April 2024 has been a pretty big month for horror or horror-adjacent movies at the box office. The First Omen was much better than many suspected, and now we’re getting Abigail from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. If you loved Abigail‘s combination of comedy and horror, then you might be surprised by how many other movies hit that same sweet spot.
Abigail, which tells the story of a group of kidnappers who inadvertently kidnap a vampire, is both a horror movie and a comedy, and its ability to strike that tonal balance has been a hallmark of Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s career to date. Here are three other movies that achieve a similar feat and are worth your time.
Ready or Not (2019)
The feature that launched director Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett into a new level of director stardom, Ready or Not feels like a thesis statement for everything that they want to do. The movie tells the story of a young woman who married recently, and discovers that her family has a bizarre ritual that involves playing hide and seek with her husband’s family until dawn.
The catch? The family is hunting her with all manner of deadly weapons. As absurd as the premise of Ready or Not may feel, the movie winds up feeling both thrilling and like a fairly sophisticated commentary on the way the wealthy insulate themselves from basically everything.
Ready or Not is streaming on Fubo.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Taika Waititi’s breakthrough comedy was so popular that it launched a hilarious sitcom of the same title, but the original movie still holds up as one of the funnier horror movies of recent years. There isn’t much in the way of actual gore here, but What We Do in the Shadows is a more efficient vehicle for the delivery of excellent jokes than almost any other movie of this era.
Opinions vary on whether Waititi’s schtick has worn itself a little thin in more recent years, but there’s no denying that anyone who is into the gonzo sensibility of Abigail will find something to love in Ready or Not.
What We Do in the Shadows can be rented or purchased on Amazon Prime Video.
Jennifer’s Body (2019)
One of the more misunderstood horror comedies of recent years, Jennifer’s Body follows a popular high school girl who gets possessed by a demon and begins to feast on the male population of her high school. Featuring perhaps the best performance of Megan Fox’s career, Jennifer’s Body carefully weaponized Fox during an era when she was America’s definitive sex object, reminding every man who stumbled on the film just how gross they were all being.
In addition to being a much smarter movie than many understood it to be when it was first released, Jennifer’s Body is also funnier than you might have anticipated, and that’s thanks in large part to Fox and Amanda Seyfried, who are both brilliant.
Jennifer’s Body can be streamed on YouTube.
