From misunderstood monsters to biting social satire. Get ready to die laughing with our count down of the ten best horror-comedies of the 2010s (so far).
Don’t know whether you want to laugh or scream? Why not both? Horror and comedy are one of life’s truly great combinations, each genre complimenting the other to create unconventional results. If you’re hungry for more of either genre then be sure to check out our lists for horror and comedy on their own.
10. Life After Beth (2014)
When Zach’s girlfriend suddenly dies, he does a lot of growing up very quickly. When she comes back from the dead, the process gets even faster. Life After Beth is an often polarising romantic zombie comedy (or RomZomCom) but if you enjoy the lowkey quirkiness of American indie relationship comedies then you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by this little hidden gem, featuring a great cast and a host of cameos from the likes of Rob Delaney to the final film appearance of the legendary RomCom king Garry Marshall.
9. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)
The conventions of the “cabin in the woods” format of slasher movies gets toyed with in the most endearing fashion when lifelong friends Tucker and Dale get profiled, by the typical group of jocks and scream queens, as a pair of hillbilly serial killers. A series of slapstick comedic errors brings out the prejudices of the teens, who would usually be the heroes of such a story, as Dale finds himself having to overcome the inferiority complex instilled by such demonising reactions to him. A bloody, funny and incredibly sweet look at not judging books by their covers.
8. Housebound (2014)
When troubled youth Kylie gets busted in a robbery gone very wrong she’s placed under house arrest with her well-meaning, but typically aggravating over long periods of time, mum in her secluded New Zealand country home. As she wrestles with the conflicts of her adolescence coming back to life, so too does she begin to unravel the mystery of the ghost that haunts that house. Twisty, turny and full of that laidback Kiwi humour that we all crave so much. There’s a big heart at the centre of Housebound that’s kept pumping by Morgana O’Reilly and Rima Te Wiata’s performances.
7. The Final Girls (2015)
One of those films that wins you over, against all odds. On the third anniversary of her mother’s death, young Max Cartwright, and a group of friends, get sucked into the tacky slasher movie that defined her mother’s career. Surviving the movie means playing by the rules to get to the end, à la Scream, but for Max that will mean sticking by the so-called “final girl” who just so happens to be played by her mother. Surprisingly creative and emotional, for a story that seems so clearly laid out at the start, The Final Girls takes something tired and helps you see it afresh.
6. Attack the Block (2011)
Joe Cornish draws from a different kind of 80s horror staple with Attack the Block, but it’s one just as fun. When a group of alien critters begin taking over a South London block of flats, it’s up to a group of the youths to brings out their inner heroes in order to survive the night and the local gangsters. Bursting with that Edgar Wright-ish exuberance that we’ve come to hold as the gold standard of British comedy, it’s one of those rare surefire cult classics that will be looked back on decades from now for, if nothing else, bringing John Boyega to the big screen.
5. Mom and Dad (2017)
Can anyone resist Nicolas Cage losing it for the enjoyment of a paying audience? The answer is no, so I don’t why I even bothered asking. Brian Taylor’s horror-comedy-satire (his first solo project away from writing and directing partner Mark Neveldine) is one of the best entries in the small, but powerful, horror subgenre of Kids vs. Adults. While, gleefully, quite dumb, and very silly, it’s also one of the more unique zombie films you’ll ever see. With the horror stemming from the complex line between the intensity of love and hatred. You can read our full review here.
4. Rubber (2010)
The brainchild of director Quentin Dupieux (known on the French electronic music scene as Mr. Oizo), Rubber is the most entertaining kind of arthouse filmmaking out there. The film follows the exploits of a sentient, telekinetically gifted, tire, named Robert, who, as you would expect, just kind of rolls around the California desert while blowing up whatever he can find with his powerful tire brain. As you may expect slightly less. Both odd-funny and haha-funny, Rubber is an experience quite like no other that bridges the cinematic gap between Godard and Cronenberg.
3. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Genre becomes a playground in the minds of Buffy the Vampire Slayer alums Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon as a squad of the usual suspects, so well-cast that the jock leader is a just-pre-career-explosion Chris Hemsworth, contend with mysterious goings on in the titular cabin in the woods; as a deconstruction of horror films in general unravels around them. But it’s the little asides with Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins’ overworked Tech Support Guys From Hell that really make The Cabin in the Woods a memorably unique experience.
2. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
The politics of the shared living arrangement come to life in the most hilariously energetic fashion in Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s vampire mockumentary. As a group of the undying (ranging from age 183 to 8,000) grapple with cleaning rotas, looking for love and a group of equally dorky werewolves, you come to easily see the relatability of the vampires’ ridiculous rivalries and insecurities. If you know the names of the people involved that may be no surprise at all but what may surprise you is how well the horror aspect is handled, often violently lurching to bloody ends.
1. Get Out (2017)
Was it really going to be anything else? Could it be anything else? Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning horror satire plays out like the longest, most well-written and most well-acted comedy sketch ever produced with Daniel Kaluuya being dragged through every uncomfortable aspect of black fetishism with America’s creepiest family. The simple truth is that Get Out will be remembered for generations to come because it expresses something that people really needed to be expressed at that particular moment in time and, sadly, still do.
