Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Willie List Bonus: Top 5 Horror Comedies

Man, do we love our zombies. And, apparently, we think they're pretty darn funny, too. I encouraged those who voted in the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies poll to include a list of their Top 5 Horror Comedies. Take a look at the results:

5. Dead Alive (aka Braindead) (1992; Peter Jackson)



4. Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetary Man) (1994; Michele Soavi)



3. Bride of Frankenstein (1935; James Whale)



2. Shaun of the Dead (2004; Edgar Wright)



1. Evil Dead II (1987; Sam Raimi)



Whether you like your zombies super gorey (Dead Alive), artfully composed (Dellamorte Dellamore), British (Shaun of the Dead), or being fought by Bruce Campbell, we can satisfy your needs! Just don't come looking for anything that's not a zombie. You could even make a case that Frankenstein is one of the living dead, if you were so inclined. And, lest you think this is a fluke, I present the the runners-up, another five films full of dead people coming back to life:

6. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948; Charles Barton)
7. Re-Animator (1985; Stuart Gordon)
8. Young Frankenstein (1974; Mel Brooks)
9. Return of the Living Dead (1985; Dan O'Bannon)
10. Planet Terror (2007; Robert Rodriguez)

What does this say about us as a society and a film culture?...

P.S.: For the record, I voted for Dellamorte Dellamore, the Burbs, Planet Terror, Bubba Ho-Tep, and From Dusk Til Dawn.

11 comments:

Aaron W. Graham said...

Without question, THE 'BURBS would have made my list.

Roger Corman's THE RAVEN!

Anonymous said...

I'm putting in a pitch for the DVD-only Night of the Living Dorks (Germany). I saw this at a film festival a couple of years ago and laughed my ass off! Unfortunately, Shaun of the Dead was the foreign zombie movie that year, and Dorks couldn't get a release in the States.

Jeff Allard said...

I actually have more quibbles with these results than the main Willies list! I guess I just consider films like Dellamorte Dellamore or The Bride of Frankenstein to be simply horror and not horror-comedies, despite their humorous elements. And along those same lines I almost voted for Return of the Living Dead but opted not to because it's actually a film that scares me at several points!

Still, a few of my picks are represented like Young Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I'm just sorry there weren't enough fellow fans of The Ghost and Mr. Chicken to get it into the top ten!

Anonymous said...

Yessss! This is such a cool list! Several of mine made it, and I can't believe I forgot to nominate Young Frankenstein! And I totally don't remember whether I voted for Slither or not, but if I didn't, I should have. Man do I love Slither.

Unknown said...

I'm not surprised to see Bride of Frankenstein and Evil Dead II in the Top 5, but amazed to see no Corman, not even in the Top 10.

You could easily have had an all-Corman Top 5 consisting of 1) A Bucket of Blood, 2) Little Shop of Horrors, 3) Creature From the Haunted Sea, 4) "The Black Cat" episode from Tales of Terror, and 5) The Raven. Will you be publishing a list of the nominees?

Eddie Hardy said...

Mr. Allard: Are you honestly saying you don't find DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE funny?

Mr. Kutner: There has been tons of feedback about the lack of Corman on all of these lists, but none of his films really got many votes at all. Which is weird. Here is the list of all of the other films that received votes:

An American Werewolf in London
Army of Darkness
Bad Taste
Bubba Ho-Tep
The Burbs
A Bucket of Blood
Cabin Fever
Cannibal! The Musical
A Chinese Ghost Story
Club Dread
Creepshow
Dawn of the Dead
Evil Dead
Fearless Vampire Killers
Freak Out
Fright Night
From Dusk Till Dawn
The Ghost & Mr. Chicken
Ghostbreakers
Ghostbusters
Gozu
Gremlins
Hot Fuzz
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Lair of the White Worm
Lake Placid
Little Shop of Horrors
Monster Squad
Night of the Creeps
Night of the Comet
Office Killer
The Old Dark House
Plane Nine from Outer Space
The Raven
Scream
Shallow Grave
Slaughter High
Slither
Split Second
The Stuff
Texas Chainsaw Massacre pt. II
Theatre of Blood
Tremors
Uzumaki
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Unknown said...

Thanks for all the work involved.

Here's 3 more films I expected to see nominated (but weren't):
Spider Baby
The Howling
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
.

Jeff Allard said...

Oh sure, Dellamorte Dellamore has plenty of funny moments! But so does Psycho, you know? I can definitely see why people would consider this a horror-comedy but it always struck me as more tragic, existential and sad than laugh out loud hilarious.

Eddie Hardy said...

Jeff: Things can be "tragic, existential and sad" and downright hilarious. Witness Beckett's WAITING FOR GODOT, the ending of which has been echoed by almost every text called "existential," including DELLAMORTE.

Jeff Allard said...

That's totally true, Ed. Great point!

Lauzetto said...

young frankenstein should be first !!! :D