With Halloween round the corner, we’re sure that you’re scanning the unending digital stacks of movies to watch at night. But have you noticed how some of the scariest flicks are the ones that make you laugh? The movies that blend bone-chilling scares with cocky social commentary prove that horror doesn’t just have to be horror, it can also satirize. Satire is basically the use of humor or irony in order to expose the underlying problems in society. Whether it is consumerism, obsession with fame, toxic masculinity, or racism, these movies create something truly inventive in their pursuit of making a point. In the process, they also subvert the horror genre and show us that true terror does not lie in overused slasher storylines and dark corridors.
We have compiled a list of 10 ingenious satirical horror movies that provoke both screams and snickers. Even as the slashing and blood-splatter keeps you clenching your jaw, your wits and sense of humor keeps you mentally engaged and wanting for more of that taste of dysfunction. So let’s not waste any more time and dive into the best horror-satire flicks out there.
10 Nope (2022)
Nope
Jordan Peele returns to direct a film about the residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bearing witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery. Daniel Kaluuya, Barbie Ferreira, and Steven Yeun star.
- Release Date
- July 22, 2022
- Director
- Jordan Peele
- Cast
- Steven Yeun, Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Terry Notary, Conor Kowalski, Mark Casimir Dyniewicz
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Horror, Sci-Fi
Director Jordan Peele has a knack for subverting genres and in Nope, he gives his signature treatment to not one but three genres – horror, science-fiction, and western. On the surface, the movie’s premise appears simple – a pair of siblings trying to film a mysterious cloud hovering over their California horse ranch. But when you peel back the layers of its stunning visual frame, the film skewers a person’s obsession with fame regardless of the complications it poses.
Keke Palmer treats us with one of her most phenomenal performances in this moody social satire. Even Steven Yeun and Daniel Kaluuya bring in their opposite personalities – one warm, another low-key. Peele critiques humanity’s unquenchable thirst for clicks, especially in today’s era and proves that even aliens can be a part of it.
Stream on Prime Video
9 The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
cabin in the woods
- Release Date
- April 12, 2012
- Director
- Drew Goddard
- Cast
- Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Horror, Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
The Cabin in the Woods deconstructs everything we know and believe about the horror genre. Written by Joss Whedon and directed by Drew Goddard, the film is a sci-fi horror but it flips the slasher script in such a clever way that you’d never see it coming. It starts off traditionally – five friends head to a remote getaway on the weekend but then they accidentally summon a family of evil zombies into their cabin.
However, what’s new is that the friends quickly realize that they’re unwitting stars in a sadistic show orchestrated by a bunch of “controllers.” Hollywood has such a vast number of overused, blood-soaked tropes that it is refreshing and fun to experience a film that is so unique. More when it calls us out for being the real monsters, gleefully satiating each other’s appetite for gore.
Stream on Max
8 Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Shaun of the Dead
- Release Date
- April 9, 2004
- Director
- Edgar Wright
- Cast
- Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Nicola Cunningham
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror
Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg collaborate once and what we get is the perfect rom-zom-com film. For an audience who didn’t know there could be such a thing, it was essential for the filmmaker to make sure there were elements of love, friendship, sacrifice, and heroism in the film while an apocalypse loomed overhead. Shaun of the Dead stars Pegg as Shaun, an ordinary salesman whose life is so mundane and uneventful that it takes a zombie outbreak for him to finally discover his true purpose.
Along with his friend Ed, he takes on the responsibility of saving the day in deadpan British style. While still retaining its zombie elements, the movie cleverly comments on societal drudgery and normalcy through the simple act of surviving each day.
Stream on Hulu
7 Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Jennifers Body
- Release Date
- September 18, 2009
- Director
- Karyn Kusama
- Cast
- Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody, Sal Cortez, Ryan Levine
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror
Jennifer’s Body is among the many horror comedies that aged well (minus the use of certain disappointing slurs). Centered around the perils of high school friendships and popularity, the movie follows Jennifer, a cheerleader newly possessed by a demon unleashing her supernatural fury upon her male classmates.
This Karyn Kusama movie isn’t your average “mean girls” handbook. It might start with Jennifer and her best friend Anita simply wanting to fit in like the other girls in their small town, but after a night out with a rock band leads to a sacrifice that goes wrong, Jennifer becomes an insatiable man-eater. Literally. This cult classic not only uncovers the deepest opinions that a town harbors about teenage girl drama and women but does so in a way that is funny and exciting.
6 American Psycho (2000)
American Psycho
- Release Date
- April 13, 2000
- Director
- Mary Harron
- Cast
- Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloe Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Crime, Documentary, Drama, Thriller
The movie that put Christian Bale on the map as an extremely talented and versatile actor, American Psycho sees him play Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street hotshot discussing business and printing money by day at his investment banking job and engaging in acts of horrific violence to satiate his hunger for evil by night. Even in the latter role, Bateman is well-groomed, which just makes him appear more maniacal.
The movie depicts the epitome of excess in 1980s New York, when money and status was so important that one would harbor a chilling emptiness within their heart. Delicious and darkly satirical, the film taps into the very crack in the veneer. Director Mary Harron adapts the novel written by Bret Easton Ellis and combines it with the notion of toxic masculinity and consumer culture and American greed.
Rent on Apple TV
5 Us (2019)
This is the second out of three mentions of Jordan Peele on the list and the reason is simply because the director has earned his status as a modern master of the social satire-horror genre. Us follows the Wilson family on their beach holiday but their peaceful getaway turns into a nightmare when their quiet underground is invaded by a cover of eerie doppelgängers known as the Tethered. Apparently, these are people that look exactly like the Wilson family but they cause harm to their counterparts to blame them for their own unfair lives.
As a metaphor for class war and the duality of human nature, Peele crafts a new yet familiar family that is both an ultimate enemy and a reflection of our own societal inequalities. The movie was released back in 2019 and it stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elisabeth Moss as the main characters, who each give hauntingly beautiful performances.
Stream on Netflix
The Menu
- Release Date
- November 18, 2022
- Director
- Mark Mylod
- Cast
- Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Janet McTeer, Nicholas Hoult, Aimee Carrero, John Leguizamo
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Hong Chau, and Nicholas Hoult, and featuring Anya-Taylor Joy as the brand new final girl in the genre, The Menuis a film that critiques the pretense that comes with fine dining. But that’s not all. Will Tracy and Seth Reiss’ story has several layers of dark comedy and satire beneath its unhinged premise. We first follow a young couple winning a rare chance to join a selected bunch of people who’ve paid astronomical prices to experience and taste Chef Slowik’s extravagant menu on a private island.
As soon as the boat lands them at the venue, you can tell that the characters have signed up for more than just amuse-bouches. Fiennes plays the egotistical chef with an agenda to call out society and its obsession with status, criticism, and consumption.
Stream on Hulu
3 Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Bodies Bodies Bodies
- Release Date
- August 5, 2022
- Director
- Halina Reijn
- Cast
- Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, Chase Sui Wonders, Pete Davidson, Lee Pace
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror, Thriller
A24 has never disappointed fans when it comes to horror comedies. This latest slasher film centers around an odd group of wealthy twenty-somethings who decide to party at one of their remote family homes with a hurricane approaching town. With the power out and the friendship dynamics changing, the lot switches to playing the titular game to ease the tension. But soon, their true selves are exposed and we realize that they’re not what their social media selves claim they are.
With one dead body on the ground and several accusations flying around in a candle lit house, Bodies Bodies Bodies becomes a satire of performative wokeness and cancel culture. Amandla Stenberg, Rachel Sennott, Pete Davidson, and Chase Sui Wonders shine as the leads bringing their razor-sharp wit to the story.
Rent on Apple TV
2 Get Out (2017)
Get Out
- Release Date
- February 24, 2017
- Director
- Jordan Peele
- Cast
- Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Marcus Henderson
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Finally, we have this subversive masterpiece that blankets itself under an innocuous fish-out-of-water premise. Directed by Jordan Peele, Get Out centers around an African-American man named Chris who decides to visit his Caucasian girlfriend’s family estate on the weekend. While Rose’s parents welcome him with warmth in the first few minutes, Chris senses the disquiet in their behavior and discovers that there’s more to this house than what meets the eye.
Apparently, the Armitage clan plans to sell the bodies of Black people as vessels. The movie makes subtle comments on white liberalism, appropriation, and racism with the help of its gripping story. Daniel Kaluuya is truly incredible as an outsider just realizing how brutal the world outside of his community is. On several occasions, Peele has tried to prove that humans are the scariest monsters. But it is with Get Out that he really hits the mark.
Stream on Netflix
1 Scream (1996)
Scream
- Release Date
- December 20, 1996
- Director
- Wes Craven
- Cast
- Drew Barrymore, Kevin Patrick Walls, David Booth, Carla Hatley, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich
- Rating
- R
- Genres
- Crime, Horror, Mystery
Scream is Wes Craven’s classic slasher film. It follows a film-obsessed killer who goes by the name of Ghostface offing innocent teens in Woodsboro. Neve Campbell plays Sidney Prescott, a teenager whose mother was also one of Ghostface’s victims. And now that the same murders are occuring in town, she is determined to find the killer.
Even though the plot of the movie isn’t unique or original, the fact that the movie tries to dissect every pre-existing trope of the slasher genre with the help of characters who know they’re in a movie and that they fall under a cliché is something else. Besides Campbell, David Arquette and Courtney Cox give memorable performances as teens trying to fight off a maniac. Scream is probably the only self-aware horror film out there, and that’s why it still marches on as a scary but smart franchise.
Stream on Max
