MovieChat Forums > Horns (2014) Discussion > A darker comedy?

A darker comedy?

posted 8 years ago by nextorphanborn
2 replies | jump to latest

Finding a darker comedy would be a challenge.

The reason that I think this film is a dark comedy more than any other genre is due to the laugh out loud moments. It opens with a joke, where you get the punchline as long as you know the title of the movie and some idea of its premise. All of the confessionals and their effect on Ig are mostly funny, but very dark and often tragic. The laughs are generally consistent but seem to follow some truly horrifying occurrences which include rape, the demonic, gore, cancer, drug-overdose, and a large dose of murder. In one moment I'm aghast and in the next I'm laughing almost nervously.

What would seem like a few contrasting tones can actually be seen as one consistent tone, when you see the bigger picture, though. Here's my question; Is there a darker comedy? The closest coming to mind is This Is The End but I'd like to hear some other suggestions.

[–] tolarrattler-imdb 8 years ago

The Voices.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1567437/

I think that is the darkest I have ever seen.

[–] plutomani 8 years ago

^ Agree with The Voices - like Horns it's got some seriously disturbing stuff that is not played for laughs, even though it ultimately results in comedic situations (female victims dying in horrible ways, ending up as happy, smiling heads in the fridge!).

Heathers is one of my favorite films. Extremely dark as it takes its comedy directly from teenage suicides and school bullying.

Very Bad Things is occasionally as dark as this, but unlike Horns and The Voices it's very difficult to get close to the characters since most of them are rotten to the core and the whole movie is way too cynical for its own good. What I liked about Horns is that it's got a heart in the midst of all the carnage.

I also love horror-comedies, some of which are quite dark. The Spanish movie Sexykiller is about a female serial-killer getting away with everything, but it's quite over-the-top so it's not meant to be taken that seriously. Same goes for Sleepaway Camp II & III (+ the victims in these movies are so horrible you sometimes root for the killer). The Hatchet triology is also good because it leans closer to horror than comedy, but with so many exaggerations it becomes impossible not to laugh in spite of the extreme content.

Also check out the movies of Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness) and Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun, Treevenge).