 "Anybody home?" It's the first line of the flick and its delivery sets the mood for one of the best campy horror films hands-down. Spider Baby is an odd little film with plenty of weirdness, hilarity and kinda creepy moments. I don't want to wreck this film by telling you what it's about, but I will say that although Jack Hill likely meant this to be scary, it plays as a comedic B movie instead. Rent it if you get a chance, you'll laugh your ass off.
Watch the Spider Baby Preview:
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 Right off the bat this film screams indie flick: no-name actors, shot in a real setting (rather than on a set—wow, that is one truly decrepit house), unrealistic dialogue and a plot that is decidingly different. When I rented Mortuary, I thought I was about to be thoroughly freaked out, and although the trailer below makes it look not-worthy-of-renting-stupid, I would say that it is a successful film, in that it sent chills down my spine, while making me laugh out loud at the same time.
The premise: a single mom and her kids move to a small town where they take over the town's mortuary, but the house in which the mortuary is run, has a history of its own... okay, enough said. I can't really sell this film, because the premise sounds silly. Just give it a try.
Watch the trailer for Mortuary:
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 Okay. There is no way I can say The Shining isn't a freaky film, anyone who's seen it knows it will scare your pants off. The direction is incredible, the script is well-written and the acting (especially Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd's) is awesome. I'd definitely put it in the top 10 of scary movies, but that doesn't mean that it's not also a little bit campy as well.
The older I've gotten, the more I've noticed the humour in the dialogue of the film, especially in the lines written for Jack Nicholson's character. It's almost as if writer/director Stanley Kubrick wanted Jack's character to seem so crazy, that he pushed for his delivery to be over the top. By Jack's character making light of the situation, he shows that he has no remorse for what he is doing. This tactic also works well in films like Misery, where Kathy Bate's "dirty birdie" remarks create an altogether unease in the audience, who find themselves laughing while becoming even more freaked out by a character who is so psychotic they refuse to take the act of killing seriously.
The inclusion of humour in The Shining, makes the film that much stronger because it plays against type for a horror flick. It's unexpected, and in that way, more engaging for an audience so predipositioned for fright. Taken out of context some of Jack's best lines might even seem better placed in a dark comedy, rather than a scary movie. To prove this point, check out the mock-preview below. The preview pulls the campy dialogue from The Shining to the forefront, denouncing the scary nature of the film. It's pretty funny. I guess it just goes to show, there is more than one way to read a film.
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