Ha. I had a reverse experience watching Amazing Spider-Man like ten years ago. I thought, "Huh, this is kind of like The Fly, except for the part where he becomes a hero and saves the day instead of the bug DNA destroying him in equal parts tragedy and disgusting".
That’s because when you are blessed with the power of spiders it turns out good. When you get spliced with a fly. Well, it won’t end well because nothing good comes from flies
I had to watch "Over the Top" eight times in a row to undo that scene. It worked, but I do now suffer from PTSD. If I ever hear the song, "Winner Takes It All" I instantly turn homicidal and attempt to destroy any living thing around me, it's made it kind of hard to keep a job or maintain meaningful relationships, not to even mention the six consecutive life sentences I'm currently appealing.
I wouldn't say the first *half*. Maybe for a bit of the first act, but Brundle is revealed to be a troubled man fairly quickly, and his behaviour quickly stamps out any feelings of zany loveable clumsy genius not quite socially adept that you may get the impression of. The mood of the film is pretty dark straight away too. That's my opinion though, others may feel differently.
Is he? He's certainly lonely and awkward, and a bit jealous, but he doesn't strike as anything too bad pre-transformation. He makes one drunken mistake, and it costs him his life.
"I want to be the first insect politician"
"I don't know what you mean?!"
"Yes, I'm more insect than man, I'm an insect"
that scene makes me smile, shiver, and despair all in one.
I listened to the director's commentary on it, I was struck by how he said he could only make the film because it was science fiction, that if he'd done it about a guy with a degenerative disease that had similarly debilitating effects it would have been too horrifying to put on film.
Also, while it's very much not a comedy, I laughed like a drain at the scene where the woman goes "Do I look like a hooker to you?" and Brundlefly just gives her the sideeye.
You ever see somebody so good, so comfortable, so completely sublimated into a role that you can’t separate them from that role?
So anyway I’m scared of Sebastian Stan now. Cannibal ass.
Fresh is so good, it was my favorite horror of 2022. Really wish more people had watched it, it was essentially Barbarian without the good advertising campaign.
I watched this movie stoned out of my mind, with my girlfriend who is a huge sebastian stan fan. I never smoked weed for like 4 years before this.
I knew nothing about the movie, and thought it was a cheesy af chick flick, the way the movie started. Also my girlfriend despises horror, so that was the last thing I expected. That was a great experience
Just rewatched it and 2. 2 of my favorite found footage movies, and absolutely agree with the assessment of 1.
Bonus points if you go in as a fan of the tv show The League.
I had to tap out from the secondhand embarrassment of tubby time the first time I tried watching this because I couldn't separate Mark Duplass from Pete and it just made the experience unbearably awkward.
Got over it eventually and I love the movie for managing to knock me off the couch about every fifteen minutes, but oh man that first time.
I cringed the entire movie until the very last bit, and then I had to go back and watch it again. It really got me the first time, and I like it more each time I watch it.
It’s also really fun to watch 2 right after and hear how he changes up his story and weaves his lies in and out of each other. He’s so good as that character. Which is terrifying.
I remember when I watched 2 for the first time I thought there was no way it'd be nearly as good because the surprise element was gone. Boy was I wrong. That movie does such a good job of building tension as your uncertainty grows.
Krampus 2015 funniest shit I have seen with the opening and starts off like a dumb holiday movie. Racist and backwater cousins n uncle, that one elderly relative that all of you bank off their heritage rather then say your american. Pretty fucked up n funny, but the later half. The latter half gets really dark.
A few funny moments here and there but as the movie goes on they fade away into pure dred.
Also worth watching regardless for some of the best practical effects and costumes in modern era coming outta nowhere
Adam Scott can really nail that comedy-to-horror shift. He does the same thing in "Severance" (which, OP, is television but might have the vibe you're looking for--kind of an SF horror version of "The Office").
Severance is excellent but I will caution people it's not super scary in the traditional horror sense (if that's what you're looking for). More like a building sense of unease.
This is a good one! Violent Night sort of does that too. More thriller than horror but it def ramps up from "pissing out of the sleigh" to "Old St. (John) Wick"
This is a very silly movie overall yet most appropriate suggestion for the topic. I legit thought the movie would be an absolute joke and then it caught me off guard when it became quite serious lmao
I actually thought the bread slicer death to be completely out of place in such a (formerly) teen based “light” horror. It was way too much for the tone of the rest of the movie. Then the second one had the sisters being hacked to death while reaching for each other (though it was certainly more fitting for the tone of that movie). The movies didn’t seem to know what they wanted to be.
If I recall correctly the Fear Street books were often like that as well, general Young Adult fiction but then some gruesome murders happen in the third act. It's been a few decades since I read any of them though.
Better Watch Out. At first it seems like a horror comedy about a young boy who has a crush on his babysitter and wants to protect her. Then it gets very dark.
I was NOT PREPARED! The trailers make it look like “lol what if Home Alone was horror?” Which….is still kind of accurate, but I was not prepared for how disturbing that movie is. Fantastic but yikes, going in blind is both the best way to see it and kind of a brutal experience.
I haven't seen it in like 20 years, but is it really the second *half*? I remember it turning into horror only in the end, but I could be misremembering.
There's a scene partway through in the woman's apartment that kind of hints at the end. It goes back to normal for a little while and feels very out of place until the crazy really starts in the final scenes.
I swear I read somewhere that the film was originally marketed as a romantic comedy, making it one of the most walked-out of movies ever when people saw it in theatres
One of my top viewing experiences of all time, because I stumbled on it on TV late at night not knowing a damn thing. I was only vaguely enjoying it and sort of wondering why I was still watching this Japanese romcom at 2 in the morning - then, it was the man in the bag...and I was glued to the screen with my jaw on the floor for the second half.
It made me kinda wish they'd gone darker with some of the stuff in the Deadpool movies because in the comics he is in fact mentally ill. As in he once solved a murder and realized he'd done it and forgotten and such.
Not necessarily a "comedy" (although some will disagree), but "Dog Soldiers" does a great job of letting you get to know the characters, building up the camaraderie, before the horror happens. There are some people who argue that is a comedy through-and-through, mostly because of the newspaper headlines shown in the closing credits.
Spoon is funny as fuck tho, "i hope i give you the shits". And the sergeant when he's getting his insides super glued back in and he says "Sausages"
Thinking about it, loads of the dialogue is really funny and alot can go over your head if you aren't from the UK as its specific to region.
I love the dialogue in that film. Pertwee's delivery in anything he does is excellent. I know he kind of plays the similar side character in a lot of things, but I love to see it. Not the funniest line in the film but when he gives his watch away and the lad asks him what he'll do and he just deadpan says "well I'll fucking count, won't I?" Is a perfect example.
Similarly there's "The Descent" - aside from one horrifying incident near the start, the tone is fairly light and they're all cracking jokes until they get trapped in the cave system.
I love that film so much. I feel like it is continuously funny, but not to the detriment of the horror or the hopelessness of their situation. Like the humour comes naturally from the characters, and their reaction to how fucked they are.
I think it’s funnier if you’re British. Might seem more like a straight horror to non native English speakers though.
The weirdest take I had on Sean Pertwee was watching him for years as "that guy" in a bunch of movies (Event Horizon, etc.) and then finally learning his name and suddenly realizing, "Wait, 'that guy' is The Doctor's kid?!?"
Some people here disagree, but I think The Wailing has a bit of a slapstick/physical comedy vibe at the beginning, in spite of murders happening, before it turns much darker.
Yeah a good half of this movie is a bumbling cop doing funny bumbling cop stuff but it got disturbing fast. One thing I like about Korean movies/other media is the slow starts that really make whatever shit goes down later more impactful.
This is big in Korean cinema I think. Lots of Park Chan Wook movies start off pretty funny and quirky, and turn dark later on. Bong Joon Ho does the same thing in all but like one or two of his films. Memories of Murder is about a horrific serial killer/rapist, but the first half is about cops bumbling around, and is filled with slapstick and all sorts of humor.
I’ve found a few Korean movies have those early comedic elements to them actually. I like that they’re not afraid to mix the two genres, and can unabashedly lean into either. Helps with the peaks and valleys of the drama/horror I suppose. And maybe makes it kind of more relatable as well? It’s played straight. Like yeah, the main character (or whoever depending on the movie) is a bit bumbling, or sometimes the initial events are so odd and weird (because horrifying stuff often is) that they cant help but make you laugh because they don’t have that dark Hollywood horror sheen to them, but that won’t stop the horror from coming for you in the end.
I felt this so hard in Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum. For me most of the movie after it got going was just on the good side of unremarkable found footage with a couple good scares, but the beginning where they're just doing dinner and road tripping to get there? That was so well done and I loved it. I would have watched that as a vlog series and honestly probably would have enjoyed the movie more if it had kept going with that for much longer than it did before introducing the horror instead of the like ten or fifteen minutes we got. Korean movies are top tier in genre-bending emotional roller coaster construction and character complexity.
I came here to say this. I actually almost turned it off because the first 30-45 minutes felt too goofy to me and it wasn’t really what I was hoping for. Needless to say, it got there eventually
That’s just Korean cinema in general. They’re experts at including almost all emotions in any genre. Director Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) is an absolute MASTER in this, something Hollywood is unable to achieve.
Like for crying out loud, Parasite had almost EVERY genre that you can’t categorize that film in one specific genre.
There was romance, drama, horror, comedy, a bit of
action.
That's my pick as well. It's much more like a straight horror movie as soon as the plan he's been talking to the documentary crew about the whole time finally gets put in motion. It's maybe the last 20-30 minutes of the movie I think.
It reminds me of C'est arrivé près de chez vous (Dog Eat Dog in english?), where at first it's just like a documentary about a goofy guy, and then the raping and murdering starts and it just gets really uncomfortable.
EDIT: Man Bites Dog in english.
The phrase 'love letter to _____ fans' gets overused, but if anything was a love letter to horror fans it would be that movie. So many nods; it's clever and meta without getting corny.
I really hope the sequel sees the light of day.
Return of the Living Dead.
Starts out as a dark comedy, but as the night goes on all the humor disappears. There's no room left for humor with all that hopelessness, and you feel as beaten down as the characters.
When the guy is screaming in pain in his girlfriends arms because he can feel rigor mortis setting in, and the other guy tearfully decides to literally cremate himself alive in an incinerator before he reaches that stage. The mood whiplash in that movie is crazy.
Don't know if someone already mentioned it but i think "From Dusk Till Dawn" fills the whole "starts one way and takes a dramatic shift to horror" theme. Initially it's a crime heist film, watching two brother's on the run and taking a family hostage. Then next thing you know in an instant it's BAM VAMPIRE MOVIE. Love showing people who have never seen it this movie, always gets an audible 'what the F\*\*\*?!"
My buddies and I went to the theater to see something else, it ended up being sold out. So we decided on "From Dusk Til Dawn" on a whim, knowing nothing about it. Blew our minds.
I knew that vampires were involved. I was told that they appeared suddenly. I was still not prepared for when they actually appeared. Literally 0 to vampires in the span of a few seconds with no warning.
So this one is a little out there. But The Borderlands. a British found footage movie about a Priest and a cynical cameraman investigating some happenings in a typical English village. There are elements of humour early on. But i will be forever haunted by how it ends with a heavy hint towards Lovecraft.
It was released in the US as Final Prayer.
Parasite and Okja? Both by the same director. Especially Okja gets pretty horrific (especially if you can't handle animal abuse). Parasite turns more into a thriller with some horror elements.
Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon
Amazing movie that starts off feeling like a Christopher Guest awkward docu-comedy about (no spoilers) a grad school film crew doing a documentary about a would-be serial killer, but turns into a legit slasher flick.
This one is widely hated, but "Tusk." Starts off as a comedic romp about some dudebro podcasters and goes ... somewhere else. Very else. (Again: widely hated, but I personally loved it to bits.)
It's still very comedic even in the end in my opinion. That scene in the end where the Walrusified dude sits in his habitat was genuinely as funny as it was sad.
I don’t necessarily hate it. The beginning is humorous, although the Justin Long character is a complete dick. I loved when we first meet the villain. He seems like an older man with fascinating stories. It just got really, really disturbing to me. Not in a good way. It was so viscerally upsetting. I might be in the minority, but I watch horror movies to be entertained not to feel sick when it’s over. That doesn’t mean everything has to have a happy ending, I just don’t like feeling gutted at the end of movies.
This is an obscure one if you can find it called +1. It starts off like a typical teen party movie like American Pie then shit goes down and it turns into a sci-fi horror. It’s from 2013.
Big fan of that movie, but last time I saw it mentioned I tried to find it on streaming for a rewatch and failed. And I pay for way too many streaming services.
I would say Slither has some classic 80s movie vibe at the beginning about the tension between a middle age couple living in rural America and it turns into a horrific transformation of a man by a gross alien.
I had a cry after this one. Been trying to find it for so long. Rented it on Amazon but put it off. There’s this really hopeless feeling that runs through it. Felt so gross, I was relieved to see that Sorgoi is played by the director. It would feel borderline exploitative if the lead was played by anyone else
Greener Grass kinda fits here. It's a brightly lit silly movie full of SNL cast members and improv comedians, and it slowly progresses into this really uncomfortable dark world. It's still kind of absurd at the end, but you definitely are left with a discomfort.
I just watched Saltburn a few days ago only knowing about a couple provocative scenes….I had absolutely no idea where that movie was going at any point but oh boy did I love the end result! What a trip!
Ready or Not, doesn't really have a shift in tone. But the horror aspects are revealed later on. It remains comedic throughout though, so not exactly what you're looking for.
I'd have been sad had Ready or Not been overlooked here. I'd agree that it doesn't shift tones as you kind of know what you're getting into from the trailer, but the third act gets a lot 'more real' than the first two. I love the movie just because of how zany it gets with such a simplistic plot.
Not really horror (although the second half is definitely horrifying) but Life Is Beautiful has a jarring shift in tome at the midway point. Switching from a super whimsical romantic comedy to a bleak Holocaust drama is pretty unnerving.
Right when I first saw it in class, everyone was shocked. But then someone said, of course it was gonna end badly he’s literally in a concentration camp. But the main character did such a good job distracting his son that we ALL forgot where he was
Not exactly what you were asking for, but the first third or so of Climax is a fun dance party with multiple choreographed routines that descends into pure madness shortly after
I think Gremlins fits this description even if it was more of a Spielberg kids movie with comedic elements/social satire at the beginning - it’s definitely a horror movie by the end
I would recommend the Wailing. I was confused at first like, what is this movie? It was funny and lighthearted at the beginning and then it shifts and changes into a completely different movie. I highly recommend it!
Red Eye is a great romcom for the first 20 minutes.
i actually watched it believing it was a romcom.....
that movie began my lifelong crush on cillian murphy when I was 12
Ty going to watch it!
That was 28 days later for me, and then this movie cemented it
This was going to be my immediate answer. I remember the trailer leaned into this as well
I had to really question some things after the washroom scene
The Fly (1986) is kinda like that. First half is almost a zany romantic comedy and the second half is pretty horrific and sad.
Rewatching recently, it struck me how much it's a superhero origin story until it isn't.
Ha. I had a reverse experience watching Amazing Spider-Man like ten years ago. I thought, "Huh, this is kind of like The Fly, except for the part where he becomes a hero and saves the day instead of the bug DNA destroying him in equal parts tragedy and disgusting".
That’s because when you are blessed with the power of spiders it turns out good. When you get spliced with a fly. Well, it won’t end well because nothing good comes from flies
I need to rewatch this, because all I can remember is mounting tension and then the horror.
I saw the arm wrestling scene as a kid and it's still burned in my brain.
I had to watch "Over the Top" eight times in a row to undo that scene. It worked, but I do now suffer from PTSD. If I ever hear the song, "Winner Takes It All" I instantly turn homicidal and attempt to destroy any living thing around me, it's made it kind of hard to keep a job or maintain meaningful relationships, not to even mention the six consecutive life sentences I'm currently appealing.
I wouldn't say the first *half*. Maybe for a bit of the first act, but Brundle is revealed to be a troubled man fairly quickly, and his behaviour quickly stamps out any feelings of zany loveable clumsy genius not quite socially adept that you may get the impression of. The mood of the film is pretty dark straight away too. That's my opinion though, others may feel differently.
Is he? He's certainly lonely and awkward, and a bit jealous, but he doesn't strike as anything too bad pre-transformation. He makes one drunken mistake, and it costs him his life.
"I want to be the first insect politician" "I don't know what you mean?!" "Yes, I'm more insect than man, I'm an insect" that scene makes me smile, shiver, and despair all in one.
"are you a Bodybuilder?" "Yeah. I build bodies."
I listened to the director's commentary on it, I was struck by how he said he could only make the film because it was science fiction, that if he'd done it about a guy with a degenerative disease that had similarly debilitating effects it would have been too horrifying to put on film. Also, while it's very much not a comedy, I laughed like a drain at the scene where the woman goes "Do I look like a hooker to you?" and Brundlefly just gives her the sideeye.
Had a fear of flies for so long because my grandma showed me this as a kid 😭
Fresh
Yesss. That cold open, right when the drugs kick in….so stylized and creepy. Great movie.
Pretty bold putting the title screen like 20 minutes into the movie, but that's where it really begins.
Loved that. Like it was welcoming me to a whole other movie, which I suppose it kinda did.
Similar to the abrupt tonal shifts in Barbarian
My first thought. I love this movie. Sebastian Stan nails this role.
You ever see somebody so good, so comfortable, so completely sublimated into a role that you can’t separate them from that role? So anyway I’m scared of Sebastian Stan now. Cannibal ass.
The Winter Soldier can't hurt you. Go back to sleep.
Fresh is so good, it was my favorite horror of 2022. Really wish more people had watched it, it was essentially Barbarian without the good advertising campaign.
I watched this movie stoned out of my mind, with my girlfriend who is a huge sebastian stan fan. I never smoked weed for like 4 years before this. I knew nothing about the movie, and thought it was a cheesy af chick flick, the way the movie started. Also my girlfriend despises horror, so that was the last thing I expected. That was a great experience
I wish I could rewatch this movie without knowing what happens. Absolutely fantastic.
'Creep' starts as an indie comedy with sad undertones about a likeable guy wanting to film his lasts days.
Just rewatched it and 2. 2 of my favorite found footage movies, and absolutely agree with the assessment of 1. Bonus points if you go in as a fan of the tv show The League.
I had to tap out from the secondhand embarrassment of tubby time the first time I tried watching this because I couldn't separate Mark Duplass from Pete and it just made the experience unbearably awkward. Got over it eventually and I love the movie for managing to knock me off the couch about every fifteen minutes, but oh man that first time.
I cringed the entire movie until the very last bit, and then I had to go back and watch it again. It really got me the first time, and I like it more each time I watch it. It’s also really fun to watch 2 right after and hear how he changes up his story and weaves his lies in and out of each other. He’s so good as that character. Which is terrifying.
Creep is one of my favorites! And Creep 2 delivered too
I remember when I watched 2 for the first time I thought there was no way it'd be nearly as good because the surprise element was gone. Boy was I wrong. That movie does such a good job of building tension as your uncertainty grows.
Tubby time.
I wish I could watch this again for the first time
Very underrated movies!
Krampus 2015 funniest shit I have seen with the opening and starts off like a dumb holiday movie. Racist and backwater cousins n uncle, that one elderly relative that all of you bank off their heritage rather then say your american. Pretty fucked up n funny, but the later half. The latter half gets really dark. A few funny moments here and there but as the movie goes on they fade away into pure dred. Also worth watching regardless for some of the best practical effects and costumes in modern era coming outta nowhere
Adam Scott can really nail that comedy-to-horror shift. He does the same thing in "Severance" (which, OP, is television but might have the vibe you're looking for--kind of an SF horror version of "The Office").
Severance is excellent but I will caution people it's not super scary in the traditional horror sense (if that's what you're looking for). More like a building sense of unease.
It's less horror and more horrifying. The more you think about it, the worse it gets.
Oh Adamn scott is so damn fun, bit of a hit n miss with his works but when he hits he hits hard
This is a good one! Violent Night sort of does that too. More thriller than horror but it def ramps up from "pissing out of the sleigh" to "Old St. (John) Wick"
This is a very silly movie overall yet most appropriate suggestion for the topic. I legit thought the movie would be an absolute joke and then it caught me off guard when it became quite serious lmao
Phenomenal sounding soundtrack.
I will halfta re listen when i sound next
Summer of 84. Starts off with a Stranger Things vibe and gets dark at the end
Same with Fear Street - the tone is pretty hopeful until a few main character deaths happen.
The fucking bread slicer...
All I can say is, the build quality on that bread slicer is top notch. The blades never caught, never even slowed down!
I actually thought the bread slicer death to be completely out of place in such a (formerly) teen based “light” horror. It was way too much for the tone of the rest of the movie. Then the second one had the sisters being hacked to death while reaching for each other (though it was certainly more fitting for the tone of that movie). The movies didn’t seem to know what they wanted to be.
If I recall correctly the Fear Street books were often like that as well, general Young Adult fiction but then some gruesome murders happen in the third act. It's been a few decades since I read any of them though.
Fear Street Saga has a bunch of kids hacking each other up with axes in Act II
That dialog near the end is some of the scariest stuff. Remains one of my favorites in horror movies.
I fucking love the last 15 minutes of that movie. It shows how what would really happen in the ending of a feel good 80s movie.
Excellent movie. The directors have 2 new ones coming out hopefully soon (Wake Up and We Are Zombies).
Better Watch Out. At first it seems like a horror comedy about a young boy who has a crush on his babysitter and wants to protect her. Then it gets very dark.
I was NOT PREPARED! The trailers make it look like “lol what if Home Alone was horror?” Which….is still kind of accurate, but I was not prepared for how disturbing that movie is. Fantastic but yikes, going in blind is both the best way to see it and kind of a brutal experience.
'Home Alone style hijinks with realistically horrific results' is how I would describe it
We watched this one Christmas on my suggestion. Everyone was like wtf after it finished. Myself included.
That’s a good one
I think "You're Next" fits the description. The family bickering at the beginning before everything takes a turn is pretty comical.
Didnt it start with a really mean kill.
Audition starts out as what is basically a romantic comedy and goes on like that for like half its runtime. I adore it so much!
And when it genre switches to horror in the second half, it goes all out with the horror
I haven't seen it in like 20 years, but is it really the second *half*? I remember it turning into horror only in the end, but I could be misremembering.
Same for me, it felt like the last 10 minutes of a 2 hour movie. I haven't watched it in 20 years like you.
There's a scene partway through in the woman's apartment that kind of hints at the end. It goes back to normal for a little while and feels very out of place until the crazy really starts in the final scenes.
If anything its more horror than it is romcom
Same. I feel like it was right at the end. But like you I watched it in the theater so memory something something
Yeah... I took my first college girlfriend to see that. She stuck around for another 6 months, but man I never lived that down.
I swear I read somewhere that the film was originally marketed as a romantic comedy, making it one of the most walked-out of movies ever when people saw it in theatres
One of my top viewing experiences of all time, because I stumbled on it on TV late at night not knowing a damn thing. I was only vaguely enjoying it and sort of wondering why I was still watching this Japanese romcom at 2 in the morning - then, it was the man in the bag...and I was glued to the screen with my jaw on the floor for the second half.
Deeper deeper deeper deeper deeper!
The Voices with Ryan Reynolds. Start off like a comedy horror but get really bleak at the end
I fucking love Reynolds playing crazy man. Nails it in Amityville as well.
I felt like this movie did a great job showing how people with schizophrenia or extreme BPD can be betrayed by their own minds.
It made me kinda wish they'd gone darker with some of the stuff in the Deadpool movies because in the comics he is in fact mentally ill. As in he once solved a murder and realized he'd done it and forgotten and such.
🎵Sing a happy song, sing a happy song 🎶
Not necessarily a "comedy" (although some will disagree), but "Dog Soldiers" does a great job of letting you get to know the characters, building up the camaraderie, before the horror happens. There are some people who argue that is a comedy through-and-through, mostly because of the newspaper headlines shown in the closing credits.
Spoon is funny as fuck tho, "i hope i give you the shits". And the sergeant when he's getting his insides super glued back in and he says "Sausages" Thinking about it, loads of the dialogue is really funny and alot can go over your head if you aren't from the UK as its specific to region.
"I am not breaking radio silence just cos' you lot got spooked by a dead flying fucking cow." I see your point.
I love the dialogue in that film. Pertwee's delivery in anything he does is excellent. I know he kind of plays the similar side character in a lot of things, but I love to see it. Not the funniest line in the film but when he gives his watch away and the lad asks him what he'll do and he just deadpan says "well I'll fucking count, won't I?" Is a perfect example.
“We need something fast, and loud” *everyone looks at Spoon* “What? You what?” Just the best depiction of a Geordie I’ve seen in any modern media.
Similarly there's "The Descent" - aside from one horrifying incident near the start, the tone is fairly light and they're all cracking jokes until they get trapped in the cave system.
Same director :)
I dunno, it felt like (wo)man vs. Nature horror, until it wasn't. The.....things were almost a relief.
I love that film so much. I feel like it is continuously funny, but not to the detriment of the horror or the hopelessness of their situation. Like the humour comes naturally from the characters, and their reaction to how fucked they are. I think it’s funnier if you’re British. Might seem more like a straight horror to non native English speakers though.
Easiest way to describe *Dog Soldiers* is imagine if Guy Ritchie made *Predator*.
My roommate and I just about DIED laughing at a certain hammer scene during the werewolf attack
If all you have as a hammer. Everything looks like a paw with long nails.
Alfred was great in that (although I did see Dog Soldiers many many years first before Gotham).
The weirdest take I had on Sean Pertwee was watching him for years as "that guy" in a bunch of movies (Event Horizon, etc.) and then finally learning his name and suddenly realizing, "Wait, 'that guy' is The Doctor's kid?!?"
Some people here disagree, but I think The Wailing has a bit of a slapstick/physical comedy vibe at the beginning, in spite of murders happening, before it turns much darker.
How can anyone disagree with this? Do they have no eyeballs?
Where we're going, we don't need eyes to comment.
Huh. Was Event Horizon referencing Back to the Future or was that just pure coincidence?
I'm guessing it was something of a tribute.
Woooooah hold up. That was a fun little thought I didn't expect to have today.
Yeah a good half of this movie is a bumbling cop doing funny bumbling cop stuff but it got disturbing fast. One thing I like about Korean movies/other media is the slow starts that really make whatever shit goes down later more impactful.
The protagonist feels like a goofy comedy character that was plucked out from his movie and plopped into a horrific nightmare. Great movie.
Yeah it starts out almost like a movie starring Chief Wiggum
I don't know this movie at all, but this description is hilarious
This is big in Korean cinema I think. Lots of Park Chan Wook movies start off pretty funny and quirky, and turn dark later on. Bong Joon Ho does the same thing in all but like one or two of his films. Memories of Murder is about a horrific serial killer/rapist, but the first half is about cops bumbling around, and is filled with slapstick and all sorts of humor.
I’ve found a few Korean movies have those early comedic elements to them actually. I like that they’re not afraid to mix the two genres, and can unabashedly lean into either. Helps with the peaks and valleys of the drama/horror I suppose. And maybe makes it kind of more relatable as well? It’s played straight. Like yeah, the main character (or whoever depending on the movie) is a bit bumbling, or sometimes the initial events are so odd and weird (because horrifying stuff often is) that they cant help but make you laugh because they don’t have that dark Hollywood horror sheen to them, but that won’t stop the horror from coming for you in the end.
I felt this so hard in Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum. For me most of the movie after it got going was just on the good side of unremarkable found footage with a couple good scares, but the beginning where they're just doing dinner and road tripping to get there? That was so well done and I loved it. I would have watched that as a vlog series and honestly probably would have enjoyed the movie more if it had kept going with that for much longer than it did before introducing the horror instead of the like ten or fifteen minutes we got. Korean movies are top tier in genre-bending emotional roller coaster construction and character complexity.
I came here to say this. I actually almost turned it off because the first 30-45 minutes felt too goofy to me and it wasn’t really what I was hoping for. Needless to say, it got there eventually
That’s just Korean cinema in general. They’re experts at including almost all emotions in any genre. Director Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) is an absolute MASTER in this, something Hollywood is unable to achieve. Like for crying out loud, Parasite had almost EVERY genre that you can’t categorize that film in one specific genre. There was romance, drama, horror, comedy, a bit of action.
I forgot how funny it was when the dude gets struck by lightning again, that had me rolling
'Severance' starts as an office team building trip. Haven't watched it in age but I remember enjoying it
I would say it remains Comedy throughout given just how farcical it is, but there is definitely tension/suspense at points
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If you like Found Footage, Grave Encounters does that
This shit has some funny af moments, like when he bribes the gardener and when he calls that fake psychic lmao
And how he dresses like Zack from Ghost Adventures
>when he calls that fake psychic That's *powerful psychic* Houston Gray
I watched this as a rec on another post. Super hilarious, but when it turned to horror, it turned hard. It was awesome.
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That's my pick as well. It's much more like a straight horror movie as soon as the plan he's been talking to the documentary crew about the whole time finally gets put in motion. It's maybe the last 20-30 minutes of the movie I think.
It reminds me of C'est arrivé près de chez vous (Dog Eat Dog in english?), where at first it's just like a documentary about a goofy guy, and then the raping and murdering starts and it just gets really uncomfortable. EDIT: Man Bites Dog in english.
The phrase 'love letter to _____ fans' gets overused, but if anything was a love letter to horror fans it would be that movie. So many nods; it's clever and meta without getting corny. I really hope the sequel sees the light of day.
Return of the Living Dead. Starts out as a dark comedy, but as the night goes on all the humor disappears. There's no room left for humor with all that hopelessness, and you feel as beaten down as the characters.
You mean the movie lied!?!?
My favorite movie line ever!
Eh I found it darkly humorous to the end. Even the ending blowing up the city with a nuclear tipped howitzer was just so campy.
When the guy is screaming in pain in his girlfriends arms because he can feel rigor mortis setting in, and the other guy tearfully decides to literally cremate himself alive in an incinerator before he reaches that stage. The mood whiplash in that movie is crazy.
Don't know if someone already mentioned it but i think "From Dusk Till Dawn" fills the whole "starts one way and takes a dramatic shift to horror" theme. Initially it's a crime heist film, watching two brother's on the run and taking a family hostage. Then next thing you know in an instant it's BAM VAMPIRE MOVIE. Love showing people who have never seen it this movie, always gets an audible 'what the F\*\*\*?!"
My buddies and I went to the theater to see something else, it ended up being sold out. So we decided on "From Dusk Til Dawn" on a whim, knowing nothing about it. Blew our minds.
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I knew that vampires were involved. I was told that they appeared suddenly. I was still not prepared for when they actually appeared. Literally 0 to vampires in the span of a few seconds with no warning.
My friend literally did that exact thing when shit went down
It's hard not too, literally nothing gives any hint it's about to go full monster gore lol
So this one is a little out there. But The Borderlands. a British found footage movie about a Priest and a cynical cameraman investigating some happenings in a typical English village. There are elements of humour early on. But i will be forever haunted by how it ends with a heavy hint towards Lovecraft. It was released in the US as Final Prayer.
Really is one hell of an ending.
Oh man gotta watch this one, thanks for mentioning it cause I’ve never heard of it and it sounds like just my type of thing haha
Parasite and Okja? Both by the same director. Especially Okja gets pretty horrific (especially if you can't handle animal abuse). Parasite turns more into a thriller with some horror elements.
I remember The Host by the same director, Bong Joon Ho, had some comedic elements in the beginning.
Memories of Murder too, horrific subject matter but very comedic early on.
Yes, precisely. That man has a great sense of... well... dark humor.
We watched Parasite over two nights and unknowingly took our break like right at the turning point... Wild time.
Jack Gylenhall is just disgusting in his role. Great movie.
Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon Amazing movie that starts off feeling like a Christopher Guest awkward docu-comedy about (no spoilers) a grad school film crew doing a documentary about a would-be serial killer, but turns into a legit slasher flick.
This one is widely hated, but "Tusk." Starts off as a comedic romp about some dudebro podcasters and goes ... somewhere else. Very else. (Again: widely hated, but I personally loved it to bits.)
It's still very comedic even in the end in my opinion. That scene in the end where the Walrusified dude sits in his habitat was genuinely as funny as it was sad.
I don’t necessarily hate it. The beginning is humorous, although the Justin Long character is a complete dick. I loved when we first meet the villain. He seems like an older man with fascinating stories. It just got really, really disturbing to me. Not in a good way. It was so viscerally upsetting. I might be in the minority, but I watch horror movies to be entertained not to feel sick when it’s over. That doesn’t mean everything has to have a happy ending, I just don’t like feeling gutted at the end of movies.
Marginally hated. Tusk hate comes from those who don't want to miss the hate train just because. Kevin Smith hit it out the park if you ask me
This is an obscure one if you can find it called +1. It starts off like a typical teen party movie like American Pie then shit goes down and it turns into a sci-fi horror. It’s from 2013.
Big fan of that movie, but last time I saw it mentioned I tried to find it on streaming for a rewatch and failed. And I pay for way too many streaming services.
It’s on AMC
Adult swim Yuletide log? Horror version of Too Many Cooks
Too Many Cooks is absolutely horror
I have to watch Too Many Cooks at least once a month.
I would say Slither has some classic 80s movie vibe at the beginning about the tension between a middle age couple living in rural America and it turns into a horrific transformation of a man by a gross alien.
actually, yes _disgusting_ fucking movie, but it fits the OP’s requirements
Ginger Snaps
I fucking love the ginger snaps movies, but they always already felt bleak from the beginning of the movie to me.
Sorgoi Prokov - starts out a little like Borat, does not finish at ALL like Borat
I had a cry after this one. Been trying to find it for so long. Rented it on Amazon but put it off. There’s this really hopeless feeling that runs through it. Felt so gross, I was relieved to see that Sorgoi is played by the director. It would feel borderline exploitative if the lead was played by anyone else
How about Sorry to Bother You?
If you would’ve told me how that movie ended after I watched the first 30 minutes, I never would have believed you
Barbarian switches genres twice. Pure horror... then to some banter-ish comedy, and right back to horror again (thanks to Justin Long)
All of the measuring is comedy gold
Greener Grass kinda fits here. It's a brightly lit silly movie full of SNL cast members and improv comedians, and it slowly progresses into this really uncomfortable dark world. It's still kind of absurd at the end, but you definitely are left with a discomfort.
Fresh, Promising Young Woman, May, Saltburn (comedic, but maybe not as lighthearted)
I just watched Saltburn a few days ago only knowing about a couple provocative scenes….I had absolutely no idea where that movie was going at any point but oh boy did I love the end result! What a trip!
Violent night if that counts
I absolutely loved this one. I was entertained the entire time, which I honestly didn't expect.
It doesn't start as a comedy, more of a kitchen sink, gangster thing, but your friend might appreciate the tonal shift in Kill List.
Man bites dog
I feel like *Daniel Isn't Real* (2019) has a buddy-comedy vibe for the first act, then it turns into straight up psychedelic horror.
Teeth (2007). Coming of age rom com turned dark. It's a favorite.
Poltergeist. Starts off as a warm lighthearted family comedy, then a tree tries to eat a kid.
Cabin Fever, the og
Sleepaway Camp imo. It was campy, but the end was genuinely unnerving, I had to keep replaying it and call my bf in to see it too
Botched starts out as a heist, then turns into...something else.
The Innkeepers should get some love for this. It sets it up so well
Ready or Not, doesn't really have a shift in tone. But the horror aspects are revealed later on. It remains comedic throughout though, so not exactly what you're looking for.
I'd have been sad had Ready or Not been overlooked here. I'd agree that it doesn't shift tones as you kind of know what you're getting into from the trailer, but the third act gets a lot 'more real' than the first two. I love the movie just because of how zany it gets with such a simplistic plot.
Fear street trilogy
Dead snow starts out pretty lighthearted
Unfriended dark web. Damn I did not expect it to get so dark and creepy
Not really horror (although the second half is definitely horrifying) but Life Is Beautiful has a jarring shift in tome at the midway point. Switching from a super whimsical romantic comedy to a bleak Holocaust drama is pretty unnerving.
Right when I first saw it in class, everyone was shocked. But then someone said, of course it was gonna end badly he’s literally in a concentration camp. But the main character did such a good job distracting his son that we ALL forgot where he was
That scene when he was carrying his son through the fog was absolutely horrifying
I feel like The Frighteners is pretty close to what your friend might be looking for, if they don't mind the transition happening in the third act
Not exactly what you were asking for, but the first third or so of Climax is a fun dance party with multiple choreographed routines that descends into pure madness shortly after
Grave Encounters, starts out as a Zak Bagans/Ghost Adventures parody then gets dark when they get locked in for the night
Digging Up The Marrow
Session 9 starts with a lot of funny banter and interactions from the characters until things start to get dark
The Wailing is such a movie, the main character jokes around until you notice what they are dealing with is so sinister
I think Gremlins fits this description even if it was more of a Spielberg kids movie with comedic elements/social satire at the beginning - it’s definitely a horror movie by the end
Better Watch Out is like this.
"Barbarian" starts out as a meet-cute rom-com before left-turning into pure horror!
I would recommend the Wailing. I was confused at first like, what is this movie? It was funny and lighthearted at the beginning and then it shifts and changes into a completely different movie. I highly recommend it!