SO FUNNY IT’S SCARY:
TOP 5 SPOOKY COMEDIES
Continuing our monthlong celebration of Halloween with various scary movie and TV-related lists. Check out our online movie database at staytunedmag.com to see if any of these or other scary titles are on this month. (Note: Videos may contain graphic violence, disturbing images and language.)
Whether eliciting nervous laughter, surprised chortles on occasion, or chuckles and giggles throughout, some horror films do not take themselves too seriously and blur the line between comedy and scares. Sometimes the humor eases the tension; sometimes it is such dark humor, though, that it makes viewers perhaps a little more uncomfortable:
5. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
The film that marked the swan song for three of the great original Universal movie monsters — Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and Wolf Man — still manages to instill the characters with scares, not totally parodying them. The laughs are left in Bud Abbott and (mainly) Lou Costello’s reaction to them. Bela Lugosi plays his iconic Dracula role for one of the last times before his career, and himself, totally degenerated. Lon Chaney Jr. is back as the Wolf Man, but unfortunately Boris Karloff is not around to play Frankenstein’s creation. Abbott and Costello did meet the Mummy, and the Invisible Man, in later movies, but to much lesser effect than the one offered in this fun comedy/thriller combo:
4. Beetlejuice (1988)
One look at the unique visual style of this horror comedy and you could probably guess it was directed by Tim Burton, if you didn’t know already. Michael Keaton is at his manic best as the titular “bio-exorcist,” hired by a ghostly couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) to evict the human inhabitants who are haunting their house.
3. Gremlins (1984)
A humorous holiday horror bash that finds the sleepy little town of Kingston Falls under siege by gruesome creatures at Christmastime. Director Joe Dante has fun with the various mischief the monsters get into, as well as with throwing in tons of other movie references for sharp-eyed viewers. Thanks to scenes like a gremlin getting blown up in a microwave, this was one film that helped inspire the PG-13 rating.
2. Ghostbusters (1984)
Sort of a throwback to older films that combined outright comedy with scares, yet moving that idea forward by having its heroes more full of wit than slapstick, and by adding then-state-of-the-art special effects, this hilarious large-scale comedy is certainly carried by Bill Murray, at least on the human side. There are a few decent ghosts in it too, like the old librarian at the beginning, and the ancient god Zuul at the end (and even Slimer, in the middle of the film, is a little creepy, before he got silly in the awful sequel and cartoons).
1. Evil Dead II (1987)
Armed with a slightly larger budget than on their original 1982 full-out horror flick The Evil Dead, director Sam Raimi (later to make Spider-Man), star Bruce Campbell and their crew went for a more comedic approach here, and the result is about equal parts gore (try as they might, they could not edit enough to even get an R rating) and guffaws. Campbell’s “groovy” performance as hero Ash, and Raimi’s wildly energetic and imaginative direction, lead to a unique, unnerving and just plain fun experience for those with the stomach for it. The objects in the room in this surrealistic scene certainly found things amusing.
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Ghostbusters photo: Courtesy of ghostbustershq.com