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An entertaining horror movie comes from the compelling narrative and strong main characters, and adding a touch of comedy can elevate the terror beyond their initial potential. Entertaining horror-comedy movies need standout characters, good gags, and solid scares. Audiences love a good story, even if the same plot has been made before. While the Scary Movie premises are all based on other horror movies, this franchise's numerous entries are considered cult classic movies because they're entertaining and funny.

Some of the best horror comedy movies came out of the early 2000's, and there's a continued demand for horror comedies because the lighter moments in them make audiences realize the dark, twisted horror movie they just watched might actually be comical if presented differently. The jump scare, car won't start, possessed doll tropes of something frightening like Annabelle can become hilarious put in a dark comedy like M3gan. While the horror-comedy genre might be oversaturated,...

The 'Burbs is being rebooted into a series starring Keke Palmer, with Seth MacFarlane among the executive producers. Directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins), the 1989 black comedy follows a stressed-out suburban resident and his neighbors who become convinced that a new reclusive family in their neighborhood is involved in a murderous Satanic cult. Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher star as a couple, with the cast also including Bruce Dern, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman, Wendy Schaal, Henry Gibson, and Gale Gordon.

Now, 35 years later, the movie is being rebooted into a series. According to Deadline, Palmer is set to star in and executive produce a Peacock series remake of The 'Burbs. MacFarlane is among the executive producers, along with Celeste Hughey, who is also writing the series. Dana Olsen, who wrote and cameoed in the original movie, is also a co-executive producer.

More to come...

Source: Deadline

The 'Burbs

The 'Burbs is...

30 years ago, Joe Dante introduced audiences to a new type of horror—the banality of living in the suburbs—with his darkly comedic romp The ‘Burbs, which features a treasure trove of talent including Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Wendy Schaal, Henry Gibson, Courtney Gains, Brother Theodore, and Corey Feldman (who you can always count on to call the pizza dude), as well as an endlessly quotable array of quips that still hold up to this day.

To celebrate its recent anniversary, the folks over at Patti Lapel have released three new pins this week celebrating The ‘Burbs, featuring the Klopeks' house as well as both Hans Klopek and the demented doctor, Werner Klopek. Even if you don’t keep a horse in your basement, this trio of ‘Burbs pins are a must-have for any fan out there who wants to show off their love for Dante...

Through his films such as The 'Burbs and Gremlins, director Joe Dante made mischief in American suburbia, Ryan writes...

Mayfield Place is the perfect 80s suburbia. There are painted houses fringed by lush green lawns cut to just the right length, separated by a wide grey road. There are white picket fences. The neighbours are out, tending to their gardens beneath a pristine blue sky.

Thirty-something resident Ray Peterson stands in his front yard, surveys the scene, and sees that it is good.

Except this is a Joe Dante film, and things are never good for long in a Joe Dante film.

Queenie, the little white dog belonging to the old guy across the road, has just left a spire of brown poop on Mark Rumsfield's lawn. Mark, a Vietnam vet and patriot, is running around in his camo shorts, threatening to eviscerate Walter's dog. Elsewhere, Ray's schlubby neighbour Art...

Stars: Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Corey Feldman, Henry Gibson, Rick Ducommun, Wendy Schaal, Brother Theodore, Courtney Gains, Gale Gordon, Dick Miller, Robert Picardo, Cory Danziger | Written by Dana Olsen | Directed by Joe Dante

Written by Dana Olsen (Going Berserk) and directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling), The ‘Burbs is a comedy-horror hybrid that, for me, was a staple film of my childhood, a movie I was probably too young to be watching, yet couldn’t get enough of. I was very excited to hear that Arrow, a company I am a fan of, were bringing out The ‘Burbs on Blu-ray, for the first time in the UK, with a director’s cut, and a smorgasbord of extras.

A stellar cast, featuring heavyweight acting talent like Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Corey Feldman and Henry Gibson, this is a beautifully dark, hilarious and addictive film that deals with themes like cannibalism,...

A Planet Fury-approved selection of notable genre releases for April.

John Dies at the End (2012) Magnolia Home Entertainment Blu-ray and DVD Available Now

Finally, a new Don Coscarelli movie! After years of waiting, the cult auteur comes back with a lively adaptation of David Wong’s popular novel. A drug that induces an out-of-body experience sends its users across time and other dimensions. When some of them come back not quite human, an otherworldly invasion is set into motion. Suddenly, college dropouts John (Rob Mayes) and Dave (Chase Williamson) find themselves in an epic battle to save the world. Coscarelli’s surreal visual flair and black comic bent are in full effect here. Hopefully, its critical success will ensure that the beloved filmmaker won't have to wait another ten years to make a film.

Special Features:

· Feature-length audio commentary by Coscarelli, Williamson, Mayes and producer Brad Baruh

· Seven deleted...

Joe Dante taught us to fear our neighbour in comedy horror, The ‘Burbs. Charlotte takes a look back at an 80s classic…

When you think about classic 80s films, maybe The ‘Burbs isn’t the first to jump to mind. But on closer inspection, this funny, smart, creepy tale, directed by Joe Dante, has pretty much everything you could want from an 80s film and, most importantly, it stands the test of time. Not only in the way it looks and its style of humour, but its subject matter is still relevant today.

How many of us don’t speak to our neighbours? How many of us are wary of the people that live right next to us? There’s always one house on the street you’re not too sure about. There’s always one slightly odd person that does weird things at night. That’s what The ‘Burbs deals with: paranoia,...

Dark Stars Rising, featuring conversations between Shade Rupe (Funeral Party) and 27 of the leading lights of the transgressive arts (including Peter Sotos, Teller, Chas Ballun, Gaspar Noe, William Lustig and Floria Sigismondi, to name a few), is more than a mere book. Clocking in at 558 teeming pages, featuring over 500 jaw dropping images, many rare or unseen, and sporting a design of mind bending intricacy, each chapter boasting its very own lavish layout, Dark Stars Rising is a cross between a carnival, a massacre, and everyone’s ideal dinner party… At Headpress The Players 1. Richard Kern 2. Alejandro Jodorowksy 3. Buddy Giovinazzo 4. Udo Kier 5. Jim VanBebber 6. Dennis Paoli 7. Tura Satana 8. Teller 9. Brother Theodore 10. Peter Sotos 11. Johannes Schonherr 12. Chas. Balun 13. Divine 14. Floria Sigismondi 15. Hermann Nitsch 16. Genesis P-Orridge 17. William Lustig 18. Dennis Cooper 19. Gaspar Noe [...]...

As part of our ongoing effort to expose our readers to all the latest and greatest genre-related projects in the literary realm, today we present to you Shade Rupe's Dark Stars Rising, a collection of 27 candid interviews spanning 24 years with unique and free-thinking artists from America to Austria and beyond.

From the Press Release:

Working in different media, countries, constraints, and freedoms, the vortex here is created by New York film writer Shade Rupe, known for his avant interests and the cultural realm he inhabits with his Funeral Party books. Everyone in this collection has produced artifacts that affect the heart, mind, soul, and future.

The smaller half of Penn & Teller ends the silence for a lengthy discussion of magic and falsehoods; Divine opens the closet for his transition to playing male roles; Crispin Glover discusses his love for the films of Fassbinder and other greats; Faster Pussycat! Kill,...

"Before we go any further, let's acknowledge that the question of whether and how different kinds of animals feel pain, and of whether and why it might be justifiable to inflict pain on them in order to eat them, turn out to be extremely complex and difficult. And comparative neuroanatomy is only part of the problem. Since pain is a totally subjective mental experience, we do not have direct access to any one's or any thing's pain but our own; and even just the principles by which we can infer that other people experience pain and have a legitimate interest in not feeling pain involve hardcore philosophy-metaphysics, epistemology, value theory, ethics. The fact that even the most highly evolved nonhuman mammals can't use language to communicate with us about their subjective mental experience is only the first layer of additional complication in trying to extend our reasoning about pain and morality to animals.