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.

History

Early years

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. 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.

Modern examples

Modern zombie comedies include Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead^[6] (which was in fact a self-dubbed Romantic Zombie Comedy, or RomZomCom).^[7] This movie made many in-jokes and references to George A. Romero's earlier Dead films.

Andrew Currie's Fido,^[8] Matthew Leutwyler's Dead & Breakfast, and Peter Jackson's Braindead, are also good examples of zombie comedies.^[9] Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II, although a horror film, contains some light hearted 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 could be considered zombie comedies include the 1986 film Redneck Zombies, 1993's My Boyfriend's Back, 1986's Night of the Creeps, 1998's Bio Zombie, 1999's Idle Hands, starring Devon Sawa and Seth Green, 2005's Tokyo Zombie, 2005's Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, 2008's Dance of the Dead and Zombie Strippers, as well as 2009's Dead Snow and Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin , Zombie Dearest, and 2011's First Platoon.

See also

• Cannibalism in popular culture
• Comedy horror
• List of comedy horror films
• Zombies in popular culture

References

1. ^ "Night of the Living Dorks". Cinema Blend. http://www.cinemablend.com/dvds/Night-of-the-Living-Dorks-2158.html. Retrieved April 9, 2007. 
2. ^ Bemenderfer, Mark (October 12, 2004). "Zombie Comedy Succeeds In Both Genres". The Observer Online. http://media.www.ndsmcobserver.com/media/storage/paper660/news/2004/10/12/Scene/Zombie.Comedy.Succeeds.In.Both.Genres-749911.shtml. Retrieved April 9, 2007. 
3. ^ Gartside, Will (September 30, 2004). "Zombie Comedy Slays Audiences". The Badger Herald. http://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2004/09/30/zombie_comedy_slays_.php. 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. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1491298/09222004/story.jhtml. Retrieved 2008-06-25. 
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). Deep Focus. Retrieved April 9, 2007.