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.

TMDb rating3.1

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.

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.

Evil Dead II poster

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.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil poster

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.

What We Do in the Shadows poster

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.

Dead Ringers poster
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.

The Cabin in the Woods poster

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.

Fright Night poster

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.

Braindead poster

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.

One Cut of the Dead poster

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.

Shaun of the Dead poster

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.

Teeth poster

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.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines poster

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