Horror comedy shows are killing it on screen these days. From everyone’s favorite Wednesday to my personal favorite What We Do in the Shadows, it is clear that audiences love a good mix of chills and chuckle. And I’ll have to admit: As a reader, I don’t always want nightmares with my reading, which is why I turn to comedy horror books for the right balance.
They’re creepy enough to make me glance over my shoulder, but funny enough to keep me laughing through the gore. And if you’re also looking for funny horror books that can spook you without wrecking your sleep schedule, you’re in the right place.
Here are nine books that will tickle your funny bone while chilling your spine, so let’s dive straight into the list!
The 9 Best Comedy Horror Books to Keep You Laughing (and Screaming)
The below titles bring the weirdest mashup of scares and humor, with haunted book clubs, witchy hockey teams, and monsters that don’t take themselves too seriously.
Ready to see how the weirdest monsters, witches, and pranksters can double as comedians?
1. Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
A family always on the run. A boy who doesn’t quite belong. A werewolf story with more bite than glamour.
I thought werewolf stories were all brooding forests and tragic curses, but Mongrels proved me wrong. Stephen Graham Jones makes the genre scrappy, funny, and deeply human, telling the story of a boy growing up in a family of werewolves who never quite fit in.
The horror is there, sure, but so are the small, ridiculous moments. Like family road trips that end in disaster, or the awkward humor of hiding claws. It is part survival tale, satire, and absolutely unforgettable.
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- A must-read for fans of offbeat, funny horror novels
- Shifts easily between unsettling scenes and dry comedy
- Proves that monsters can make you laugh while they scare you
Laugh Score: 3/5, thanks to the dry, awkward humor.
Scare Score: 4/5, with plenty of blood and unease.
2. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Casseroles, gossip, and PTA meetings. A monster hiding in plain sight. Welcome to the deadliest book club in town.
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires shows what happens when everyday housewives realize the new man in town might not be what he seems.
Hendrix sets The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires against a backdrop of casseroles and gossip, but then slips in genuine dread that grows page by page. The result is a suburban horror tale that is sharp, funny, and disturbingly believable.
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- A strong mix of satire and scares in a horror comedy novel
- Captures how ordinary people deal with extraordinary threats
- A vampire story with bite…. and wit
Laugh Score: 3/5, mostly sly humor and suburban satire.
Scare Score: closer to 4/5, with disturbing imagery and relentless suspense.
3. We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
A field hockey team. The 1980s. A spiral notebook is said to hold magical power.
That’s the setup of We Ride Upon Sticks, and it only gets stranger from there. Quan Barry takes teenage rebellion, sports drama, and witchcraft, then spins it into one of the most unpredictable and quirky horror stories you’ll ever read. It’s funny, messy, and dripping with nostalgia; a mashup of girl power and supernatural hijinks that feels both absurd and relatable.
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- Captures the energy of teenage mayhem with a witchy twist
- Hilarious in its mix of pop culture and occult weirdness
- A story that proves horror can wear a big grin
Laugh Score: 4/5, thanks to teenage antics and absurd humor.
Scare Score: closer to 2/5, with creepiness more than outright terror.
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4. Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
One mannequin. One prank. And a small town about to unravel.
I thought I’d be safe with a short novella about a mannequin prank. Turns out Night of the Mannequins is one of the strangest horror comedy novels I’ve read in years! It starts light, then shifts into carnage so fast you almost laugh at the whiplash. Stephen Graham Jones has a way of writing dark humor horror that feels almost too real, like watching teenagers ruin their lives for no good reason.
What makes Night of the Mannequins stand out is its bite. It’s part absurd prank, part slasher, and part horror satire about growing up in the wrong kind of town. The laughs come from ridiculous teenage logic, but the scares come from how ugly things get once the prank spins out of control.
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- A tight, bizarre read that mixes comedy and dread
- One of the more inventive, humorous horror stories of the decade
- Short but full of nasty surprises
Laugh Score: 3/5, from ridiculous dialogue and setup.
Scare Score: closer to 4/5, heavy on gore and unease.
5. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
A missing god. Children trained as his terrifying replacements. A library filled with knowledge that can destroy the world.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that confused me, unsettled me, and made me laugh quite the way The Library at Mount Char did. Scott Hawkins writes about a group of adopted children who inherit strange powers after their godlike father disappears, and it’s hard to describe without sounding unhinged.
The quirky plot leaps from cosmic horror to absurd comedy to fantasy battles, and somehow it never feels wrong. It’s messy in the best way.
What really works in The Library at Mount Char is the refusal to stick to one box. This is not just horror or fantasy or satire, it’s all of them. That kind of genre mashup shouldn’t work, but here it does by creating something you can’t stop thinking about once you close the book.
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- A deliberately chaotic, quirky plot that always surprises
- A fearless genre mashup of horror, humor, and fantasy
- A book you’ll argue about long after finishing
Laugh Score: 3/5, awkward and darkly funny.
Scare Score: closer to 3/5, unsettling ideas more than gore.
6. My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
The year is 1988. Two best friends. One unexpected demon.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism, a novel that delivers high school melodrama with an unholy twist. Hendrix’s knack for dark humor horror shines in every chapter. The tone is ridiculous and grim at the same time, making you laugh when you least expect it!
What sets this book apart is its staying power; decades may separate us from the 1980s setting, but it keeps showing up in conversations about horror books 2025. Because the themes of friendship and survival never really date, right? And add in blood, jokes, and a very committed exorcism, and you have a story that’s impossible to forget!
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- High school drama laced with demonic chaos
- A strong showcase of dark humor horror done right
- Still recommended among modern horror books 2025
Laugh Score: 4/5, with campy, awkward teenage moments.
Scare Score: closer to 3/5, unsettling more than nightmarish.
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7. Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
A body heals too quickly. A girl is not what she seems. The truth is more dangerous than the bite.
Fledgling unsettles from the first page. Butler delivers a bold psychological twist by giving us a vampire who looks like a child but carries the instincts of someone far older. The setup forces readers to confront uncomfortable questions about identity and power. Horror here is not only in blood but in the blurred line between innocence and danger.
Still, Butler slips in moments that surprise, conversations turn awkwardly funny, and the character’s alien way of thinking becomes a source of supernatural humor. Those shifts keep Fledgling from drowning in darkness, proving that even fear can carry a strange charm. The result is a form of lighthearted horror, unsettling but softened by moments of irony and wit.
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- Challenges the limits of the vampire genre
- Uneasy but deeply thought-provoking
- Lingers long after you’ve closed the book
Laugh Score: 2/5, humor wrapped in discomfort.
Scare Score: closer to 4/5, haunting in its moral weight.
8. A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill
It begins with a haunted house built for fun. For one boy, the monsters are impossible to ignore.
Shaun Hamill’s A Cosmology of Monsters combines family life with the strange and the terrifying. Noah tells the story with a witty narrative that makes even the smallest scenes feel animated. The monsters matter, but what hits harder is how loss and silence creep into a family until they can’t hold together anymore.
A Cosmology of Monsters doesn’t rely on constant scares. Instead, odd flashes of humor break through at the worst possible moments, catching you off guard. That’s why it belongs among spooky and funny books; the laughs feel wrong, but they land anyway!
For readers just stepping into the genre, it also works well as one of the easier horror books for beginners, since it favors atmosphere over shock and gore.
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- A haunted house story rooted in family life
- Monsters that mirror human struggles
- Horror written with intimacy as much as fear
Laugh Score: 3/5, humor in awkward family moments.
Scare Score: closer to 4/5, unease that builds slowly.
9. Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone by Stefan Kiesbye
A village far from the city. Children who grow cruel without reason. Stories told like fables, but never kind ones
Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone delivers horror through restraint. Kiesbye’s writing has the flat tone of parody, where the shocking is described as if it were ordinary. That refusal to exaggerate is what makes it frightening.
Don’t expect the chaos of books like Shaun of the Dead. This is a different creature, with no winks or slapstick, just the cold logic of folklore. Because of that, it often comes up in thoughtful horror book recommendations, praised for its brevity and impact. It unsettles not through monsters, but through memory and silence.
What Makes It Tick (and Tickle):
- Childhood innocence flipped into cruelty
- Violence hidden behind plain description
- Horror that whispers rather than shouts
Laugh Score: 1/5, bleak and bitter.
Scare Score: closer to 4/5, haunting and quiet.
Conclusion
So maybe you thought horror was all gloom and doom, but these comedy horror books prove otherwise. The best funny horror books remind us that monsters can crack jokes while they’re tearing through the plot, and that’s half the fun. Whether it’s a witchy sports team or a possessed friendship bracelet, each title here proves that creepy and goofy belong together.
I’ve shared my picks, now it’s your turn! What made you laugh and shiver at the same time? Drop your reviews and horror recs, because this genre thrives on word-of-mouth scares and laughs.
