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>Dead & Breakfast</i> 2004 American film

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie film</span> Subgenre of horror film featuring zombies

A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror genre, some cross over into other genres, such as action, comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. Distinct subgenres have evolved, such as the "zombie comedy" or the "zombie apocalypse". Zombies are distinct from ghosts, ghouls, mummies, Frankenstein's monsters or vampires, so this article does not include films devoted to these types of undead.

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

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<i>Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings</i> 2011 Filipino film by Jade Castro

Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings is a 2011 Filipino independent horror comedy film directed by Jade Castro, and starring Martin Escudero. Castro co-wrote the screenplay with Raymond Lee and Michiko Yamamoto. It is the highest-grossing Filipino independent film in 2011.

<i>Zombieland: Double Tap</i> 2019 zombie comedy film by Ruben Fleischer

Zombieland: Double Tap is a 2019 American post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and David Callaham. The sequel to Zombieland (2009), it stars an ensemble cast including Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Avan Jogia, Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch. In the film, Tallahassee (Harrelson), Columbus (Eisenberg), and Wichita (Stone) face evolved zombies and encounter other survivors as they travel from the White House to Graceland to search for Little Rock (Breslin).

References

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  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.
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  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.
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