From Spook Busters To Ghostbusters, horror comedies mix the best of two unexpected worlds.
Humor and fear are very similar.
Each elicit involuntary responses.
A scream is as much a reflex as a laugh.
They are both physiological ways to deal with the unexpected.
Horror comedies mix the two different physiological responses and swap them.
The mixture fills several emotional needs at the same time.
Here are 32 of the scariest movies we laugh at.
The film was made under the working titleGhost Busters.
The Ghost Breakers (1940)
BeforeSpook Busters, Bob Hope went chasing ghosts.
There was also a short-lived TV series with Sgt.
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This was a remake of the lost 1922 silent filmThe Ghost Breaker.
Great atmosphere and Anthony Quinn abound.
Is it me or does Maggie Smith turn everything she does into comic gold?
Blood Sucking Freaks (1976)
This movie is both intentionally and unintentionally funny.
Its mainly scary because the two lead actors both died violently after the movie came out.
But its not S&M, its art.
He wrote, directed, photographed, co-edited, paid for it and starred in it.
It supplies the scares too.
The best part is seeing Times Square the way it should be remembered.
Kevin Van Hentenryck is clearly loyal to the twin who was ripped from him too soon.
Here, shes gone full werewolf and the transformation is extraordinary.
She really sheds her skin.
It is dark, decapitated and a deadpan Depp is dry and oh so droll.
Three persons have been murdered there, all within a fortnight.
Each one found with the head lopped off clean as dandelion heads.
A toothy Christopher Walkins rides away with the movie.
Udo Kier brings bright eyed class as Count Dracula.
The Count and Anton gargle their blood like it is fine wine.
They are out of touch but in the mood.
Jack MacGowran plays Professor Abronsius with a detached lunacy and rubber legs.
His last movie would beThe Exorcist.
Sharon Tate is positively maddening in her blonde ditziness, but absolutely irresistible.
Not the witches, they can really be the death of the party.
They think Clark bars are the chocolate covered fingers of a guy named Clark.
The Sanderson sisters have always wanted children, preferably on toast.
After such a long snooze, they should have gotten it.
This movie would have been vastly improved if they ate the kids.
DeBello co-wrote it with the lead non-tomato David Miller.
But youll cheer when the production team gets their pink slips.
Hidden inside almost every frame ofCabin in the Woodsis an army of creature features quiz show answers.
Scream (1996)
Whats your favorite scary movie?
If anyone has the right to mock you for a wrong answer it is the late great Wes Craven.
No one knows why, because killers are a lot scarier when theres no motive.
Theatre of Blood (1973)
Vincent Price is at his hammy best in this seventies gore-fest.
I didnt know Shakespeare was such a good horror writer until Edward Lionheart began his blocking.
We also get to seeGame of Thrones Diana Rigg in a cheesy mustache and blonde afro.
Watching stuffy British actors like Robert Morley get stuffed with their own dogs is positively delicious.
Directed by Douglas Hickox,Theatre of Bloodis a dish best served cold.
He should do more musicals.
William Finley is a very innocent villain, well, until hes violated at a Swan groupie gathering.
The muse for all of this is Jessica Harper, who starred in Dario Argentos classic seventies thrillerSuspiria.
The plot has murder, cannibalism, interspecies seduction and a mad scientist.
Well, Dr. Frank N. Furter isnt mad, but laughing makes his face hurt.
Hair-Raising Hare (1946)
Monsters live interesting lives and Gossamers debut is a little slice of heaven.
Even if his date falls apart.
Christopher Lloyd is a perfect successor to Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester.
The best bits are the background shots as the city gets consumed and it barely registers.
At least I have.
Daniels has such a bad case of the creepy crawlies he cant move in their presence.
Serial Mom (1994)
Proceed with caution.
Beverly Sutphin is armed and fucking nuts, but youd never think it to look at her.
Kathleen Turner give us the very picture of Waspy goodness, manners and grace.
But we all have our bad days.
Waterson brings a new level to clueless enabler to match Turners wild ride of denial.
Throw in Patty Hearst and Traci Lords for the wha?
factor and you almost have theCitizen Kaneof gore comedies.
Monsters Inc. (2001)
More monster movies should be told from the point of view of the monster.
FromFrankensteintoKing Kong, their stories are the most compelling and ultimately sad.
But not the monsters of Monstropolis, they revolutionized the scaring industry.
A single touch could kill you), but its more than that.
Monsters Inc.transcends its animation to present a visceral sensation of hope and wonder.
Director Pete Docter never lets up and Billy Crystal, as the egocentric one-eyed Mike, never lets down.
This has to be the greatest acted animated movie.
It might even have my favorite Steve Buscemi part.
Beetlejuice (1988)
InBeetlejuiceits the people who are nuts while the ghosts are perfectly reasonable beings.
In very sensible clothes.
The only ray of darkness is their prototype Goth daughter played by Winona Ryder.
Michael Keaton breaks out like a shooting star as the title character.
WithDead Ends Sylvia Sidney handling the paperwork, its no wonder no one wants to move out.
The vampire life was better than anything Peter Pan could promise.
Dianne Wiest plays the mom.
Its fun to be a vampire, but dont kill anyone until we get back to you.
The citizens of Halloween Town bring their own special interpretation to secret Santa.
The yuletide spirit is really a ghost.
Danny Elfman wrote the songs, each one a skewered classic, and sings the part of Jack Skellington.
William Hickeys mad scientist is just a lonely old man.
It is funny, poignant and exciting.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Do you remember where you were the first time you got slimed?
Like the hot dog-loving free-floating green thing.
Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts are the audience, heavily invested in the steady paycheck of paranormal investigations.
Sigourney Weaver may be the best flautist in her row, but she really should clean out her refrigerator.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Oh sweet mystery of life, at last I found you.
Mel Brooks dips his schwanzstucker into the horror comedy genre for the first time here.
Brooks did it for the knobs.
Young Frankensteinhad one of the best Dr. Frankenstein labs ever captured on celluloid.
Gene Wilder directed the Putting on the Ritz scene.
The casting is wonderful.
Teri Garr brings great knockers to her roll in the hay.
Cloris Leachman overheats with a smoldering longing that only horses can satisfy.
Marty Feldman is comic relief in a comedy film.
Madeline Kahns voices go into hyperspace.
She always finds an unexpected approach to lines that are already funny.
Gene Hackman makes a wonderful espresso.
Peter Boyle transcends genre as the creation.
The movie was the directorial debut of Ruben Fleischer.
Jesse Eisenberg stars as Columbus.
Bill Murray gets to admit that maybeGarfieldwasnt such a hot idea.
Some of the biggest advances in horror makeup happened while people were laughing.
The Wolf Mans transition in this film was the most detailed to date.
This is also the first movie to really show Dracula turning into a bat.
Bela Lugosi put down the needle to play Count Dracula for the first time since the original movie.
Even Vincent Price puts in a cameo, unbilled and unseen.
People are turning up dead.
Six of them, all in different parts of the city, all mutilated.
He must be a real right maniac like the old demon barber of Fleet Street.
Except that David (David Naughton) is probably the nicest monster ever on screen.
John Landis capture the feel of British comedy while Rick Baker revolutionized the horror makeup world.
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