Zombie comedy

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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 morbid humor.

Contents

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 and satirical commentary on society. 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 (1985), C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. (1989), Braindead (1992), and Bio Zombie (1998).

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 franchise does not, however, feature any traditional-style zombies.

List

Films that can be considered zombie comedies include:

See also

Related Research Articles

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<i>Braindead</i> (film) 1992 film by Peter Jackson

Braindead is a 1992 New Zealand zombie comedy splatter film directed by Peter Jackson, produced by Jim Booth, and written by Stephen Sinclair, Fran Walsh, and Jackson based on an original story idea by Sinclair. It stars Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody and Ian Watkin. The plot follows Lionel, a young man living in South Wellington with his strict mother Vera. After Lionel becomes romantically entangled with a girl named Paquita, Vera is bitten by a hybrid rat-monkey creature and begins to transform into a zombie, while also infecting swathes of the city's populace.

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<i>Dead & Breakfast</i> 2004 American film

Dead & Breakfast is a 2004 musical zombie comedy film directed by Matthew Leutwyler starring Ever Carradine, Gina Philips, Erik Palladino, Bianca Lawson, Jeremy Sisto and Oz Perkins. The film premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival and went on to win over a dozen awards. It was also nominated for a Saturn Award.

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<i>Zombieland</i> 2009 American film by Ruben Fleischer

Zombieland is a 2009 American post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. It stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, and Bill Murray. In the film, Tallahassee (Harrelson), Columbus (Eisenberg), Wichita (Stone), and Little Rock (Breslin) make their way on an extended cross-country road trip to find a sanctuary free from zombies.

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Night of the Living Dead is a zombie horror media franchise created by George A. Romero beginning with the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, directed by Romero and cowritten with John A. Russo. The franchise predominantly centers on different groups of people attempting to survive during the outbreak and evolution of a zombie apocalypse. The latest installment of the series, Survival of the Dead, was released in 2009, with a sequel, Twilight of the Dead, in development. This would be the first film in the series not directed by George Romero, who died on July 16, 2017.

<i>Anna and the Apocalypse</i> 2017 film by John McPhail

Anna and the Apocalypse is a 2017 British Christmas zombie musical film directed by John McPhail from a screenplay by Alan McDonald and Ryan McHenry, based on McHenry's 2010 BAFTA nominated short Zombie Musical. It stars an ensemble cast of largely unknown young talent, including Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire, Christopher Leveaux, Marli Siu and Ben Wiggins with Mark Benton and Paul Kaye.

References

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  2. 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.
  3. Gartside, Will (September 30, 2004). "Zombie Comedy Slays Audiences". The Badger Herald. Archived from the original on November 11, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  4. Nelson, Resa (2004). "Science Fiction Weekly Interview". SciFi Weekly, Issue 388, paragraph 4. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  5. Dellamorte (January 22, 2003). Return of the Living Dead. Classic Horror Review. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  6. Edelstein, David (September 23, 2004). "The Importance of Being Undead: A Zombie Comedy of Manners" . Slate Magazine. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  7. Smith, Kerry L. (2004-09-22). "Shaun Of The Dead: The World's First Rom-Zom-Com (Romantic Zombie Comedy)?". MTV News. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  8. Capt. Xerox (March 16, 2007). "Critics Love the New Zombie Comedy Fido". The Website @ The End Of The Universe. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  9. Frazer, Bryant. Braindead (review) Archived 2013-10-02 at the Wayback Machine . Deep Focus. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Sullivan, Kevin P. (14 June 2019). "8 Great Zombie Comedies (That Aren't The Dead Don't Die)". vulture.com . Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  11. "Dead & Deader (2006)". IMDb.
  12. Kenny, Glenn (19 June 2015). "Burying the Ex". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  13. Lemire, Christy (15 August 2014). "Life After Beth Movie Review & Film Summary (2014)". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved 5 September 2014.