Horror and comedy are closer than they look: both build tension and release it with a jolt, one with a scream and one with a laugh. Horror comedy does both at once. Mel Brooks and John Landis proved you could parody the monsters, Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II invented splatstick, Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead perfected the modern form, and Taika Waititi's vampires turned the mockumentary into a horror institution. The best of the genre is genuinely scary and genuinely hilarious, often in the same breath.
This is the complete guide across every medium: the zombie comedies, the horror spoofs, the monsters played for laughs, the modern revival, the funny-and-frightening television, the games, the comic novels, and the splatstick classics that made gore an art form.
The essential horror comedies
The zombie comedy
Shaun of the Dead is the perfect horror comedy
Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg made a film that is a loving zombie movie, a sharp comedy about arrested adulthood, and a genuinely moving story about friendship and letting go, all without ever undercutting any of the three. Its jokes are built into the filmmaking itself, every throwaway line pays off later, and when it wants to break your heart it absolutely does. It set the template every modern horror comedy is still chasing.
The horror spoof and the meta
Monsters played for laughs
The modern horror comedy
Evil Dead II invented splatstick
Sam Raimi took the straight horror of the original Evil Dead and remade it as demented slapstick: a man alone in a cabin, tormented by his own possessed hand, drowning in geysers of blood, played with the physical comedy of a Three Stooges short. Bruce Campbell's performance is a masterclass in taking a beating for laughs, and the film's fusion of genuine scares with cartoon violence created a whole genre. Groovy.
On TV: funny and frightening
Play it for scares and laughs
Read the funny horror
What We Do in the Shadows perfected mockumentary horror
Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's film about vampire flatmates squabbling over chores and the washing-up is one of the most quotable comedies of its decade, and its television spin-off has somehow been even better. It mines endless humor from the mundane problems of immortal monsters, and its deadpan documentary format turns every ancient horror cliche into a workplace sitcom joke. It is horror comedy at its warmest and funniest.
The splatstick classics
The timeline
- 1974Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein perfects the affectionate horror parody. Young Frankenstein
- 1981An American Werewolf in London blends real scares with real laughs. An American Werewolf in London
- 1984Ghostbusters makes the horror comedy a blockbuster phenomenon. Ghostbusters
- 1987Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II invents splatstick. Evil Dead II
- 1992Peter Jackson's Dead Alive pushes gore comedy to its outer limit.
- 2004Shaun of the Dead defines the modern horror comedy. Shaun of the Dead
- 2009Zombieland turns the zombie comedy into a mainstream hit. Zombieland
- 2014What We Do in the Shadows revives the mockumentary monster comedy. What We Do in the Shadows
- 2019Ready or Not leads a new wave of sharp, funny horror. Ready or Not
The Cabin in the Woods is the horror comedy that took horror apart
Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon built a film that is both a straight scary movie and a gleeful autopsy of why we watch scary movies, revealing the machinery of the genre in a literal control room beneath the cabin. It is packed with jokes, homages and a genuinely bonkers final act, and it manages to critique the horror formula while delivering a wildly entertaining example of it. Few films are this clever and this fun at once.
The masters of the scary laugh
Keep exploring
Zombies
Explore the Zombies guide →Frequently asked
What is horror comedy?
Horror comedy (or comedy horror) is a genre that blends the scares, gore and monsters of horror with the timing and tone of comedy. It ranges from affectionate parody and deadpan satire to splatstick, where over-the-top gore is played for laughs. The best examples work as both genuine horror and genuine comedy at once. Shaun of the Dead and Evil Dead II are archetypes.
What is splatstick?
Splatstick is a subgenre of horror comedy that combines splatter-film gore with slapstick physical comedy: exaggerated, cartoonish violence and buckets of blood played for laughs rather than fear. Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II and Peter Jackson's Dead Alive (Braindead) are the definitive examples, turning grisly practical effects into comic set pieces.
Why do horror and comedy mix so well?
Both genres work by building and releasing tension, and both rely on surprise and precise timing. A jump scare and a punchline are structured almost identically, so a skilled filmmaker can flip an audience from terror to laughter in an instant. The relief of a laugh after a scare (and vice versa) makes the combination unusually satisfying.
Where should I start with horror comedy?
Shaun of the Dead is the ideal entry point, followed by the Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness splatstick classics and What We Do in the Shadows (both the film and the series). For monsters played for laughs, Beetlejuice and Ghostbusters; for a modern meta take, The Cabin in the Woods.