Night Life of the Gods (1935)
Petrification Ray/Greek Gods Come to Life Comedy
A 1930s screwball comedy about the invention of a ray that can petrify people that is then used to bring statues of Greek gods to life
Comedies
Way … Way Out (1966)
Space Mission Comedy
Comedy in which Jerry Lewis and Connie Stevens are forced to marry to go to The Moon. The sexual politics play out pretty embarrassingly today
Shallow Hal (2001)
Man Suddenly Sees Ugly Girls as Beautiful Comedy
Farrelly Brothers comedy where Jack Black is hypnotised by Tony Robbins and 300 pound Gwyneth Paltrow as beautiful
Teen Wolf (1985)
Teenage Werewolf Comedy
This lamely updates I Was a Teenage Werewolf to the 1980s high school, strips all horror elements and has Michael J. Fox’s transformation be regarded as an instant injection of cool. The result was a surprising hit
13 Going on 30 (2004)
Young Girl in a Woman's Body
Essentially a rehash of Big in which a tormented teen wishes she was thirty and wakes up as Jennifer Garner. Amiably average without ever finding the wistful charms that Big had
Watermelon Man (1970)
White Man Wakes Up as a Black Man/Satiric Comedy
From Melvin Van Peebles who made the first Blaxploitation film, a satire in which a white man wakes up to find he has turned black. This takes a savage bite out of race relations but ends up without teeth in being distracted by Godfrey Cambridge’s raucous loudmouth performance
Mystery Men (1999)
Bumbling Superheroes Comedy
A superhero parody about a group of reject superheroes with useless powers. Despite moments of amusement, this fails to quite come off
Teenage Exorcist (1991)
Possession Comedy
Written by and starring 80s Scream Queen Brinke Stevens, this offers an occasionally amusing comedy take on the possession and exorcism film
Naked (2017)
Timeloop Comedy
Comedic variant on Groundhog Day where Marlon Wayans wakes up naked in an elevator on his wedding day and is forced to repeat the same hour over and over as he tries to get to the church
The Naked Gun (2025)
Hard-Boiled Detective Parody
A revival of the Leslie Nielsen starring Naked Gun films, which were a parody of the hard-boiled detective film. With Liam Neeson playing Nielsen’s son. Featuring a surprising degree of SF content
The Watch (2012)
Neighbourhood Watch vs Alien Invaders Comedy
An uninspired comedy about a neighbourhood watch encountering alien invaders that falls somewhere between Ghostbusters and The ‘Burbs. The film’s virtues lie less in the weak premise than in the director allowing the stars to freely improvise with occasionally funny results
The Shaggy Dog (2006)
Man Transforms Into a Dog Comedy
The remake of the old Disney comedy becomes a vehicle for Tim Allen, played with a manic slapstickery wherein Allen demonstrates there are few levels of silliness he will travel to in imitating dog-like behaviours
The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV (1986)
Time Travel Back to the Present
Fourth of the original Star Trek films jumps on board the popularity of time travel themes following Back to the Future to have the regulars time travel back to the present for a series of amiable, easy comic encounters
The Shaggy Dog (1959)
Teenager Transforms Into a Dog/Disney Comedy
The first of Disney’s live-action comedies, a comic variant on the werewolf story with Tommy Kirk turning into a dog. Mildly amusing but later efforts would do this type of comedy better
On the Nose (2001)
Severed Head Predicts Horse Races/Comedy
Irish-made comedy with Robbie Coltrane who has a Aborigine head in a jar that can predict horse races
Sex Mission (1984)
Women-Ruled Future Comedy
A popular Polish comedy in its day about two men who awake from cryogenic suspension in a women-ruled future where men are obsolete. Some of the comedy reads as very dated watching the film today
Nine Lives (2016)
Man Trapped in the Body of a Cat
Your mind struggles to process the premise of Nine Lives – where Kevin Spacey finds himself in the body of a cat. It seems a variation on the earlier Oh Heavenly Dog in which Chevy Chase was reincarnated as Benji. Some cute effects but what a lightweight effort for an actor of Spacey’s calibre
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
End of the World Romantic Comedy
The End of the World seems the least likely backdrop for a romantic comedy. Newcomer Lorene Scafaria seems less interested in depicting social collapse than in making an insipid romcom road movie with two leads who fail to strike up any connection
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006)
Rockstars' Gonzo Quest
Film spinoff of the rock parody act headed by Jack Black. This emerges like i>The Blues Brothers recast with Cheech and Chong and delivers some occasionally surreal and amusing gags
Nothing But Trouble (1991)
Sentenced to Death in a Strange Small Town Comedy
The only film ever directed by Dan Aykroyd, a bizarre oddity that was a huge flop on its initial release. The film is a strange comedy set in an American Gothic junkyard town where even the smallest legal infractions are punished by death. Aykroyd can’t seem to decide it the tone is comedy or horror
Vice Versa (1988)
Father-Son Bodyswap Comedy
One of a spate of bodyswap comedies in the mid-1980s where father and son Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage end up swapping bodies
Vibes (1988)
Psychic Powers Comedy-Adventure
Psychic powers comedy made in the aftermath of Ghostbusters where Jeff Goldblum is upstaged by a kooky Cyndi Lauper
Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972)
Invisible Teen/Disney Comedy
The second of Disney’s Dexter Reilly films with Kurt Russell as a teen genius who invents an invisibility formula
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Daydreamer's Fantasies
Ben Stiller’s remake of the unfunny Danny Kaye vehicle about an impractical daydreamer has no more depth than an inspirational postcard and takes a long time to deliver it
Scrooged (1988)
Modernised A Christmas Carol
A modernised version of A Christmas Carol that seems to have been construed in the shadow of Ghostbusters right down to casting Bill Murray as Scrooge
Scoop (2006)
Journalistic Tips from the Afterlife
One of the more forgettable Woody Allen comedies with Scarlett Johansson as a journalism student who gets tips from the afterlife
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
Vampire Comedy
An odd mismatch of talent where Wes Craven directs Eddie Murphy as a vampire who arrives in present-day New York. Craven and Murphy seem to drown either;s distinctive voices out
The Stepford Wives (2004)
Android Housewife Replacements Comedy
Frank Oz conducts a remake of The Stepford Wives, which becomes a broad comedy take on the gender wars in the modern world
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)
Two Idiots Go to Venus
Abbott and Costello take time out from comic hijinks with the Famous Monsters to go to Venus (despite the title) and engage in various datedly sexist gags with a planetful of women
The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999)
Alien Anthopolgist Studies Human Mating Behaviour
There is an appealingly satiric concept here – a parody of a nature documentary looking at human mating rituals from an alien perspective where everything is constantly being misinterpreted in terms of an animal behaviour – but what emerges is mostly a one-gag film
Fred Claus (2007)
Santa's Brother
A Christmas film with Vince Vaughn as Santa’s younger brother, a petty street hustler. A promising sarcastic tone falls into easy predictable routines and characters arcs
Ghostbusters II (1989)
Team of Spook Chasers Comedy
A weak follow-up to the hit original that essentially killed off any further Ghostbusters sequels. Most of the the cast are back but the plot and proceedings feel like a walk-through for all involved.
Ghost Town (2008)
Man That Can See Ghosts Comedy
Director/screenwriter David Koepp proves that comedy is not his forte in this light fantasy in which Ricky Gervais emerges from anaesthesia to find that he can now see ghosts
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Haunted House Comedy
Don Knotts was a popular comic of the era who specialised in a craven fearfulness. Here he plays in a haunted house comedy. Beyond Knotts’ comedic antics, the film never seems very interested in the haunted house aspect
The Gendarme and the Extra-Terrestrials (1979)
Alien Visitors Slapstick Comedy
An entry in a popular series of French slapstick comedies with Louis de Funes as a comic gendarme. In this, the series sole genre entry, he goes up against alien visitors
Galaxy Turnpike (2015)
Intergalactic Burger Bar Comedy
Japanese comedy with various humans and aliens interacting around an interstellar burger restaurant on the road from Earth, although none of it seems that funny
The Frighteners (1996)
Medium vs Ghostly Serial Killer Comedy
Before The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson flopped badly with this ghost comedy. Jackson allows his obsession with the effects technology to take over at the expense of much else and provides little that is funny
Fresh Meat (2012)
Maori Cannibals Comedy
New Zealand comedy in which a teenage daughter discovers that her father Temuera Morrison is a modern-day Maori cannibal cultist. Everything is given a very broad playing
Flubber (1997)
Absent-Minded Professor Remake
Remake of Disney’s The Absent-Minded Professor where the charms of the original are buried under an excess of twee – where the professor now gets a cute robot assistant and the flubber becomes sentient
Ghosts – Italian Style (1967)
Haunted Villa/Italian Comedy
A lightweight Italian comedy of errors where Sophia Loren and husband move into a mansion being offered cheaply only to find it is haunted by the ghosts of the previous owners
The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)
Vampire Hunter Comedy
Roman Polanski misfired with this vampire comedy intended as a spoof of Hammer Films. Beautifully produced but comedy is not Polanski’s forte and the film seems to consists of much slapstick running around
Evolution (2001)
Rapidly Evolving Alien Lifeforms/Comedy
Ivan Reitman comedy that is essentially a rehash of his earlier hit Ghostbusters but where instead of ghosts he has a team investigating rapidly alien lifeforms at a meteor crash site
Every Home Should Have One (1970)
Daydreamer's Naughty Fantasies
A vehicle for Marty Feldman, a peculiar comedy where he plays an advertising executive who has Walter Mitty-like sexual fantasies
Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)
Idiot vs a Troll
The fourth of Jim Varney’s Ernest P. Worrel comedies. This pits Ernest in a series of knockabouts routines against a troll that is resurrected on Halloween
Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2001)
Bimbo Horror Hostess/Genre Parody
The second film outing of US horror hostess Elvira, which is construed as a parody/homage to the Roger Corman-Vincent Price Edgar Allan Poe films. Everything is overrun with Elvira’s cheesy puns and double entendres
Elf (2003)
Ungainly Christmas Elf Comes to New York
Jon Favreau directed Christmas film premised entirely around the premise of 6’3″ Will Ferrell as an ungainly Christmas elf. The film works entirely to the extent one has a tolerance for Ferrell’s screen presence.
East Meets West (2011)
Hong Kong Comedy/Eastern Deities Become Superheroes
Hong Kong comedy designed to bring together an ensemble of local stars. The film starts out about the efforts to reunite a band and turns into a wacky effort where everybody discovers they are avatars of deities
Early Man (2018)
Aardman Animation/Prehistoric Sports Comedy
Claymation film from Aardman Animations that is in effect a prehistoric comedy like The Flintstones or The Croods mixed up with a sports film, but is Aardman’s slightest work so far
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Team of Spook Chasers Comedy
Follow-up to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, reuniting that film’s mix of new and classic cast. However, this becomes a plotting juggle that is often straining to find somewhere to include everyone
The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
Space Age Comedy
Comedy where Doris Day is a NASA employee drawn into spy shenanigans. It feels as though Day has been cast in a Jerry Lewis role and the whole film is nothing more than a series of slapstick set-pieces
Dracula, Father and Son (1976)
Dracula Parody
Almost certainly this is the one Christopher Lee Dracula film you will never have heard about. This was a French comedy made not long after Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, spoofing the Dracula film
Hell Baby (2013)
Possession/Diabolic Pregnancy Comedy
From the creators of Reno 911, a comedy spoofing possession, exorcism and diabolical pregnancy cliches. This assembles material that feels as though it should have been funnier than it is
Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
Animation/Famous Monsters Comedy
I had little enthusiasm for this, I tend to like my classic monsters serious rather than defanged – these Hotel Transylvania films are so watered down, Dracula doesn’t even get to drink blood
Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Animation/Hotel for Famous Monsters
A variant on the much more charming Mad Monster Party?, an animated film featuring cute cuddly versions of the Famous Monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, wolfman etc) with Adam Sandler voicing Dracula
The Hot Chick (2002)
Gender Exchange Comedy
Adam Sandler produced film that is a variant on the bodyswap standard in which Rob Schneider and Rachel McAdams switch bodies. Much crass humour ensues in between a good-naturedly all-inclusive message
Hold That Ghost (1941)
Two Idiots in a Haunted House
The fourth of Abbott and Costello’s films, a knockoff of the then recent hit of the Bob Hope remake of The Cat and the Canary involving much comedic running around a supposedly haunted mansion
The History of Future Folk (2012)
Aliens Form Bluegrass Band
Aliens come to Earth and form a bluegrass band! The basic idea holds an undeniable appeal but the film seems caught between wanting to be a B-movie parody and an indie film that takes itself seriously
High Spirits (1988)
Haunted Castle Comedy
Neil Jordan has shown himself as an excellent director elsewhere but seems to have little aptitude for comedy when it comes to this raucous knockabout farce about a haunted castle
Hello Down There (1969)
Underwater Habitat Comedy
Director Jack Arnold was one of the great voices of 1950s SF cinema. Here he turns to making a none-too-funny comedy set in an underwater habitat. Featuring a teenage Richard Dreyfuss
Hell Town (2015)
Soap Opera Parody/Slasher Film
This has a witty idea – a parody of a soap opera combined with a slasher film. This is amusing, but the rest of the film consists of frenzied caricatures and a dearth of laugh out loud moments
Have Rocket — Will Travel (1959)
Idiots Launched Into Space Comedy
Full-length comedy from The Three Stooges where the idiots are janitors at a space centre who accidentally launch themselves into space. One of several Space Age films where popular comics where launched into space
Good Fortune (2025)
Angel Comedy
The film where Keanu Reeves plays an angel. Directed/written by and starring Aziz Ansari as a hapless gig worker who Keanu’s angel’s tries to help only to accidentally swap the lives of Ansari and tech bro Seth Rogen
Haunted Mansion (2023)
Haunted House Comedy
The second attempt to spin a film off from the Disney theme park ride, this comes in a more serious tone than the prior Eddie Murphy film but still emerges as lightweight in terms of horror
A Haunted House 2 (2014)
Genre Spoof
Sequel to A Haunted House where writer/star Marlon Wayans conducted a riff on the Scary Movie films. This is marginally more amusing than its predecessor
The Haunted Cop Shop (1987)
Cops vs Vampires/Hong Kong Comedy
A madcap Hong Kong comedy that takes more than a few leaves from the Mr Vampire films with cops fighting off vampires in a haunted police station. A popular hit.
The Happy Ghost (1984)
Hong Kong Ghost Comedy
A popular Hong Kong hit in its day where a schoolgirl gains a ghostly scholar as an invisible companion, resulting in a series of slapstick sequences. Several sequels followed
Hanky Panky (2023)
Gonzo Comedy
A gonzo comedy about an alien invasion that takes place during a getaway at a remote cabin by assorted comically dysfunctional characters including a man who is accompanied by a talking handkerchief
Gulliver’s Travels (2010)
Land of Little People
Jonathan Swift’s classic tale of a man in a land of miniature people is turned into a comedy vehicle for Jack Black and outfitted with a series of vulgar and pop culture gags
A Guide to Dating at the End of the World (2022)
Last People on Earth Romantic Comedy
Australian film that is a romantic comedy take on The Quiet Earth, the classic work about three people who awake in an entirely deserted world
The Gorilla (1939)
Old Dark House Comedy-Thriller
The Old Dark House film hit a peak in the late 1930s. This was a comedy variant featuring the entirely forgotten comedy act The Ritz Brothers stumbling around an old mansion
Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000)
Gonzo Stoner Film
A bizarrely surreal, anything goes comedy as two bros set out to find their car after a night partying. This feels like Repo Man as though directed by the Farrelly Brothers after they had inhaled a few bongs
Down to Earth (2001)
Afterlife Mixup/Race Reversal Comedy
Remake of Heaven Can Wait/Here Comes Mr Jordan as a vehicle for comedian Chris Rock where the heavenly body mix-up now becomes about a black man ending up in a white man’s body
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022)
Animation/Famous Monsters Comedy
Minus Adam Sandler this time, the Hotel Transylvania series trots out a fourth entry. Here, in some search for novelty on what has gone before, the monsters are turned back into humans
The Animal (2001)
Man with Animal Transplant Parts Comedy
One-gag comedy where Rob Schneider receives transplants of various animal parts and ends up exhibiting animal behaviours – usually at the most inopportune time
Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
Time-Travelling Slackers Reach Middle-Age
The two time-travelling slackers are back after nearly thirty years and the film amusingly sees them having reached uneasy middle-age. But was the wait worth it?
Big Trouble (2002)
Nuclear Weapon Comedy
A flop comedy based on a Dave Barry novel about various characters trying to obtain a nuclear weapon. Despite a reasonable name cast, this becomes slapstick inanity in director Barry Sonnenfeld’s hands
The Big Bus (1976)
Disaster Movie Parody
Intermittently amusing parody of the disaster movie set aboard an atomically-powered luxury bus where everything proceeds to go wrong. The better parody of the genre would have to wait for Airplane
Baghead (2008)
Slasher Comedy
The second film from The Duplass Brothers, Mark and Jay. Though labelled a slasher parody, it is more of an improvisational comedy that uses the set-up of a backwoods slasher film without much interest in horror
Bad Johnson (2014)
Man’s Penis Gains a Life of Its Own Comedy
Sometimes you shake your head and wonder how a film got greenlit. In this case, we have a comedy where Cam Gigandet’s penis gains a separate life of its own, resulting in a Jekyll/Hyde film of sorts
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
Spy Movie Spoof
Third of the Austin Powers films and the point where the amusements of the other films topples over into a pandering indulgence to Mike Myers’ mugging, which is allowed to overtake the whole show
Asteroid (2021)
Impending Asteroid Collision Comedy
We have had numerous films about asteroids and meteors about to strike the Earth. This is played as a comedy where a man buys his dream home only to find it is ground zero for an oncoming comet strike
Anaconda (2025)
Comedy Remake of Anaconda
Anaconda was a CGI monster movie that has subsequently gained a bad movie reputation. The idea of a comedy remake about conducting a remake of the film just seems a little too cutely meta
Bio-Cops (2000)
Hong Kong Zombie Comedy
Hong Kong comedy with a police station under siege from zombies. The emphasis is more on comedy than the horror element
Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
Anthology of Comedy Skits & Genre Parodies
An anthology of comedy skits from several different directors including Joe Dante and John Landis. The result is fairly scattershot with moments of occasional humour falling between laughs that do not come off
Alter Egos (2012)
Superhero Comedy
Indie superhero comedy that reads a good deal funnier on paper than it ever produces laughs on screen. The production lacks the budget to produce more than a handful of cheap superheroic digital effects
Alice (1990)
Modernised Alice in Wonderland
One of Woody Allen’s less interesting films, a modernised version of Alice in Wonderland with Mia Farrow as a bored housewife who passes through various surreal experiences
Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
Disaster Movie & SF Spoof
Airplane was a parody of the disaster movie that proved a hit. This was a sequel that expands the action aboard the space shuttle and contains many SF in-jokes but to generally lesser effect
Agent Cody Banks (2003)
Teenage Spy Comedy
Another of the spy parodies that emerged following Austin Powers. Frankie Muniz is a high school teenager who is recruited as a spy. This proves a mildly amusing set-up that is delivered with surprisingly little wit
The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)
Lunar Comedy-Thriller
Huge flop comedy for Eddie Murphy in which he plays a nightclub owner on The Moon. There is an almost good SF film hiding inside and depiction of a surprisingly detailed Lunar culture but the unnfunny comedy elements kill it
The Adam Project (2022)
Time Travel
Likeable but lightweight time travel film where Ryan Reynolds gains the aid of his twelve year-old self after travelling back in time to the present on a mission to save the future
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
Two Idiots Meet the Invisible Man
The second of Abbott and Costello’s outings with Universal’s Famous Monsters. The usual numbskullery is boosted by some excellent invisibility effects
Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)
Slackers in the Afterlife
The sequel to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure where the first film’s humour gets lost amid repetition and blown up by a big-budget. William Sadler’s Death however proves a scene-stealer
Black Knight (2001)
Modern Man in Mediaeval Times Comedy
An uncredited adaptation of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court with Martin Lawrence as a hip modern African-American man thrown back to Mediaeval times
Doin’ Time on Planet Earth (1988)
Possibly Alien Teenager
A peculiarity from Cannon Films that was a flop, a comedy in which a weird teenager believes he is an alien and suddenly attracts the attention of a bunch of UFO cultists
Candy Cane Lane (2023)
Christmas Film
Eddie Murphy – one of the funniest talents of the 1980s – has been largely absent for much of the 2010s. He returns here with a Christmas comedy in which he is the recipient of a curse given to him by an evil Santa elf
Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995)
Dr Jekyll Becomes a Woman Comedy
Another variation on the Dr Jekyll and Hyde becomes a woman theme. This version is played as a modern comedy wherein Tim Daly turns into Sean Young who plays to bitchy excess
Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)
Doctor That Can Speak to Animals
A sequel to the Eddie Murphy Dr Dolittle remake. This is still an insult to the original stories but under director Steve Carr at least proves a more amiable comedy than the first film did
Detention of the Dead (2012)
Zombie Comedy
Another entry in the zombie comedy field. This has essentially been conceived as a retread of The Breakfast Club but with the addition of zombies
Dark Shadows (2012)
TV Series Comedy Remake/Vampire/Family Saga
Tim Burton’s slide into mediocrity continues with this comedic update of the cult Gothic soap opera tv series, which is now played at a level of cartoonish unseriousness that resembles the Addams Family
The Cobbler (2014)
Cobbler Turns Into the Person Whose Shoes He Puts On
Adam Sandler does more acting than usual in the story of a shoemaker who transforms into the wearer whenever he puts on a pair of shoes. A throwaway premise that attracts a surprisingly high-profile cast