An American Werewolf in London (1981)

John Landis gets laughs from awkwardness rather than gags: a pub full of hostile locals, a dead best friend who keeps visiting in worse and worse condition, a naked man waking up in a zoo. Then the horror turns brutal. The transformation scene, played in full view with nowhere to look away, won Rick Baker the first of his seven Best Makeup Oscars, and the moor attack is still properly frightening. Few films swing between deadpan and dread this sharply.