Horror Comedies That Are Both Funny and Scary

Plenty of horror comedies pick a side: a spoof with no tension, or a fright film that only winks now and then. Every movie here does both jobs at once, so horror fans get real dread and comedy fans get real jokes, often in the same scene. That also makes this a good way in if horror usually feels like too much, because the laughs let the pressure out just before it becomes unbearable. For a gentle start, try Gremlins, Tremors, Arachnophobia or Ghostbusters. For the goriest end of the scale, go to Braindead, Re-Animator and Evil Dead II. Pure parodies such as Scary Movie are absent because they never try to frighten anyone, and What We Do in the Shadows, as funny as it is, barely tries to scare.