Film
Deathgasm
A New Zealand horror-comedy about two teenage metalheads who accidentally summon a demonic entity through a cursed record. It's gleefully grotesque and deliberately silly, balancing genuine scares with absurdist humour and practical gore effects. For anyone who wants their horror ridiculous and their comedy genuinely unsettling.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love heavy metal bravado, gleefully excessive gore, and horror that treats its own teenage misfits with affection rather than contempt.
Skip it if you flinch at gore, since the splatter is relentless and the teen-party sniggering rarely lets up for its eighty-six minutes.
What it asks of you: Under ninety minutes, it sprints from one set-piece to the next, rarely pausing for breath, so it demands a high tolerance for noise and gore.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Evil Dead II1987
The blueprint for tonal whiplash: it commits entirely to both the horror and the slapstick, making you laugh and wince in the same scene. Sam Raimi proved you can be genuinely scary and funny without diluting either.
But It's visibly a product of the 1980s, with effects that look deliberately artificial now. If you need slick modern horror, this will feel dated.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil2010
Flips the hillbilly-horror setup by making the 'monsters' sympathetic and hilarious. It's smart about subverting genre expectations while staying true to genuine scares and character.
But The premise is clever but sometimes smarter than the execution. It can feel like it's pleased with itself for the subversion.

What We Do in the Shadows2014
Vampire mockumentary that treats supernatural absurdity with complete deadpan sincerity. Every joke lands because the film never breaks character to explain why it's funny—it just is.
But The humour is very dry and very New Zealand. If you prefer broader comedy, the restraint might feel like nothing's happening.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Deathgasm
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Dead Ringers1988
Both treat bodily violation and corruption as the ultimate horror, but Deathgasm does it through teenage panic while Ringers does it through clinical precision. Opposite registers of the same dread.
Cronenberg's body-horror masterpiece about twin gynaecologists descending into obsession and addiction. It's unsettling, intimate, and takes horror seriously—but shares with Deathgasm a fascination with the grotesque made literal and the banality of evil creeping into ordinary life.
But It's glacial, clinical, and offers no comfort. This is horror as psychological descent, not adventure. If you want catharsis, it doesn't provide one.

More like this (7)
The Cabin in the Woods2012
A love letter to horror tropes that decimates them while respecting why they work. Self-aware without being smug, it understands that you can mock genre conventions and still deliver genuine thrills.
But Once you know what it's doing, a rewatch loses some punch. It's a one-trick film, even if the trick is brilliant.

Fright Night1985
A teenager discovers his neighbour is a vampire and has to become a horror-movie expert to survive. It balances genuine dread with a protagonist who's endearingly out of his depth, and the practical effects are inventive.
But The pacing dips in the middle, and some of the comedy hasn't aged as well as the scares. It's dated in ways that matter.

Braindead1992
Peter Jackson's goriest, silliest film: a Wellington-set zombie movie that treats graphic violence as pure farce. The practical effects are disgusting and brilliant, and it never apologises for either quality.
But It's aggressively gory in a way that can feel gratuitous. If splatter exhausts rather than entertains you, this will feel like endurance rather than fun.

One Cut of the Dead2017
A Japanese zombie film that starts as chaos and becomes something unexpectedly moving. It's technically audacious, wildly funny, and has a genuine emotional core that sneaks up on you.
But The first 35 minutes are deliberately frantic and ugly—you have to commit to the confusion before it pays off. Some viewers will assume it's bad rather than intentional.

Shaun of the Dead2004
The gold standard of zombie comedy: a perfect-pitch British film about a slacker who discovers the zombie apocalypse happening around his ordinary commute. Every character works, every joke lands, every scare counts.
But It's so well-known now that it can feel overpraised. If you're coming to it late, your expectations might be too high.

Teeth2008
A horror-body-horror-comedy about a teenage girl discovering she has vagina dentata. It's transgressive, frequently hilarious, and genuinely angry about sexual coercion in a way that makes the premise feel earned rather than gimmicky.
But The subject matter—sexual assault as comedy-horror—will put off anyone who can't stomach that particular alchemy. It's not for everyone, and it shouldn't be.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines2021
Both are indie-spirited films that use absurdist chaos to explore how ordinary people respond to extraordinary evil. Same DNA, wildly different surface.
An animated film about a family road trip that becomes an apocalypse story. It's frantically inventive visually, genuinely funny, and has real emotion underneath the chaos—much like Deathgasm but told entirely through animation and family dynamics instead of teenage metalheads.
But The animation style is deliberately chaotic and overstimulating. If you prefer visual restraint, it will feel exhausting rather than energetic.

People
Cast
Milo CawthorneBrodie
Kimberley CrossmanMedina
Sam BerkleyDion
Delaney TabronShanna
Colin MoyUncle Albert
Jodie RimmerAunt Mary
Kate ElliottAbigail
James BlakeZakk
Daniel CresswellGiles
Stephen UreRikki Daggers
Nick Hoskins-SmithDavid
Erroll ShandByron
Directing
- Jason Lei HowdenDirector
- Robyn GraceFirst Assistant Director
- Dianne MoffattScript Supervisor
- Hayley BudulisSecond Assistant Director
Writing
- Sarah HowdenScript Consultant
- Jason Lei HowdenWriter
Production
- Craig JacksonAssociate Producer
- Robyn GraceAssociate Producer
- Tim RileyAssociate Producer
- Ant TimpsonExecutive Producer
- Hamza AliExecutive Producer
- Andrew BeattieProducer
- Morgan Leigh StewartProducer
- Sarah HowdenProducer
- Nikki BaigentProduction Manager
Recommended by
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, The VelociPastor, Bloody Hell, Ghost in the Cell