Screenwriting : Horror-comedy? by Michael Dritto

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil :)

The Babysitter and it's sequel on Netflix

The Evil Dead 2.

Nothing is more horrifying than a stop-motion woman's chopped-up corpse dancing. Nothing is more hilarious than a man getting doink'd in the eyes by a mischievous hand.

My favorite horror comedy is Tremors. The back and forth between Val and Earl is the best part for me. Tremors was one of the main inspirations for my own horror comedy creature feature. It's my favorite genre to write.

Ghostbusters (and Ghostbusters 2), Dog Soldiers, Shaun of the Dead, Killer Klowns from Outer Space. :)

The entire Buffy TV series (not the movie). That the comedy is good and not slapstick, this stuff lends itself too easily.

Tucker and Dale Vs the Evil. It takes the conventions of a horror slasher and twists it around. I love the genre and found it hilarious. My wife, who isn't a horror fan loved it as well.

Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive (or Braindead).

Scream franchise. Basically, screenwriter Williamson reinvented the horror-comedy trope genre

Anna And The Apocalypse (A Zombie Christmas Musical)

I'm still angry Death Valley got cancelled.

There's something about horror not taking itself too seriously which is very therapeutic. Gallows humour is powerful medicine.

Hey, Michael Dritto I love this question! I agree with the amazing answers above! I would add "You're Next" - more of a comedy-horror... IDK if that's a thing, but I feel like there are horror-comedies like, "Tucker and Dale vs Evil," where it's more funny than dark, but I say "You're next" is the opposite, so I somehow just want to make the distinction (I love both!). To answer your other question, I think the reason they're so good is because it feels so... strange... to laugh at something and think, "oh, God, why am I laughing at this? This is so horrible!" I'm sure there are many other reasons, but I think that's a big one for me!

Shaun of the Dead - Edgar Wright's knowledge of horror tropes to create comedy and back to horror again are amazing to see.

Horror and comedy have a similar structure: Put expectations, make people feel you're gonna give them what they expect, subvert them in an unexpected way that also makes sense (or not, if it's an absurdist comedy).

Some horror-comedy that works well are: The babysitter, Freaky, Little Evil, and Happy death day.

Freaky is freaky friday turned horror, babysitter is home alone turned horror comedy, happy death day is groundhog day with a slasher.

Gremlins...American Werewolf In London

Shaun of the dead. British writing/humour helps plus an anti-hero and not a hero. Much easier to create humour with an anti-hero

James Scott OMG! Mars Attack was and still is my favorite! Who knew star power could be soooo funny in a horror-comedy! Alien laugh (Yak Yak Yak) lol

"Scary Movie" is hysterical, makes fun of the genre and several of the popular movies. I loved it.

Yesterday was Joe Dante's birthday and he is the king of comedic Horror. GREMLINS, THE HOWLING, etc.

The key is to keep the horror scary - don't make fun of it, and to have the characters be funny. ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN is a great example. Our heroes are not very heroic, and constantly bickering... but the horror is real. My favorite scene is when Costello sits down in a chair - not realizing that Frankenstein's Monster is already sitting in it. Costello notices that there are 2 left hands and 2 right hands, and slowly realizes that it's the Monster! Then he panics - which is both funny and scary (what if he doesn't get away?).

I think I look at this in this Script Tip...

http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip308.htm