Lighthearted Frights: 10 Films That Bring The Terror But Keep The Fun

Vanessa and Joseph Winter's Deadstream is a delightful, funny, and scary film. Watching the clips of the stunts that got Shawn Ruddy canceled gives you a glimpse into his character and his need to be loved online. It's a wonderful way to do exposition and entertain simultaneously. The live-stream format lends itself very well to horror. Works like a charm.

John Dies at the End is an underrated classic. There, I said it. It is a film with horror and a chaotic spirit that messes with the conventions and tropes of horror directed by Don Coscarelli. It's also a gorgeous film that was shot by cinematographer Mike Gioulakis who went on to shoot equally eye-catching films like It Follows, Us, Split, and the television show Servant.

Bloody Hell is a rip-roaring fright film with action, cannibalism, and one terrifying family from Finland. No, seriously, they are incredibly cheerful but dedicated to trapping unwary travelers to serve up to their son. It switches back and forth from a man who's a hero sent to prison for fighting back against bank robbers to fighting for his life against a determined group of evil Finns. Also, he talks to himself. Alister Grierson directed this film, which is not talked about nearly enough, starring Ben O'Toole as Rex. Robert Benjamin wrote this wild ride. You have to see it to believe it.

Renny Harlin's Deep Blue Sea has an intriguing cast doing their best with a tale of three genetically enhanced sharks who are really hungry. Part disaster movie, part aquatic horror, pure shark-infested madness, It proves that the only creature who can get the better of Samuel L. Jackson is a shark.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow is a movie that plays with the myth of the werewolf and explores the relationships in a small town. Jim Cummings wrote and directed the film and starred in it, and it has a charming performance from the late great Robert Forster.

This Peter Jackson film, made before he made history with The Lord of the Rings movies, has a lot of hallmarks of earlier Peter Jackson films. Lots of scares, sly and deadpan jokes, and a psychic, played by Michael J. Fox, who uses his powers to con people in small towns out of their cash with the help of his ghost friends who are stranded on Earth.

Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland is a zombie apocalypse film about a group of people who still manage to have fun after the destruction of civilization with zombie hordes roaming around. The film's tone is much lighter from the start as the rules of the zombie apocalypse are spelled out onscreen, as Jesse Eisenberg's character Columbus tells the story of how the world ended.

Club Dread is the third film from Broken Lizard, the comedy collective that made the cult hit Super Troopers. This time they made a comedy slasher film where the killer won't stay dead. The director, co-writer, and actor in the movie, Jay Chandrasekhar, know slasher films and has fun with the tropes and conventions of the genre.

Josh Rubin's Werewolves Within is a film that understands horror films so well that there are distinct vibes from some of the greatest horror films that have preceded it, like The Thing. It gives you Sam Richardson as Finn Wheeler, the loveable yet confused forest ranger and cast chock full of eccentric characters that you can suspect might be the werewolf.

Shin'ichirô Ueda's One Cut of the Dead caused a sensation when it appeared at film festivals, but not everyone may have heard about it. The film asks what situation is more challenging to deal with: a zombie apocalypse or trying to make a zombie apocalypse film live on television. The film leaves the question up to you, but it's hard to decide.