Now that Halloween's fast approaching, TV networks are filling up the lineup of shows for the Halloween season to gore, scary movies and more gore.Although slasher films are quite fun to watch and scary movies to heighten the mood for the season, if you've already tired of the usual thriller flick you pop on the DVD player on Halloween nights, you might want to turn on to watching Dark Comedies. They 'IN" for the season and they're quite enjoyable as well, and, to give you a taste I'd like to give a list of my quick pics for your alternative Halloween night viewing pleasure.

A Clockwork Orange

A Stanley Kubrick classic, this one is not for everyone. As dark comedies go, I would consider this, one of the best. With graphic descriptions of sex and violence - or as Alex would say in this film 'ultraviolence', some scenes can be quite disturbing. I comes out as very violent in the beginning and many of you may consider walking out within the first half of the film. But, I urge you to finish it as it gets better towards the end, and you'll be able to see the comedic side to it. The movie tells us of Alex and his droogs, committing a spree of murder and sexual violence in their neighborhood. One of their adventures turn out awry and Alex ends up being arrested. He then becomes a subject in an experimental treatment for violence making him abhor the things that he enjoyed doing before. He comes out a changed man unable to do any acts of violence and even thoughts of violence tend to sicken him. The movie becomes quite funny as we see Alex being beaten up and tortured in several occasions - from the time that the doctors were  presenting their success in Alex, up to when he meets up with his old gang who surpirsingly became cops who beat and torture him when they see him. He struggles from his natural nature to do violent acts, to his feeling of sickness in his stomach every time he thinks of an act of violence. He does definitely get what he deserves and you dont feel sorry for him at all, but may find yourself laughing at his sad predicament. It's especially funny as the doctors that perform the experiment, use his most favorite musician's work to brainwash him, and he helplessly shouts out, strapped to his chair "Not Ludwig Van!". This film is definitely different, creating a mixture of reactions of disgust to funny, you might find yourself laughing as the end credits roll.

The Butcher Boy

This movie will kind of remind you of Angela's Ashes, as it seems to be set at the period of time in the same country - Ireland, and the boy who plays the lead sort of looks like the boy in Angela's Ashes too, though, don't be fooled. This is not your poignant coming of age movie, but the sad story of Francie Brady, a little boy driven into madness as a result of events that happened in his young life. The movie is told with a voice over of Francie looking back at his childhood. With a suicidal mother and a drunk father, go goes on to tell his story, not with sadness and hurt, but of wit, humour and at times a bit of absurdity as he recounts visions of the Virgin Mary (played by Sinead O' Connor). Sinead O' Connor as the Virgin Mary alone, is worth checking the film out, but you'll find yourself enjoying the film despite that it deals with a little boy's regression into a murdering madman. You'll feel sorry for the boy but you'll also find yourself laughing at the way he recounts his life.

BeetleJuice

This movie, got me hooked on Tim Burton films. It's more comedic than dark, though it does deal with death and horrific monsters of the afterlife. This film is quite enjoyable as it gives you a visual feast when the dead couple played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin goes to the Netherworld. It tackles death and the afterlife lightly as the a couple, who dies and gets trapped in their home try to request the assistance of a freakish ghoul named Betelgeuse to get rid the new residents of their home. You'll see a young Winona Ryder here and the pre-Batman Micheal Keaton playing the wild and wacky Beetle Juice. You've gotta hand it to Tim Burton to make the morbid look lively and and highly entertaining. You might also want to see other dark comedies by Tim Burton, as he seems to be really good in this kind of movies : Edward  Scissorhands, A Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride.

Heathers

Another Winona movie, is Heathers, a dark comedy about a high school clique that call themselves Heathers. Winona, a member of this clique befriends and gets involved with J.D., an extremely disturbed young guy played by Christian Slater. She secretly hates her clique enough to wish they were dead. He helps her by killing the leader of their clique and their other friends covering it up as suicide. It's basically a teen movie, but with a twist. Highly entertaining, and absolutely a good movie if you want to veer off from your usual teen movie pictures and your usual slasher type kind of films.

From Dusk Till Dawn

The first time I watched this movie, I didn't know what to expect, just that it was a Quentin Tarantino film and that it could be like Pulp Fiction. In the first few minutes of the movie, you kind of feel that Pulp Fiction vibe. But then when you realize that it turns out to be a completely different movie, that's when the fun starts. I was just laughing at how absurd the movie premise was and everytime they killed someone off, I couldn't help myself from chuckling, because the change in the film did really throw me off guard. To anyone who hasn't heard of the film yet, don't look it up but just watch it and enjoy! Quentin Tarantino also stars in this film and it was also quite fun to watch him act too!

Little Shop of Horrors

What better than to have a dark comedy that's also a musical!  It's a remake of the 1960 film that also has music from the musical. It's about a geeky guy played by Rick Moranis, who works at a florist's shop. He discovers a weird looking plant and decides to care for it. It turns out the plant has an unusual appetite for blood, it grows and grows wanting for more. Rick Moranis' character, then becomes a murderer to feed his weird looking plant, as it seems to give them extra businees for their flower shop. Steve Martin also appears on this film as a sadistic dentist, who's downright hilarious. Fun, dark and highly entertaining - another unique pick for halloween movie night.

Punch Drunk Love

This isn't much of a comedy, but I'm listing it here since it's dark, and unique at the same time. If you're anything like Adam Sandler's character on this film and relate to him, you might get quite scared. He plays Barry, a business owner who has a problem of not being able to stand up for himself and getting stepped upon by a lot of people. One day feeling down and lonely, he calls this phone sex line and ends up getting scammed and being extorted for cash. This conflict pushes him to reach his boiling point at some parts of the film and you sort of worry about his sanity. At some points, you can also see yourself worry that he might kill the girl that he was going out with in the movie. But it all ties up good at the end and you'll realize that it's a nice good love story. It's one of those films that you'll get to appreciate when you finish the whole movie because everyting falls into place when it finishes. No for ones looking for a fast paced film but a great alternative dark film, that does have it's own kind of humor.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

No, it's not Charlie and the Chocolate factory, I haven't watched that myself though, but it's the 1970s movie with Gene Wilder in it. Why is it a dark comedy? Though it is a children's film, I've encountered a lot of people telling me whenever I said that I loved the movie, if I found it scary....because they did. If you were a kid, maybe you would find it scary, seeing bad kids getting stuck in a chocolate pipeline to end up as fudge in a fudge room, becoming a huge piece of blueberry (that you shouldn't prick as it may pop), getting lost in the repository of bad eggs and shrinking to a size of an inch to be stretched to normal size in a taffy stretching machine. Not to mention, the little orange skinned men with green hair. Willy Wonka, seems a bit odd a well, who seemed to enjoy the bad kids getting into trouble and not even preventing anything to get them out of it. But of course it's Willy Wonka's wit and sarcasm that makes this film funny and quite memorable. Who wouldn't forget that song "Pure Imagination" and of course my all time favorite "Candy Man". It dark and funny, and furthermore it's a great children's film as well.

Those are the just a few of the films that you may want consider if you do want an alternative from your usual halloween movies. Dark comedies give you that dark feel but none of the sad and bad after effects. So, pop your popcorns in the microve and cozy up in the sofa and pick up one of these films that will sure make your night.

 - meeyaw

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