Film

Bloody Hell

Name: Bloody Hell
Genre: Horror, Comedy, Action, Mystery, Thriller
Released: 2020
Cast: Ben O'Toole, Meg Fraser, Caroline Craig, Matthew Sunderland, Travis Jeffery

Horror comedy

An Australian action-horror-comedy about a traumatized man on the run who stumbles into a nightmare worse than the one chasing him. It's deliberately weird and tonal, blending extreme violence with genuine laughs and surrealism. Made for people who love genre mashups and aren't afraid of films that refuse to sit still.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like violent slapstick with a dark streak and a talking-conscience buddy dynamic, where the gore and gags sit side by side and the mood swings quickly.

Skip it if you want a tidy, carefully plotted thriller; the logic is loose, the tone lurches between squeamish and silly, and the gore is relentless enough to wear thin.

What it asks of you: At 94 minutes it moves briskly and keeps shifting gears, so it wants your full attention rather than background company, and it is happy to be grisly while you are laughing.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil2010

A horror-comedy that dismantles genre expectations by making the supposed villains sympathetic and funny. It has the same gleeful subversion of what you think is happening, with real stakes underneath the comedy.

But The premise feels gimmicky at first, and the film takes a while to really earn its tonal shifts. Some of the early jokes land softer than the premise deserves.

What We Do in the Shadows2014

Horror filtered through absurdist comedy without ever losing either register. It's got that same comfortable weirdness, finding genuine scares and genuine laughs in the same scene without winking at you.

But It's extremely dry, and the mockumentary format means long stretches without plot momentum. If you need constant narrative drive, this will feel slack.

Mandy2018

Wildly excessive, operatic, and unafraid to be heavy and funny and visually insane all at once. Nicolas Cage in full commitment mode, which is exactly the energy Bloody Hell has.

But It's a slog in places and deeply self-indulgent. Some scenes exist for mood and texture rather than story, which can feel pretentious if you're not in the mood for it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bloody Hell

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Deathgasm2015

Same country's genre filmmaking approach: refusing to choose between sincere and silly, horror and heart. Both are made by filmmakers who learned that constraint breeds creativity.

A New Zealand horror-comedy about teenage metalheads and demonic possession. It has Bloody Hell's exact DNA—unabashed violence played with genuine affection, tonal chaos that actually works, filmmakers having a ball with a modest budget.

But Teenage-focused comedy horror means it occasionally leans on jokes that don't land, and the editing can feel choppy when it tries to rush through the quieter bits.

Sightseers2012

Ben Wheatley's darkest comedy about ordinary people doing terrible things. It escalates in ways that feel both hilarious and genuinely dark, with that same willingness to make you uncomfortable and laugh.

But It's aggressively British and the humor is bone-dry. The central couple are basically awful people, which is funny until it isn't, and not everyone enjoys that moral ambiguity.

Fido2006

A zombie movie that plays everything completely straight in a 1950s suburbia setting. Tonally precise in a way that lets horror and comedy genuinely coexist without one undermining the other.

But The satire can feel heavy-handed about nuclear family conformity. If you're allergic to allegorical messaging, this wears it on the outside.

Braindead1992

Peter Jackson before he was Peter Jackson: an absolute gore-soaked comedy that treats its grotesqueness as something to find funny rather than just shocking. Genuinely inventive kills and real heart underneath the carnage.

But It's relentlessly, exhaustingly gross. The practical effects are stomach-turning and don't stop, which can wear you down rather than entertain you.

In Fabric2018

A surreal, deadpan British horror about a haunted dress. Gorgeously composed, deeply weird, committed to its own logic. Understands that horror and comedy share the same engine: surprise and control.

But It's deliberately slow and the logic is dream-logic rather than plot logic. Plot-driven viewers will feel frustrated by the deliberate narrative drifting.

We Need to Talk About Kevin2011

A brutal, formally inventive film that doesn't flinch from difficult material. Tilda Swinton at her most glacial and powerful, handling extremity with intelligence rather than sensationalism.

But It's deeply heavy and depressing. There's no comedic relief and the film processes trauma in ways that can be punishing rather than cathartic to watch.

The Platform2019

A Spanish sci-fi horror that uses its concept to maximum satirical effect. Genre filmmaking that respects your intelligence and earns its ideas through execution rather than explanation.

But It's extremely dark thematically and the ending offers no comfort. If you watch films to feel better about humanity, this will do the opposite.

Possessor2020

Both explore fractured identity through extreme imagery. Where Bloody Hell uses chaos and comedy, Possessor uses glacial precision and dread. Same territory, opposite temperatures.

Brandon Cronenberg's sci-fi body-horror thriller about consciousness and control. Visually and thematically violent, formally precise, deeply committed to its own weirdness. Made the same year, from a completely different angle on similar themes of self and fracture.

But It's cold and intellectually demanding. The body horror is genuinely difficult and never softened by humor—some viewers will find it punishing rather than engaging.

Beyond the Black Rainbow2010

Both make strange cinema from constraint rather than despite it. Both trust visual storytelling and mood over exposition. Both know that if you commit fully to weirdness, audiences will follow.

An obscure sci-fi-horror that feels like a fever dream made on practically nothing. Deeply committed to its own surreal logic, visually stunning, operating in pure mood and atmosphere. Proves you can make something genuinely strange without needing explanation or conventional narrative.

But It's challenging and plotless by conventional standards. The synth score and visual assault can be exhausting, and if you need clear story structure, you'll be frustrated within minutes.