Comedies don’t necessarily have to be pleasant, nice, or heartwarming to be funny. While most comedic films aim to make you feel good and will pair their funny moments with an easy-to-digest story, some comedies like to make things a little darker. Beyond that, some dark comedies like to push the concept of black humor further and aim to make the viewer feel equal parts amused and horrified.
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These movies are all classified as comedies on the social media/film app Letterboxd, yet are also quite shocking and disturbing. Some blend comedy withhorror, some are tense thrillers with funny moments, and others rely on shock value or gross-out humor for laughs. They’re the kinds of movies that might not be for everyone but are easy to recommend for those who like their comedies dark and surprising.
‘Spree’ (2020)
Spreemight havefailed to make a huge cultural splash(something that happened to more than a few movies released in 2020), but it still stands as a solid mash-up of crime, horror, and comedy. It follows a rideshare driver who craves attention so bad he goes on a murder spree and live streams the whole thing online for the world to see.
It gets far-fetched and quite ridiculous fairly quickly, but if you go along for the ride (pun intended), it can be an entertaining - and bloody - time. It pokes fun at online culture and how Gen-Zers use social media; even if those satirical elements are blunt, they work. And when all else fails, there’sJoe Keery’s performance at the center of it all, and he gives the lead role ofSpreehis all.
‘The Machine Girl’ (2008)
Where to even begin when describing a movie likeThe Machine Girl… it’s got over-the-top action, explicit violence, a twisted sense of humor, and body horror. Also, the main character attaches various crazy weapons to where her arm used to be and uses them to exact revenge on the yakuza crime family who destroyed her life.
A good deal of the violence is so over-the-top that it’s usually more funny than horrifying, but some moments will test even strong-stomached viewers (you will never look at tempura the same way after watching this movie). For anyone who likes modern movies with the spirit of an old-fashioned B-movie/exploitation film,The Machine Girlhas you covered.
‘Jackass Forever’ (2022)
More gross and shocking than it is truly disturbing,Jackass Foreveris the fourth movie featuring theJackasscrew and pushes things even further regarding stunts and disgusting pranks. The shock value is high, but at the same time, it’s also hilarious and has some charm because of how openly it embraces the ridiculousness of everything it does.
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The fact the original crew members are in their 40s and 50s makes the stunts even harder to watch at times, so it’s understandable why there are a few new (and younger)Jackasscrew members to do some of the heavy lifting. 2022 also saw a sequel,a compilation of deleted scenes calledJackass 4.5, which is worth watching for fans ofForever.
‘Tusk’ (2014)
Kevin Smithmay be most well-known for his down-to-earth, dialogue-heavy comedies, but he’s also a filmmaker willing to branch out into other genres. 2011’sRed State, for example, almost entirely does away with comedy, instead being atense and unpredictable action-thriller. His next film after that one—2014’sTusk—is similarly wild compared to Smith’s usual movies.
Tuskmay be something of a comedy, but it’s also a pretty disturbing body horror movie with some genuinely hard-to-watch scenes. Even if the central premise is ridiculous (a man getting turned into a walrus), the execution makes it pretty bleak and unnerving in parts. It’s understandably a divisive movie but is worth checking out for those who like to see unique blends of comedy and horror.
‘Society’ (1989)
With a title as vague as “Society,” it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting into with this cult comedy-horror film. Maybe that’s intentional, to make scenes in its second half more shocking. So, maybe it’s best to say that this is a movie about a teenager discovering his parents may be a part of a strange underground cult, and leave it at that.
Societyis a satirical, dark, and sometimes a very gross movie. It has some of the most stomach-churning practical effects seen in a (somewhat) mainstream American film, probably up there with 1982’sThe Thing. It’s sometimes funny but also quite sickening (intentionally so), makingSocietya movie you’ll struggle to forget, even if you want to.
One of the more well-known films from the infamous Troma Entertainment,Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead,is a movie about chicken-zombie hybrids. Much of the film takes place in a fast food restaurant and sees the main characters fighting for their lives against the feathered undead.
Sure, the special effects are done by relatively cheap methods, but that doesn’t stop a good deal of said effects from looking genuinely gross. Combine those effects with buckets of blood and gore, as well as some crude humor (in typical Troma fashion), and you’ve got yourself a horror-comedy that tries hard to shock as many viewers as possible and is pretty successful in that regard.
‘Man Bites Dog’ (1992)
Man Bites Dogis a crime film with satire so dark it almost doesn’t feel right to call it a comedy. It’s a mockumentary about a film crew who follow a serial killer, documenting all the murders he commits while slowly becoming more complicit in his heinous, violent crimes.
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It’s certainly not subtle when criticizing the media and the general public’s obsession with violence. It takes these ideas to the extreme, but there’s a good deal of truth to what the film tries to say. Given how relevant some of its themes are 30 years later, maybe it’s for the best that the satire is as brutal and impactful as the film’s violence because there are lessons within this darkly comedic film that some may still need to learn.
‘Gozu’ (2003)
Takashi Miikeis no stranger to putting bizarre and twisted sights on-screen, andGozumight be one of his most bizarre and twisted movies. Mixing gross-out visuals, surreal horror, crime, and dark comedy all into one; it follows a gangster’s descent into a hellish underworld after he accidentally kills someone he shouldn’t have.
Horror comedies as a whole are an acquired taste, butGozutruly is an acquired taste in every sense of the term, as it goes above and beyond the vast majority of horror comedies. Viewers should be aware they will hear and see some genuinely grotesque things in this movie, but for those with strong stomachs, the rideGozuprovides is quite thrilling, with the shocking scenes seemingly never letting up for the film’s entire 130-minute runtime.
‘Taxidermia’ (2006)
A satirical and absurdist comedy that presents a dark look at the history of Hungary from WWII until the early 21st century,Taxidermiaspans three generations and is divided into three parts. Each third follows a different character and their unusual—often confronting—lives, with all three protagonists being members of the same strange family.
It’s an experience unlike much else and might well be considered a horror movie because of how twisted some of its images are. It’s an unusual look at history because of how much it distorts it and makes it grotesque to emphasize some of the real-life issues Hungary faced throughout the second half of the 20th century. Whether you watch it as a straightforward, gross-out comedy or a piece of biting satire,Taxidermiais challenging and compelling.
‘The Cremator’ (1969)
You’d be forgiven for expecting a movie calledThe Crematorto be dark. Your expectation would also be correct, as this movie about a twisted cremator and his dangerous worldviews is horrifying, even while it pushes its grim subject matter so far that it’s also darkly funny at times.
It looks at how certain people can be swayed by dangerous rhetoric, and it’s no coincidence that the film is set in Europe during the 1930s, right on the cusp of World War II. The visuals and style of the film are also quite nauseating and nightmarish, which further adds to the unsettling atmosphere inThe Cremator. Truly, it’s a film that looks and feels like no other.
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