STRAIGHT TO VIDEO PRESENTS THE LAUGHING DEAD (1989)

A priest who has lost his faith leads a tourist bus trip to Aztec ruins in Mexico. There, during an exorcism, the priest becomes possessed by the God of Death. The tourists—including the priest’s old flame, their love child, and a pair of eccentric new-age hippies—are unwillingly drawn into a supernatural battle involving demons, zombies, deranged doctors, and… basketball??

This horror-comedy by director and screenwriter Somtow Sucharitkul, who also takes on one of the roles, boasts impressive special effects by John Carl Buechler (Re-Animator, From Beyond, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, and more). While the film may start a little slowly, patience is rewarded with human sacrifices, bloody decapitations, ripped-out hearts, torn-off limbs, zombies, pitchforks, and a finale packed with rubber monsters. The Laughing Dead is delightfully unhinged, rarely sticking to the conventions of traditional filmmaking, as you’d expect from a Straight-to-Video gem. As Letterboxd user Joseph aptly puts it: “It may not be good in any traditional sense of the word, but it’s also the kind of ridiculously fun trash that makes you hope it gets a larger following.”