Zombie comedy,
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 Vodou zombies. While not comedies, George A. Romero's
Dawn of the Dead (1978) and
Day of the Dead (1985) featured several comedic scenes and satirical commentary on society.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
[Nelson, Resa (2004). "Science Fiction Weekly Interview". SciFi Weekly, Issue 388, paragraph 4. Retrieved April 9, 2007.] and the
Return of the Living Dead series (1985)
[Dellamorte (January 22, 2003). Return of the Living Dead. Classic Horror Review. Retrieved April 9, 2007.] (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 (1985),
(1989),
Braindead (1992), and
Bio Zombie (1998).
A popular modern zombie comedy is Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2004),[Edelstein, David (September 23, 2004). "The Importance of Being Undead: A Zombie Comedy of Manners" . Slate Magazine. Retrieved April 9, 2007.] a self-dubbed romantic zombie comedy, or RomZomCom,
Andrew Currie's Fido,[Capt. Xerox (March 16, 2007). "Critics Love the New Zombie Comedy Fido". The Website @ The End Of The Universe. Retrieved April 9, 2007.] Matthew Leutwyler's Dead & Breakfast, and Peter Jackson's Braindead are also examples of zombie comedies.[Frazer, Bryant. Braindead (review) . Deep Focus. Retrieved April 9, 2007.] 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 franchise features evil spirits that possess dead and living bodies and even objects, however, rather than traditional-style zombies.
List
Films that can be considered zombie comedies include:
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King of the Zombies (1941)
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Zombies on Broadway (1945)
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Mr. Vampire (1985)
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Re-Animator (1985)
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The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
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Redneck Zombies (1986)
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Night of the Creeps (1986)
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Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)
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Dead Heat (1988)
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(1989)
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Bride of Re-Animator (1991)
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Army of Darkness (1992)
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Braindead (1992), New Zealand film released in the US as Dead Alive
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My Boyfriend's Back (1993)
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Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)
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Bio Zombie (1998)
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Idle Hands (1999), starring Devon Sawa and Seth Green
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(2001)
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Dead & Breakfast (2004)
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Shaun of the Dead (2004)
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SARS Wars (2004)
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(2005)
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Tokyo Zombie (2005)
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Dead and Deader (2006)
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Fido (2006)
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Dance of the Dead (2008)
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Zombie Strippers (2008)
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Dead Snow (2009)
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Zombieland (2009), starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin
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Juan de los Muertos (2010), Spanish-Cuban film released in the UK and US as Juan of the Dead
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Deadheads (2011)
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Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings (2011), also known as Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington
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Cockneys vs Zombies (2012)
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Detention of the Dead (2012)
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ParaNorman (2012)
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Buck Wild (2013)
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Warm Bodies (2013)
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Go Goa Gone (2013)
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Zombie eXs (2013)
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Ang Huling Henya (2013)
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Burying the Ex (2014)
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(2014)
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Life After Beth (2014)
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Stalled (2014)
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Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)
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Night of the Living Deb (2015)
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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)
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Oh My Zombie! (2016)
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One Cut of the Dead (2017), a low-budget Japanese film
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Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
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(2017)
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The Dead Don't Die (2019)
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(2019), first South Korean zombie comedy film
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Eat, Brains, Love (2019)
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(2019), sequel to Zombieland
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Little Monsters (2019)
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Zombie Reddy (2021)
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Aquarium of the Dead (2021)
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Izla (2021)
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Zombivli (2022)
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Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (2022), live-action adaptation of
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My Zombabe (2024)
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Jombieland (2025)
See also
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Cannibalism in popular culture
-
Comedy horror
-
List of comedy horror films
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Zombies in popular culture
