In honor of Halloween: The most fun and funniest supernatural (or related) flicks.
My contributions:
Ghostbusters!
Young Frankenstein.
Scrooged. (Yes, it I know that it is a Christmas flick, but it has ghosts.)
Well, Young Frankenstein is a favorite.I’ll add:
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein – Not only do you get the original monsters, actors, and makeup (This is the only time besides the original Dracula that Bela Lugosi actually played Dracula on film), but you get Abbott and Costello, what was pretty impressive special effects (in its day), including an animated title sequence, and Vincent Price 9or at least his voice) as well. All they’d need to make it complete is Boris Karloff (he did show up in a couple of other A&C films). And nothing objectionable for kids. I’ll even ignore their having Dracula reflected in the mirror for this.
Horrible Horror – 1986 direct-to-video compilation of some of the worst horror films ever made, hosted by Zackerly himself! Includes outtakes from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Also outtakes from the wonderfully awful Killers from Space I doubt if they ever released this on DVD, but it’s worth tracking down
It Came from Hollywood – compilation film with commentary by SNL members and SCTV members, with not a lot of overlap with Horrible Horror. It loooks as if it’s finally out on DVD
The Creature that Wasn’t Nice/Spaceship/The Naked Space – A musical version of Alien. I kid you not – it’s by the multi-talented Bruce Kimmel, maker of the equally weird The First Nudie Musical. As in that case, he wrote, produced, directed, did the songs, and has a role. He also got surprisingly big names – Cindy Williams (who was in TFNM), Leslie Nielsen, and Patrick MacNee (!!) Macnee plays the Robert Cornthwaite part of the scientist who believes that the titular Creature really isn’t dangerous, goes into the cage with it, and sings a song about this as it eats him. I Am Not Making This Up. Must be seen to be believed.
Transylvania 6-5000 Reporters Jeff Goldblum and Ed Begley, Jr. go to Transylvania to investigate monsters. Worth it for Jeff Goldblum’s line alone – “Transylvania is…Nice!”
The Raven – Easily the most fun of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe features because it doesn’t take itself at all seriously. And it stars Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and a very young Jack Nicholson! Features a Magic Duel between two sorcerors.
Elvira’s Haunted Hills – Yeah, there are lots of Boob Jokes and poor taste, but the movie is a wonderful spoof of the Roger Corman Poe movies as well, right from the title sequence onwards. Manages to take pokes at *\The Fall of the House of Usher, Tomb of Ligeia, The Pit and the Pendulum, * and Tales of Terror. Not to mention Titanic.
Gremlins 2. I like it better than the original, and it’s definitely a comedy.
Fright Night (1985) is just a blast – it’s a great vampire film that takes itself just seriously enough to be an effective scary movie as well.
“The Nightmare Before Christmas”
“Shaun of the Dead”
“An American Werewolf in London”
“Teen Wolf”
“Night of the Creeps”
Just saw this as a new release on Netflix (I would’ve figured it had been released years ago) and two words come to mind…“Thrill Me”.
Oh, since I just came from the Castle thread… Nathan Fillon’s and Elizabth Banks’ similar themed “Slither” Not an outright comedy, but very “tongue in cheeky” with some funny moments.
Monster Squad. “Wolfman’s got nards!”
I’ll have to try this. I love Elizabeth Banks and Nathan Fillon is always fun.
I was coming in to recommend this. I’m disappointed it’s not coming on this year. In fact, it’s been a couple years since it’s been on.
That reminded me of another of his movies, Vibes co-starring Cyndi Lauper. Man, that was a dumb movie. But it was funny lol
I have to recommend The Frighteners.
I enjoyed it too, even though it was not a hit.
The two House movies (House, House 2: The Second Story) were funny, IIRC. Don’t blame me if they’re terrible, though. It’s been years since I’ve seen any of them, but I understand they’ve gained a bit of a cult following.
Bride of Frankenstein is actually a comedy. Well, not of the laugh-out-loud variety, but it was definitely made with a more whimsical touch than Frankenstein, even though it has the same director and some of the same stars.
ETA: Good grief, someone wants to remake it, or at least reuse the title.
I didn’t realize until this morning that The Monster Squad (1987) was co-written by Shane Black, who wrote Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I’ll definitely check it out.
Making a connection to the ongoing *Predator *thread, Shane Black made his acting debut in that fine film – didn’t know that until this morning, either.
I totally forgot about The Frighteners. That really is a good movie and I was suporsed to like it when I furst saw it.
PLEASE check out “An American Werewolf In London” as it’s both really funny and very scary, which is quite an unusual combo----the film also has a great soundtrack.
(AAWIL was directed by John Landis, of “Animal House” fame)
PLEASE DO NOT check out the sequal (made many! years after the original) “An American Werewolf In Paris” as it may be one of the worst films I have ever seen.
(As far as I know John Landis had nothing at all to do with AAWIP)
Happy Halloween, Matthew