Horror movies with jokes usually involve the characters finding brief moments of levity in a more believable, less high-concept world. Killer clowns, zombie sheep, zombie romantic-comedy. Horror comedies tend to have an inherently absurd premise.

Some movies, like Scream, are horror movies with jokes.

That makes identifying the real genre spanners all the more difficult. So it makes sense that all but the most dour of horror movies have at least a few jokes in them. Many of the best horror-comedies are gross because the joke and the horror are coming from the same place: your disgusting, vulnerable body. The failings of the human body are absurd, disgusting, and dumb.

But horror-comedy succeeds often not just because the genres have similar aims but because death is kinda funny. A laugh or a scream: Either way, your higher brain functions aren’t really supposed to be getting involved. People say comedy and horror are intrinsically linked because they both go for a visceral reaction. Photo: AJ Pics/Alamy/Janus Films/Courtesy Everett Collection/Myung Films/Universal

Best spooky lets plays