Welcome to the Weekly Watchlist, a rundown of all the things you should be watching.
So, just in time for Halloween, if you’re looking for something that can bring laughs and screams to any gathering, these are the perfect films to throw on. And hell, we’ll make it six to be extra spooky instead of five.
6. The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
What happens when some of the biggest and most successful names in the history of horror filmmaking, both in front of and behind the camera, all get together to make a lovingly chiding ode to the exact kinds of gothic haunted house stories they’re so known for? Answer: you get one of the most deliriously delightful blends of horror and comedy ever made
Directed by the masterful Jacques Tourneur (who directed Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man, and Night of the Demon) with a screenplay written by Richard Matheson (the author of immortal classics such as I Am Legend and Hell House and the screenwriter behind The Incredible Shrinking Man and some of the very best episodes of The Twilight Zone) and starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and even Boris Karloff himself, The Comedy of Terrors is a surreal viewing experience. It’s the kind of thing that is so specifically tailored to such a niche audience that it’s kind of hard to believe it exists, but miraculously, it does.
5. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
You undoubtedly are at least somewhat familiar with Rocky Horror from its long-lasting legacy and influence across the span of decades of pop-culture as the ultimate midnight drive-in movie, but if you haven’t sat down and experienced it for yourself lately, I cannot implore you to do so enough. Beyond the trappings which have endeared through word-of-mouth (the aesthetics, the campiness, etc.) Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien’s film endures as relentlessly entertaining musical horror comedy that delivers on every conceivable level.
And while doing all of that, The Rocky Horror Picture Show also manages to serve as this surprisingly poignant love-letter to the B-movie horror genre and the creative verve which it has inspired within audiences for decades. Come for the unfathomably brilliant Tim Curry performance (maybe the most attractive any human being has ever looked onscreen) and stay for the bona fide emotional heft behind the cheese and camp.
4. Evil Dead II (1987) or Army of Darkness (1992)
To talk about horror-comedy without speaking to the greatness of Sam Raimi would be sacrilegious, so here, I’ll simply provide a choice between two Raimi masterpieces: Evil Dead II or Army of Darkness. Both are stupendous achievements of filmmaking, both are riotously funny, and both feature both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell at the absolute top of their game.
If you prefer a bit more horror in your horror-comedy brew, Evil Dead II is the choice for you. However, if you’d like a bit heavier dose of comedy and a hefty helping of classically Harryhausen-indebted monstrous adventure, Army of Darkness is just as valid a choice. For me personally, it depends upon the day, but these are both masterpieces.
3. Hausu (1977)
You have never seen anything like Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Hausu. It is an experiential whirlwind, a cinematic tour de force that pushes the filmic medium to its very breaking point and beyond. It is absolutely insane, with Obayashi and co. utilizing the skeleton of a traditional ‘haunted house’ story to deliver some of the most bat-shit insane setpieces ever committed to film, with an absolutely insatiable soundtrack provided by Godiego, and all edited to experimental and boundary-breaking distorted perfection by Nobuo Ogawa.
It is both unnerving and absolutely hysterical, often simultaneously, and manages to do all of that while ultimately delivering a commentary about these kinds of stories and the roles which women are allowed to play in them. Hausu was decades ahead of its time – so much so that even now it still feels breathlessly innovative. Incredible stuff.
2. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Directed by veteran Muppet and Yoda performer and all-around remarkable artist Frank Oz, written by Howard Ashman and with songs by Ashman and Alan Menken (the same brilliant writing team who would go on to give audiences the Disney renaissance with films like The Little Mermaid and the immaculate Beauty and the Beast) and starring an insanely stacked cast of all-star comedic talent, Little Shop of Horrors is a delight beyond your wildest dreams.
The late-great Howard Ashman was unbelievably gifted as sculpting symphonic storytelling in which the forward thrust of the work was the music itself, and Little Shop of Horrors is such a perfect encapsulation of his craft, with humor, horror, and all. It is unbelievably funny, it revels in the schlock B-movie monsters tropes of the ‘50s with irreverent glee (and has plenty of references to the Roger Corman-produced non-musical original iteration, The Little Shop of Horrors from 1960) and it has an absolutely incredible music to go along with it all. It is amazing.
1.Young Frankenstein (1974)
I cannot even begin to fathom what was in the air in 1974. The same year that Francis Ford Coppola delivered both The Conversation and The Godfather Part II, writer-director-performer Mel Brooks released both Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. All four of those films are stone-cold all-timers, and one of them just so happens to be this writer’s pick for one of the greatest comedies ever made: Young Frankenstein.
Absolutely overflowing with adoration for James Whale’s original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein films, filmed in gorgeous black-and-white photography with such remarkable precision, full of some of the greatest performances ever put to film, and pound-for-pound one of the funniest things ever made, Young Frankenstein is an absolutely insane delight. It is a horror aficionado’s dream come true that just also happens to be obscenely hysterical.
