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Subgenre Sampler

 
Life Without Dick (2001)
Dir. Bix Skahill
Feat. Sarah Jessica Parker, Harry Connick Jnr.
Mildly black comedy has a doe–eyed Sarah Jessica Parker accidently offing her boyfriend and resorting to hitman Harry Connick Jnr (who has…
Carriers Are Waiting, TheCarriers Are Waiting, The (Les Convoyeurs Attendent) (1999)
Dir. Benoit Maraige
Feat. Benoit Poelvoorde, Morgane Simon, Bouli Laners
When journalist Benoit Poelvoorde decides his family MUST win top prize in local competition (which involves training his reluctant son to break the…
Celebrity Deathmatch (TV Series)Celebrity Deathmatch (TV Series) (1999)
Genuinely amusing clay–mation generated by MTV, stages fantasy bouts–to–the–death between various celebrity pairings, like:…
It's the RageIt's the Rage (1999)
Dir. James D. Stern
Feat. Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, Gary Sinise
This caustic, precocious black comedy/satire of America's obsession with guns is a roundelay of violent and volatile confrontations that eventually…
Picking Up the PiecesPicking Up the Pieces (1999)
Dir. Alfonso Arau
Feat. Sharon Stone, Woody Allen, Cheech Marin
When the pieces of a dismembered Sharon Stone are dumped on the Mexican border one of her hands goes astray and is soon being worshiped by the locals…
Dead Man's CurveDead Man's Curve (1998) Recommended
Dir. Dan Rosen
Feat. Matthew Lillard, Keri Russell, Dana Delaney
Taking malicious advantage of a school–policy loophole, two desperate students conspire to dress up the murder of their room–mate as a…
Home FriesHome Fries (1998)
Dir. Dean Parisot
Feat. Drew Barrymore, Luke Wilson
Drew Barrymore continues to style herself as a wise yet perky cutsie–pie, here as a pregnant Burger–Matic waitress dodging the vindictive…
JawbreakerJawbreaker (1998)
Dir. Darren Stein
Feat. Rose McGowan
A trio of teen–queens (incl. Rose McGowan), used to inflicting tongue–lashings on their classmates go onto the back foot when they…
Last Yellow, TheLast Yellow, The (1998)
Dir. Julian Farino
Feat. Mark Addy, Charlie Creed-Miles, Samantha Morton
Dishevelled rogue Mark Addy (THE FULL MONTY) and none–too–bright sidekick Charlie Creed–Miles learn lessons of loyalty and…
Addicted to LoveAddicted to Love (1997)
Dir. Griffin Dunne
Feat. Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick
Acting serial monogamist Meg Ryan couples this time with Matthew Broderick for romantic revenge on their respective ex–partners who've become…
Eight Heads in a Duffel BagEight Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997)
Dir. Tom Schulman
Feat. Joe Pesci, Andy Comeau, Kristy Swanson
Mob bagman Joe Pesci must transport hard evidence of a mass slaying, but he loses the noggins and has to recoup them by any means necessary from a…
Head Above WaterHead Above Water (1997)
Dir. Jim Wilson
Feat. Cameron Diaz, Harvey Keitel, Craig Sheffer
An island respite turns afoul for Cameron Diaz, who adds to her multiple man troubles with a gush of fateful coincidences. Frantic suspense farce has…
Weapons of Mass DistractionWeapons of Mass Distraction (1997)
Dir. Stephen Surjik
Feat. Gabriel Byrne, Ben Kingsley, Mimi Rogers
Media moguls Gabriel Byrne and Ben Kingsley vie for ownership of a pro football team, in an escalating war of one–upmanship, eventually raking…
ChickenChicken (1996)
Dir. Grant Lahood
Feat. Cliff Curtis, Bryan Marshall, Martyn Sanderson
Blackly comic farce about an middle–aged ex–pop–star–turned–fast–food–proprietor who is being stalked by a…
Mr. WrongMr. Wrong (1996)
Dir. Nick Castle
Feat. Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Pullman
Ellen DeGeneres, of TV's 'Ellen', playing the dating game of the 90s, meets a handsome stranger only to find his 'perfect' veneer is a creepy…
Grotesque, The (1995)
Dir. John-Paul Davidson
Feat. Alan Bates, Sting
Bizarre, upper–crust English comedy has a suave, veritably oily Sting as butler to crank palaeontologist Alan Bates and his ghastly family.…
Kamikaze TaxiKamikaze Taxi (1995)
Dir. Masato Harada
Feat. Koji Yakusho, Kazuya Takahashi, Reiko Kataoka
An apprentice gangster fouls up his first major assignment and flees Tokyo in a taxi, the driver of which turns out to be a unlikely confident with a…
Mona Must DieMona Must Die (Ein fast perfektes Verhältnis) (1995)
Dir. Donald Reiker
Feat. Marianne Sagebrecht
A tyrannical wife becomes a target for murder of her brow–beaten husband and his neighbour lover. Their devious plan involves the mistress…
StaggeredStaggered (1995)
Dir. Martin Clunes
Feat. Martin Clunes, Griff Rhys-Jones, Michael Praed
As a rather extreme stag party prank, Martin Clunes ('Men Behaving Badly') is left naked on a beach in the wop–wops. His protracted voyage back…
Spanking the MonkeySpanking the Monkey (1994) Aro Favourite
Dir. David O. Russell
Feat. Jeremy Davies, Elizabeth Newett, Benjamin Hendrickson
The awkwardness of youth is brilliantly captured in this provocative tragi–comedy, another maverick success story from the US indie scene. A…
FraudsFrauds (1992)
Dir. Stephan Elliot
Feat. Phil Collins, Hugo Weaving, Nicholas Hammond
Phil Collins plays a smooth–talking, sleazy insurance investigator hell bent on making life miserable for a young couple who have made a claim.…
Wild TargetWild Target (1992)
Dir. Pierre Salvadori
Feat. Jean Rochefort, Guillaume Depardieu
Jean Rochefort is a fastidious hitman whose mania for control, both at home and on assignment, is dangerously weakened when he apprentices Gerard…
Over Her Dead BodyOver Her Dead Body (Enid is Sleeping) (1991)
Dir. Maurice Phillips
Feat. Judge Reinhold, Elizabeth Perkins, Jeffrey Jones
Garish fun with Judge Reinhold and Elisabeth Perkins as a couple of illicit Southern love–birds who kill his wife, but have trouble disposing…
Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will?Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will? (1990)
Dir. Jack Fisk
Feat. Beau Bridges, Beverly D'Angelo, Tess Harper
Various estranged family members re–unite when their patriarch decides to call it a life. A hillbilly comedy with lots of quality squabbling.
Meet the ApplegatesMeet the Applegates (1990)
Dir. Michael Lehmann
Feat. Ed Jr. Begley, Stockard Channing, Dabney Coleman
A wacky satire about a family of insects who assimilate into suburban America in order to blow up a nuclear power plant. As bent as it sounds, from…
Dead FunnyDead Funny (Penn and Teller Get Killed) (1989)
Dir. Arthur Penn
Feat. David Patrick Kelly, Jon Cryer, Reg E. Cathey
Black comedy and magic duo Penn and Teller deploy an array of morbid stage show theatrics within the framework of a fictional feature.
Just Me and MarioJust Me and Mario (1989) Recommended
Dir. Greg Stitt
Feat. Mark Hadlow
Mark Hadlow portrays a repressed individual obsessed with the music and life of Mario Lanza. It's a surreal, blackly comic take on suburban angst.
Fright Night Part 2 Fright Night Part 2 (1988)
Dir. Tommy Lee Wallace
Feat. Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale, Traci Lind
William Ragsdale returns as Charley Brewster, now a college freshman who is tormented by the undead sister of the vampire from the first film. While…
No SurrenderNo Surrender (1985)
Dir. Peter Smith
Feat. Bernard Hill, Michael Angelis, Joanne Whalley
Black comedy has the unfortunate Angelis getting himself into some hot water when he takes over the managment of a seedy Liverpool club. From the pen…
Funeral, TheFuneral, The (1984)
Dir. Juzo Itami
Feat. Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto
A Buddhist funeral service for a brothel owner makes an ideal vehicle for both fiendish black comedy and social satire. An assured debut from the…
Ultimate Solution of...Grace Quigley, TheUltimate Solution of...Grace Quigley, The (1984)
Dir. Anthony Harvey
Feat. Katharine Hepburn, Nick Nolte
Curious black comedy features Hepburn as a lonely widower who enlists hitman Nolte to hasten her demise.
What Have I Done to Deserve This?What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984) Recommended
Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Carmen Maura
Carmen Maura plays a delirious feminist housewife in this early black–comic farce from Almodovar, here working at his freshest and most…
MontenegroMontenegro (1981)
Dir. Dusan Makavejev
Feat. Susan Anspach, Erland Josephson, Marianna Jacobi
A bored housewife gets caught up in Slavic sex and violence and discovers that she quite likes it. Unpredictable and weird, things become wickedly…
Buffet Froid (Cold Cuts)Buffet Froid (Cold Cuts) (1979)
Dir. Bertrand Blier
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Bernard Blier, Jean Carmet
When his lost switchblade turns up as a murder weapon, petty crim Gerard Depardieu goes on the lam in a nightmarish Paris, several disreputable…
DespairDespair (1977)
Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Dirk Bogarde
Fassbinder's blackly comic adaptation of Nabakov's novel about delusion, depression and decline of the human spirit. Dirk Bogarde plays a Russian…
HomebodiesHomebodies (1974) Recommended
Dir. Larry Yust
Feat. Douglas Fowley, Ruth McDevitt, Frances Fuller
A blackly humourous yarn about a group of retired tenants who are willing to go to extremes to prevent eviction. Inventive genre pic belies its low…
Love and Anarchy (1973)
Dir. Lina Wertmuller
Feat. Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Eros Pagni
Cult director Lina Wertmuller's political parable about the would–be assassin of Mussolini who falls in love with a prostitute at his…
Pink FlamingosPink Flamingos (1971) Aro Favourite
Dir. John Waters
Feat. Divine, Mink Stole, Edith Massey
John Waters' creative pinnacle (or nadir!) remains the ultimate statement in bad taste – a pure, unadulterated exercise in shock value!…
Where's Poppa?Where's Poppa? (Going Ape) (1970) Recommended
Dir. Carl Reiner
Feat. George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Ron Leibman
George Segal becomes determined to hurry along the demise of his ultra–demanding, super–senile 87 year–old mom (Ruth Gordon). Few…
Comic Strip Presents: Mr Jolly Lives Next Door / Dirty MovieComic Strip Presents: Mr Jolly Lives Next Door / Dirty Movie
Dir. Stephen Frears
Feat. Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson
Two of the darker "Comic Strip" TV Comedies, starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson.

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