After coming out to critical acclaim and audience fanfare, Bodies Bodies Bodies has proven to be one of the few movies to successfully walk the tightrope of the horror-comedy. With its online humor and plentiful body count, it has toed the line between laughs, scares, and everything in between. Most horror-comedies lean towards the comedy side, only using horror tropes as set-ups for various punchlines.
So in light of Bodies Bodies Bodies' successfully scary humor, it only seems right to highlight those other horror-comedies that don't just provide the laughs, but provide the tension, suspense, and terror that audiences would hope for from a genuine horror film.
You're Next (2011)
A modern cult classic, You're Next launched director Adam Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett to horror stardom. That's not just because You're Next was a wickedly clever subversion of the home invasion thriller, but also because it delivered the goods for slasher fans.
You're Next follows a family reunion gone wrong, as a griping family unit becomes the victims of an assault by a group of masked assailants. Thankfully, they have a guest in their midst that proves to be quite vicious in her own right, making You're Next a delightful bloodbath that'll satisfy both comedy and horror fans.
Fright Night (1985)
A classic vampire film of the '80s, Fright Night is both a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the subgenre and a reinvention of it (a revamp, if you will) that helped modernize vampires and make them scary again. It centers around Charlie Brewster, an average kid who learns that a murderous vampire has moved in next door to him.
While critics certainly appreciated the wink-and-nods to vampire media of the past, horror fans also appreciated that Fright Night was a tense creature feature that preyed upon vulnerability and innocence. While Charlie is a vampire aficionado, he's also just a high-schooler that becomes wrapped up in a horrifying murder plot, and Jerry Dandridge is a lethal and vicious vamp. Because of this wonderful blend of tones, Fright Night is both a spoof and spooktacular.
Creepshow (1982)
One of George Romero's most famous non-zombie flicks, the King of Horror himself, Stephen King, for an anthology film of vignettes that emulate the horror comics of the '50s, which were infamous for their twisted storylines and morbid senses of humor. Romero completely nails the tone, delivering a movie that simultaneously has a wicked sense of humor and then just gets plain wicked.
One of the stories stars none other than Naked Gun icon Leslie Nielsen. But instead of tucking it up with his usually immaculate comedic timing, Nielsen plays a vengeful husband who murders his wife's lover in the most disturbing fashion that he can think of. That's just a taste of the sinister but creative energy that runs throughout every storyline of Creepshow.
Motel Hell (1980)
Often described as a dark-comedy take on the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Motel Hell certainly contains enough winks for the audience to be classified as a more satirical approach to the backwoods-slasher subgenre. But even with all of its charm and clever writing, Motel Hell is just as ed for having one of the most perverse, stomach-churning plots in '80s horror.
Vincent Smith runs a farm and motel where he serves famous smoked meats... which turn out to be cooked human flesh. To make it even more ghoulish, Smith procures his meat by capturing victims and burying them up to their necks in the back of his farm, after slitting their throats. While its dry, black humor helps distinguish it from other evil-redneck flicks, that shouldn't imply that Motel Hell doesn't have some serious bite as an exploitation film.
Trick r' Treat (2007)
A movie that perfectly embodies the charm and spirit of the Halloween season, Trick r' Treat manages to be both fiendish and adorable simultaneously. It's another anthology, similar to Creepshow, with a series of intertwining horror stories all taking place on Halloween night. In the middle of it all is a child-sized creature with a sack over his head, who's become almost an unofficial mascot for Halloween itself.
Trick r' Treat has the ingredients to both be an atmospheric thriller and a mischievous comedy, and it delivers both in equal measure. But while it might be easy to get the impression that it'll be a cute little Halloween romp, Trick 'r Treat isn't afraid to approach some macabre and grisly territory, making it the ultimate tribute to the Halloween spirit.
Scream (1996)
A movie that reinvigorated the slasher genre after it become weighed down by clichés and tropes, Scream impressed audiences with its self-aware humor and genre-savvy characters. Some of its most memorable scenes are just characters riffing off older horror films, and there's even some physical comedy to be had with Ghostface, who's one of the clumsier villains.
But make no mistake about it: Scream is a hardcore, blood-and-guts slice-and-dice-em that uses its meta approach to stay ahead of the audience and always keep them on the edge of their seat. While further sequels started to indulge the comedy aspects more and more until it became a near parody of itself, the original Scream is a finely-tuned murder mystery that could make viewers belly-laugh one minute and queasy the next.
Get Out (2016)
One of the definitive horror films of the modern era, Get Out was the directorial debut of comedian Jordan Peele, from the esteemed comedy duo Key and Peele. Audiences, particularly horror fans, were intrigued to see what exactly Peele had in store for this satirical horror film about race relations, and some expected something along the lines of an extended Key and Peele sketch.
But while there's sharp and topical humor, Get Out took the world by storm and reinvented horror through its charged approach, relating the horrifying and tense nature of the Black experience within the United States. It helped to launch the "elevated horror' movement that's dominated ever since, and has already gone down in history as one of the most uniquely effective films of its genre.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
If An American Werewolf in London didn't invent the horror-comedy, it most certainly perfected it. John Landis' blend of lighthearted humor, old-school monster movie tropes, and skin-crawling body horror shocked audiences back in 1981, most of whom didn't know whether to classify it as a horror flick or a comedy. The simple answer, of course, is both. But the genius of American Werewolf isn't just that it features tropes of two different genres, but it how it intertwines those genres and uses them to enhance each other.
After all, part of what makes An American Werewolf so disturbing and shocking is how it lowers the audience's guard with witty banter and situational humor before delivering an absolute gut-punch with gory, painful on-screen lycanthropy. David and Jack are such genuinely likable and relatable characters that it makes their unspeakable fates hit even harder. That's all to say that An American Werewolf isn't just a horror-comedy, but an innovative fusion that makes this creature feature all the more hair-raising.
