'Gorecom' recommendations

October 4, 2009 8:37 PM

Movie recommendations!

So, I watched Zombieland and loved it, I also loved The Host, beyond these recommend some other horror/gore-comedies for me to see, I have no idea if this is an actual genre but there has to be more out there.

posted by abitha! to grab bag (25 comments total)

Shaun of the Dead.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 8:39 PM on October 4 [2 favorites has favorites]

Wikpedia has an article about this.
posted by SpringAquifer at 8:40 PM on October 4

A even more general list.
posted by SpringAquifer at 8:43 PM on October 4

Fido is pretty good. It also proves that Carrie-Anne Moss makes for a smoking hot '50s housewife, please excuse my ogling.
posted by Iosephus at 8:51 PM on October 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Dead Snow (I've heard the subtitled is better than the dubbed)
The Evil Dead/Evil Dead II/Army of Darkness
Fido
Slither
An American Werewolf in London has some comedic elements, if not a complete comedy
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is funny if you're not completely terrified by clowns
Arachnophobia
From Dusk 'Till Dawn
Undead
Grindhouse
posted by JauntyFedora at 8:53 PM on October 4

Braindead (AKA Dead Alive)
posted by cazoo at 9:23 PM on October 4

Dead Alive (pre-LOTR Peter Jackson)
Feast (the Project Greenlight horror film)
posted by mkultra at 9:40 PM on October 4

Hot Fuzz.
posted by peacheater at 10:07 PM on October 4

Haven't seen Zombieland yet. Probably second Shaun of the Dead as a similar movie though.

Dawn of the Dead (both old and new) is probably one of the better zombie films out there. The new one is (of course) edgier and funnier; the old one is still a classic.

If you really want to get into the genre, try the Evil Dead series for some good campiness, or Re-Animator.
posted by problemcat at 10:40 PM on October 4

Black Sheep maybe. I didn't find it funny but others do.
posted by turgid dahlia at 10:51 PM on October 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

The Kingdom.
posted by brujita at 11:16 PM on October 4

Apparently I've been watching similar movies for quite awhile, excellent recommendations though since I did like a lot of the ones mentioned, or at least gave them a shot.
posted by abitha! at 11:22 PM on October 4

There are many, many movies like this. However, there is one zombie comedy that rates above all the others; it is indeed the Waiting For Godot of zombie comedies. I speak of Michele Soavi's masterful existential 1994 zombie comedy Dellamorte Dellamore, released in the US as Cemetary Man, a film which mixes deadly hilarious humor with weirdly deep musings about the nature of love, sex and death. There is also a bit of sex, but it's somewhat complicated by the fact that it's simultaneously terribly erotic and pretty disgusting. All in all, a great movie. Martin Scorsese called it the best Italian film of the 1990s (although it should be said that it's an Italian-English co-production, so it's in English). Also, it has Rupert Everett.
posted by koeselitz at 11:37 PM on October 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Really and truly, Cemetary Man is the greatest zombie movie I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of 'em.
posted by koeselitz at 11:40 PM on October 4

Shaun of the Dead is one of my all time favorites.

Adding 28 days later and 28 weeks later to the list.
posted by Edubya at 11:58 PM on October 4

Oh, and how could I forget?

Takashi Miike is one of the greatest film directors working in the world today. He's also ridiculously prolific; since 2000, he's directed (at least) 32 different movies, a good chunk of which have been absolutely brilliant, and which have included films as diverse as the insane sci-fi of the final installment of the yakuza actioner and weirdly sweeping and philosophical sci-fi series Dead or Alive, which ended with the destruction of the entire universe; the sequel (!) Dead Or Alive 2: The Birds; fantastic hard-boiled yakuza flicks like Yakuza Demon; great dark comedies like Japan Financial Collapse: The People of Togen Village; and intelligent and sensitive dramas like Bang Bang Love: Juvenile A. (That's not counting his excellent television miniseries Multiple Personality Detective Psycho.) He's the only director I know of who has the skills and breadth of mind to enable him to create a really good, direct horror movie like Audition, which is one of the most traumatizing movies I've ever seen, and yet at the same time to be able to produce quiet, gentle, reverential meditations like The Bird People Of China, my favorite of Miike's and (I believe) one of the best films made in the last two decades. And what's more, he made both of those movies in the same year. The man's a crazy genius.

Anyway, enough gushing about Miike; my second-favorite movie of his is also the first that I saw: his 2001 comedy horror zombie musical The Happiness Of The Katakuris. Yes, it is all of those things: comedy – because there are times when, watching it, the ludicrousness of it all pretty much overwhelms you (and also because the claymation bits are quite funny); horror – because, despite this funniness, the masterful Miike actually manages to sneak up on you and give you moments of genuine suspense during which you're actually on edge, just like you should be in a horror movie, although to this day I still don't know how he did it; zombie – because, well, there are a lot of zombies, yes; and musical – because it's also a musical, and I don't mean 'there are some songs that people sing,' I mean there are song and dance numbers and there is orchestrated choreography and there are bits with people running through fields and singing about love a la The Sound Of Music or My Fair Lady. That is, it is not just a movie with music in it, it is a musical in the sense of '50's Broadway Musical. Or at least some parts are. The parts that don't have zombie-killing in them.

Just... I can't really explain it. Here, go watch the original trailer. It's in Japanese, but you really don't need a translation to see how awesome this movie is.
posted by koeselitz at 12:41 AM on October 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

The one problem with that trailer is that it doesn't have enough zombies. But there are lots of zombies in the movie. If you don't believe me, you can watch this vaguely Thriller-esque three-minute clip.
posted by koeselitz at 12:47 AM on October 5

While it's not that great when it comes to recently released movies, for any other "Wow, I really loved this movie what else is there like this"-recommendations I suggest checking out Clerkdogs. You could check out their matches for Shaun of the Dead and go from there.
posted by bjrn at 1:53 AM on October 5

Seconding The Happiness of the Katakuris. It's over-the-top in all respects and it's just... fascinating to watch. There's so much going on, visually. I got the impression that Miike would throw in things just for the hell of it. For example, during an 80's(?) karaoke homage number (complete with sing-along lyrics on the bottom of the screen), we see a couple tiny versions of one of the main characters floating around, pawing at the air, all the while wearing what looks like a mountaineering/soldiering outfit. Who knows why? The film's full of random, inexplicable touches like that. It's great.
posted by cobwebberies at 2:01 AM on October 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

I give you Rabid Grannies. Seriously. How could you pass up a movie with the tagline "Grandma, What a Big Mouth You Have!"?
posted by mannequito at 4:02 AM on October 5

Return of the Living Dead.

"Send more paramedics..."
posted by Cookiebastard at 6:58 AM on October 5

Drag me to hell isn't zombie-based, per se, but most of Sam Raimi's movies (with the exception of A Simple Plan and the Spiderman films) are what I'd consider horror-comedy. Especially the Evil Dead trilogy. Deadgirl was especially interesting for me in that it's definitely black humor and some truly hilarious dialogue couched in some extremely gory, low-budget shakycam B movie style.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:09 AM on October 5

koeselitz beat me to my recommendation, and probably did a much better job of recommending it then I could have. So consider my post a second to his.
posted by owtytrof at 11:09 AM on October 5

Bio Zombie. The only way I've been able to describe it is Evil Dead 2 meets Mallrats, but it's much, much better than that. You may find yourself ready to dismiss it after the first five minutes, but it really soars once it gets going.
posted by lekvar at 2:35 PM on October 5

Oh, and Bio Zombie is available through Netflix, or you can watch a low-rez version here.
posted by lekvar at 2:38 PM on October 5