Zombie comedy
The zombie comedy,[1] often called zom com or zomedy,[2][3] is a film genre that aims to blend zombie horror motifs with slapstick comedy as well as dark comedy.
Zombies |
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Overview |
Zombies in media |
History
The earliest roots of the genre can be found in Jean Yarbrough's King of the Zombies (1941) and Gordon Douglas's Zombies on Broadway (1945), though both of these films dealt with Haitian-style zombies. While not comedies, George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985) featured several comedic scenes. An American Werewolf in London (1981)[4] and the Return of the Living Dead series (1985)[5] (especially the first two and the last of the series) can be considered some of the earliest examples of zombie-comedy using the modern zombie. Other early examples include Mr. Vampire, CHUD II: Bud the CHUD (1989), Braindead (1992), Bio Zombie (1998), and The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale (2019)
A popular modern zombie comedy is Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2004),[6] a self-dubbed Romantic Zombie Comedy, or RomZomCom,[7] with many in-jokes and references to George A. Romero's earlier Dead films, especially Dawn of the Dead. Other popular zombie comedies include Gregg Bishop's Dance of the Dead (2008) and the 2009 film Zombieland.
Andrew Currie's Fido,[8] Matthew Leutwyler's Dead & Breakfast, and Peter Jackson's Braindead are also examples of zombie comedies.[9] Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II, although a more direct horror film, contains some lighthearted and dark comedy elements, and its sequel, Army of Darkness, is even more comedic. The Evil Dead series does not, however, feature any traditional-style zombies.
Other films that can be considered zombie comedies include:
- Bio Zombie (1998)
- Buck Wild (2013)
- Burying the Ex (2014)[10]
- Cockneys vs Zombies (2012)
- Dance of the Dead (2008)
- DeadHeads (2011)
- Dead Snow (2009)
- Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead (2014), Icelandic-Norwegian
- Fido (2006)
- First Platoon (2013)
- Go Goa Gone, Bollywood (Hindi) movie
- Idle Hands (1999), starring Devon Sawa and Seth Green
- Juan De Los Muertos (2010), Spanish-Cuban film released in the UK and US as Juan of the Dead
- Life After Beth (2014)[11]
- Mr. Vampire (1985)
- My Boyfriend's Back (1993)
- Night of the Creeps (1986)
- One Cut of the Dead (2017), a low-budget Japanese film
- ParaNorman (2012)[12]
- Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2005)
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)[12]
- Re-Animator (1985)[12]
- Redneck Zombies (1986)
- Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)
- Shaun of the Dead (2004)
- The Dead Don't Die (2019)[12]
- The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale (2019), a first South Korean zombie comedy film.
- Tokyo Zombie (2005)
- Trip Ubusan: The Lolas vs. Zombies (2017)
- Warm Bodies (2013)
- Zombie eXs (2013)
- Zombieland (2009), starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin
- Zombie Strippers (2008)
- Zomboat! (2019), ITV/Hulu TV show
- Zombieland: Double Tap (2019), sequel to Zombieland
See also
- Cannibalism in popular culture
- Comedy horror
- List of comedy horror films
- Zombies in popular culture
References
- "Night of the Living Dorks". Cinema Blend. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- Bemenderfer, Mark (October 12, 2004). "Zombie Comedy Succeeds In Both Genres". The Observer Online. Archived from the original on December 2, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- Gartside, Will (September 30, 2004). "Zombie Comedy Slays Audiences". The Badger Herald. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- Nelson, Resa (2004). "Science Fiction Weekly Interview". SciFi Weekly, Issue 388, paragraph 4. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- Dellamorte (January 22, 2003). Return of the Living Dead. Classic Horror Review. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- Edelstein, David (September 23, 2004). "The Importance of Being Undead: A Zombie Comedy of Manners" Archived July 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Slate Magazine. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- Smith, Kerry L. (2004-09-22). "Shaun Of The Dead: The World's First Rom-Zom-Com (Romantic Zombie Comedy)?". MTV News. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
- Capt. Xerox (March 16, 2007). "Critics Love the New Zombie Comedy Fido". The Website @ The End Of The Universe. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- Frazer, Bryant. Braindead (review). Deep Focus. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- Kenny, Glenn (19 June 2015). "Burying the Ex". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
- Lemire, Christy (15 August 2014). "Life After Beth Movie Review & Film Summary (2014)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
- Sullivan, Kevin P. (14 June 2019). "8 Great Zombie Comedies (That Aren't The Dead Don't Die)". vulture.com. Retrieved 13 July 2019.