October can be a difficult month for people who get anxious at jump scares. Every other movie released at the box office or shown on cable seems to be about all kinds of serial killers, ghosts, and ghouls. Where are the movies for viewers who crave a lighter touch?
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The genre of horror-comedy fills that gap. While not scary enough to cause sleepless nights, these movies balance their scares with plenty of laughs. From mockumentaries about a pack of vampires to Frankenstein's son retracing his father's footsteps, there's something for everyone.
'Young Frankenstein' (1974)
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Mel Brooks' 1974 Young Frankenstein was the seminal horror comedy of the '70s and is considered by some to be the greatest comedy ever put to film. The script was co-written by Brooks and lead Gene Wilder, and Brooks' direction pays homage to the James Whale monster movies of the 1930s, specifically Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein.
No detail is overlooked in this faithful parody, whether it be John Morris's era-perfect score, Gerald Hirschfeld's beautiful black-and-white cinematography, or Dale Hennesy's production design, which incorporated pieces of the original Frankenstein set. Young Frankenstein's off-camera success is matched only by its on-screen talent, which includes Wilder, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, Kenneth Mars, Madeline Kahn, Gene Hackman,and Cloris Leachman asthe dreaded Frau Blücher. Young Frankenstein isn't just an essential Halloween comedy but a must-watch for anybody who loves movies.
'The Man With Two Brains' (1983)
Years ago, the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles showed The Man With Two Brains on a Halloween double bill with Young Frankenstein. Half of the lines were drowned out with audience laughter. The third collaboration between Steve Martin and Carl Reiner follows a brilliant neurosurgeon that marries a woman who's secretly a sadist. When the doctor falls in love with a disembodied brain, he concocts a plan to replace his wife's devious mind with Anne (the brain).
Fans of The Jerk and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid will love The Man with Two Brains. Martin and Reiner's wacky humor is on full display, starting with a little girl who thinks she knows too much about medicine and ending with the most difficult DUI test ever conducted. It's the perfect Halloween comedy for anyone who wants to watch Steve Martin go on a romantic boat ride with a brain in a jar.
'What We Do In the Shadows' (2019)
Though perhaps best known today for the success of the FX series, Taika Waititi's 2014 vampire mockumentary went from a cult gem to a modern comedy classic in the blink of an eye. Written by Waititi and co-star Jermaine Clement, What We Do In the Shadows follows three vampires as a camera crew films their un-life.
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Like many of Waititi's movies, the brilliance of What We Do In the Shadows arises from grounding the fantastical in unexpected mundanity. The vampires learn about the Internet, try to get into a nightclub, and lament old relationships while flying through the night air and sucking blood.
'Shaun of the Dead' (2004)
Zombie movies have long been a hallmark of the Halloween season, and Shaun of the Dead is considered a staple. Edgar Wright's 2004 film introduced the movie-going world to his quick-cut, fast-pan filmmaking style, and his co-writer Simon Pegg's airtight comedy scripts. The camera's movement is as deliberate as every syllable, and almost every line either telegraphs something later or refers back to something earlier.
Shaun of the Dead's premise is simple: When a zombie apocalypse breaks out, Shaun (Pegg) and his loved ones try to barricade themselves inside their local pub. Obviously, nothing goes as planned, and Pegg, Nick Frost, and Kate Ashfield must resort to drastic measures to survive, including beating a zombie old man with pool cues while Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" plays on the jukebox.
'Evil Dead 2' (1987)
Sam Raimi's1987 quasi-sequel to Evil Dead might not seem like a comedy, but it certainly is. While the original relied on grungy guerilla filmmaking, the second installment leaned more into slapstick. Bruce Campbell might've been the only lead actor who could do both.
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Here's a sequence of events from Evil Dead 2:An evil spirit possesses Ash's right hand and attacks him. He tries to drown the appendage, but in a Chaplin-esque scene, the hand smashes plate after plate against his head. At his wits' end, Ash slices off his hand with a chainsaw, but the thing is still alive. So he traps it under a bucket and weighs it down with a few books, including A Farewell To Arms. The sequence is 50% The Hands of Orlac, 50% Looney Tunes, and 100% Halloween comedy gold.
'Cabin in the Woods' (2011)
Another movie in the spirit of Evil Dead 2 andScream, Cabin in the Woods, can be either a credible horror inclusion or an out-and-out comedy, depending on the viewers' perspective. It's ultimately a comic deconstruction of the horror genre and its rote storytelling beats. Sometimes, writing a scary movie is as simple as booking a cabin, bringing a virgin, and picking the monster. And the only one who knows what's going on is the stoner who's seen too many of these flicks.
But when the virgin and the stoner go off script, all hell breaks loose, and the system eats itself. Cabin in the Woods is many things: a comedy, a horror, a parody, a commentary on studio filmmaking and art, a stoner classic, and more. It's also the perfect flick for a Halloween party with a selection of pumpkin-themed beer and a crowd full of people who watched too many monster movies growing up.
'Death Becomes Her' (1992)
It's possible no horror comedy has ever reached the same star power as Death Becomes Her.Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, and Isabella Rossellini star in director Robert Zemeckis' crossover with horror and noir. It's a marriage of Double Indemnity and an Arabian Nights fable: the film follows a plastic surgeon, Ernest Menville (Willis), and his former lover, Helen (Hawn), who plans to murder his wife, Madeline (Streep). Little do they know Madeline has just taken a potion that gives her eternal youth and immortality.
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This movie is pure camp, and every second is a riot. Streep and Hawn are hilarious, dominating the frame with charm and impeccable timing. And Willis plays completely against type as a mustached, spineless shlub. It's an essential Halloween comedy, partly because of the Menville mansion's intimidating design by producer designer and Stephen Spielberg collaborator Rick Carter.
'Gremlins' (1984)
"Don't feed them after midnight." That's, more or less, the one rule for taking care of a gremlin. But when a young boy is tricked into feeding some of his pets, they cocoon and hatch into mischievous, deadly little green creatures. For the rest of the movie, they wreak havoc on the small town.
Gremlins is a confounding film. It takes place at Christmastime, but it's also a horror movie with a lot in common with midnight movies. Still, despite its yuletide setting, Joe Dante's1984 film makes a great Halloween watch. It's brutal, scary, and, most of all, very silly. No scene better encapsulates this than the Gremlins singing Christmas carols to an old woman to distract her while they rewire her electric stair lift to zip her up the staircase and out the window.
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