Following much controversy, the Akshay Kumar-starrer Laxmii released on 9 November. A comedy-horror film that is actually a remake of a Tamil film Kanchana, Laxmii received disappointing reviews. The film's outdated and borderline offensive comic gags didn't sit well with most.
Horror-comedy films are a very niche genre. It's either done well or it's not. So if Laxmii left you disappointed and unsatisfied, here's a list of some interesting horror-comedy films to sit back and enjoy on the upcoming Diwali weekend:
1. Stree
Directed by Amar Kaushik and starring Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao, Stree is based on an urban legend from Karnataka about a spirit who goes around knocking on people's doors at night. The residents of a town called Chanderi are terrified of a woman's ghost who stalks and abducts men every year during a particular festival. She is referred to as 'Stree' by the people. Stree was a sleeper hit at the box office and does a great job of both spooking you out while tickling your funny bone.
Stree is streaming on Netflix.
2. Bhooter Bhabishyat
A 2012 Bengali film directed by Anik Dutta, Bhooter Bhabishyat stars Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Parambrata Chatterjee, Paran Bandopadhyay and Swastika Mukherjee. When Ayan Sengupta meets Biplab Dasgupta, he is unexpectedly drawn into the world of ghosts that inhabit the Chowdhury Mansion. After the spirit of its last owner departed, the wandering ghosts settled down in the mansion. But their peace is soon disrupted by a greedy plot-dealer who is determined to convert the house into a shopping mall. Now it's up to the ghosts to prevent this from happening.
Bhooter Bhabishyat is streaming on Hotstar.
3. The Cabin in the Woods
A 2011 American horror-comedy film directed by Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods stars Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford. The film takes on a typical spooky-cabin-in-the-forest setting and plays around with it. The plot follows a group of college friends who decide to make a little trip to a remote cabin in the middle of a forest. Things start to go awry, but the students don't know that their lives are temporarily being controlled by external forces.
The Cabin in the Woods is streaming on Netflix.
4. Go Goa Gone
Go Goa Gone is a 2013 horror-comedy film starring Saif Ali Khan, Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, and Puja Gupta. It is directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. Go Goa Gone follows the story of four friends as they decide to visit Goa. In Goa, they are invited to a big party being hosted by the Russian mafia on a secluded island. The next day after the party, the four friends wake up to a setting they're not too familiar with: there are zombies on the island and suddenly it's turned into a game of survival.
Go Goa Gone is available to stream on YouTube.
5. Zombieland
A post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film by Ruben Fleischer, Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. The film follows a college student as he tries to make his way through the zombie apocalypse. On the way, he befriends three strangers and together they embark on a road trip in search of a world free of zombies. The premise is quite dark, but the tone of the film is humorous. Zombieland is all about four strangers learning to trust each other amidst the literal end of the world as they know it.
Zombieland is streaming on Netflix.
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