his recently estranged girlfriend. But that humdrum life is instantly spun out of control when a zombie apocalypse takes over London, forcing him into action to protect his best friend, his mother, and the love of his life.
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