Zombies often take the horror-comedy to a new level. In their shambling quest to mine humor from the most horrific circumstances, zombie comedies invert the apocalyptic nihilism that an outbreak of the undead tends to elicit. They also subvert the expectations of zombie horror, frequently going meta to poke fun at some of the most time honored tropes.
Because it’s Monday, we could all use a laugh or three. So, this week’s streaming picks are dedicated to zombie comedies that aim not for the jugular (or brain) but your funny bone.
These five zombie comedies find unique ways to play with the genre and get silly with it, messing with form and era in the process. Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Dead Heat – The Roku Channel, Tubi
Dead Heat takes the buddy cop formula popularized in the ’80s by films like Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop and gives it a comedic zombie spin. Detective partners Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) and Detective Doug Bigelow (Joe Piscopo) stumble upon a plot that involves raising the dead for nefarious purposes. When Roger Mortis dies (with a name that plays off Rigor Mortis, this shouldn’t be a surprise) before their investigation is solved, a distraught Doug revives him. He and his undead partner have 12 hours to finish the case before Roger dies a second time. Dead Heat was written by Terry Black, the older brother to Lethal Weapon’s screenwriter Shane Black. The buddy cop movie takes priority over the horror comedy, which means that the undead are very different from the usual horror movie monsters. Expect this one to embrace its zany action-comedy fun and get silly with the zombie meets melt-movie setup.
Fido – Plex, Prime, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Vudu
Space radiation turned the dead into zombies, spurning an apocalyptic war between the living and the dead. Company Zomcon discovered a way to control zombies, turning them into subservient domestic slaves. In the 1950s town of Willard, housewife Helen Robinson (Carrie-Anne Moss) buys a zombie (Billy Connolly) – despite her husband Bill’s (Dylan Baker) zombie phobia – to perform daily chores. Her son Timmy names the zombie Fido and befriends it. All is well until Fido’s collar malfunctions, ensuring this idyllic neighborhood will never be the same. Fido is what happens when you cross the “aw shucks” feeling of ’50s sitcoms like Leave it to Beaver with Night of the Living Dead. It’s heavy on the humor but with plenty of bloodshed and feels.
One Cut of the Dead – AMC+, Shudder
A film crew is shooting a low-budget zombie film in an abandoned water filtration plant. One that was rumored to have been used as a site for military experiments on humans. Just as the director is at his worst in berating his cast and crew, an actual zombie outbreak invades their set. At first glance, this movie presents itself as another typical zombie flick by way of an extremely low budget via a hack director. Stick with it. One Cut of the Dead has many surprises in store, reinvigorating a stale subgenre by offering up something much more heartfelt and earnest. It’s such a feel-good film that it’s impossible to reach the end credits without grinning and cheering “POM!”
Planet Terror – Paramount+, Showtime
Writer/Director Robert Rodriguez’s feature, initially released as part of Grindhouse with Quentin Tarantino, leans into the grindhouse aesthetics for action-heavy zombie comedy entertainment. Intentionally choppy editing, a layer of film grain and cigarette burns, stilted dialogue, and more add a lo-fi quality matched by the B-movie plot that sees a group of ragtag survivors come together in the wake of a zombie outbreak. It’s the type of anything-goes zombie comedy, like go-go dancer Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) gunning hordes down with her snazzy new gun leg. But the magic of this action-comedy’s humor lies with its characters, and Rodriguez gives each a moment or two to shine, like Jeff Fahey’s J.T. never straying far from his ambition to create the perfect barbecue sauce. In other words, Planet Terror is the precise type of mood booster you want in a zombie comedy.
The Return of the Living Dead – Hoopla, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi
George A. Romero may have set a terrifying new standard for modern zombie movies, but it was Dan O’Bannon (Alien, Lifeforce, Total Recall) who proved just how funny zombies could be. Filled with outlandish humor, punk rock attitude, and endlessly quotable lines, The Return of the Living Dead remains one of the best horror comedies ever. The bumbling humans fighting their way through an accidental zombie outbreak find an opposing foe far smarter and more talkative than the zombies that came before. Many of which stand out in a cast of colorful characters. Tarman, one of horror’s most endearing and expressive undead, stands ahead of them all.
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