Film
Very Bad Things
Very Bad Things is a nasty, gleeful 90s black comedy about a Las Vegas bachelor party that ends with a dead stripper in the bathroom — and gets worse from there. Peter Berg directs an ensemble of likable actors playing ordinary suburban men choosing self-preservation over decency, one shovel at a time. It's for people who want their comedy pitch-black, morally bankrupt, and utterly without a hero.
If you liked this
Fargo1996
The Coens' original blueprint for turning a botched crime into pitch-black comedy — ordinary people improvising their way deeper into disaster, wood chipper included, with the same queasy laughter Very Bad Things chases.
But It's colder and quieter than Very Bad Things — more snow-bound dread than frat-house chaos, with almost none of that film's manic energy.

Shallow Grave1994
Danny Boyle's first film, about three flatmates who find a suitcase of cash and a dead body and slowly poison each other with suspicion — the same rot-spreads-through-friendship engine, just colder and British.
But It's a slow burn of paranoia rather than a rollercoaster of escalating disasters — patient where Very Bad Things is frantic.

A Simple Plan1998
Same year, same premise almost exactly — found money, a body, brothers who convince each other it's fine — but played dead straight as tragedy instead of farce.
But There's barely a laugh in it. If you came for jokes about a corpse in a shower, this will feel like a gut-punch instead.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Rope1948
Same core scenario — friends concealing a body while trying to act natural in front of people who mustn't know — just told with 1948 restraint instead of 1998 nihilism.
Hitchcock's real-time experiment: two friends murder a third, stash the body in a chest, then host a dinner party over it. The tension of performing normalcy while a corpse cools in the room is exactly Very Bad Things' engine, minus decades of profanity.
But It's stagey and talky by design, shot to look like one unbroken take, with none of the gore or physical comedy the modern version has.

More like this (8)
In Bruges2008
Hitmen hiding out in a fairy-tale Belgian city, cracking filthy jokes while guilt eats them alive — Martin McDonagh's script is quotable, cruel, and somehow moving by the end.
But It's more melancholy than mean — there's real tenderness under the profanity that Very Bad Things never allows itself.

The Hangover2009
The bachelor-party-gone-wrong template pushed toward slapstick instead of homicide — a tiger, a missing tooth, a baby, and almost none of the consequences ever really bite.
But It pulls every punch Very Bad Things refuses to — this is the comfortable, consequence-free version of the same disastrous weekend.

Horrible Bosses2011no page yet
Three friends plot murder over drinks because their jobs are unbearable — broader and safer, but it's got the same pleasure of watching nice guys talk themselves into something monstrous.
But It's studio-comedy toothless where Very Bad Things has actual teeth — nobody here really has to live with what they've done.
Cheap Thrills2013no page yet
Two old friends accept escalating cash dares from a rich stranger until the dares turn lethal — a nasty little B-movie sharing Very Bad Things' delight in watching decency dissolve for money.
But It's scrappier and cheaper-looking, with none of the starry cast — this is a grindhouse cousin, not a glossy one.
Death at a Funeral2007
A family funeral spirals into blackmail, drugs, and a coffin catastrophe — pure farce, but it shares the same joy in watching a solemn occasion collapse into chaos.
But Nobody dies because of anyone's choices here — it's slapstick embarrassment, not moral horror, so the stakes never feel real.

Bad Santa2003no page yet
Not a crime spiral, but the same misanthropic glee — a movie that finds a rotten, foul-mouthed person and just lets him stay rotten, no redemption arc required.
But There's no body to bury and no group of friends unraveling together — the connection is tone and nerve, not plot.
The Staircase2022
Both ask the same uncomfortable question — how far people close to a death will go to protect themselves — but this one has no punchline, because it actually happened.
A real man, a real dead body at the bottom of real stairs, and years of legal maneuvering to explain it away — the true-crime cousin to Very Bad Things' fictional cover-up, minus any of the jokes.
But It's slow, procedural, and genuinely sad — there's no catharsis here, just the exhausting machinery of a family trying to survive an unprovable truth.

Force Majeure2014
Same nerve as Very Bad Things — a man choosing himself over everyone else — but stripped of the crime plot so all that's left is the cowardice and the cringe.
A husband abandons his family at the first sign of danger on a ski trip, then spends the rest of the film trying to live with what everyone saw him do — Östlund's excruciating comedy of masculine self-preservation.
But It's Swedish, glacially paced, and there's no crime, no body, no plot mechanics — just one unbearable moment and its aftermath.

People
Cast
Christian SlaterRobert Boyd
Cameron DiazLaura Garrety
Jon FavreauKyle Fisher
Leland OrserCharles Moore
Jeremy PivenMichael Berkow
Daniel SternAdam Berkow
Jeanne TripplehornLois Berkow
Blake GibbonsSuit- Tyler Cole MalingerTimmy Berkow
Joey ZimmermanAdam Berkow Jr.
Russell B. McKenzieSecurity Guard
Directing
- Peter BergDirector
- Chris HowellSecond Unit Director
- Basti Van Der WoudeThird Assistant Director
Writing
- Peter BergScreenplay
Production
- Debi ManwillerCasting
- Christian SlaterExecutive Producer
- Michael A. HelfantExecutive Producer
- Scott KroopfExecutive Producer
- Ted FieldExecutive Producer
- Laura GreenleeLine Producer
- Cindy CowanProducer
- Diane NabatoffProducer
- Joanna JohnsonProducer
- Michael SchifferProducer
Recommended by
Fargo, The Trouble with Harry, Date Night, A Simple Plan, Rope, Wild Things, Blood Simple, Kill List, Shallow Grave, The Hangover