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The horror-comedy seems to be in vogue in 2026. Over Your Dead Body is at least the third release in the subgenre in the last two months. Perhaps studios are seeing an appetite for facing darkness with laughter. Or that’s what these creatives need to do in times such as these.
This film comes courtesy of The Lonely Island member Jorma Taccone, his first movie since co-directing Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. This trio has had quite a career since SNL launched them into the spotlight, writing and directing some of the better comedies of the last ten years, if also some duds.
Over Your Dead Body lands right between gem and dud. Starring Jason Segel and newly-minted scream queen Samara Weaving as a married couple on the outs, who travel to a cabin for a weekend getaway while each has a secret plan to murder the other. If you’re thinking this type of darker comedy premise doesn’t seem in line with typical American comedies, you’d be right. This is a remake of the Norwegian film The Trip, and certainly comes across as an Americanized version of a quirky European comedy.
Because Taccone directs, the movie has plenty of merit. The gory and more morose aspects of the humor play better than they would have had a more typical studio director been at the helm. The film’s careening sensibilities and madcap energy often serve it well. Segel and Weaving strike the right tone in their performances, as do Timothy Olyphant and Juliette Lewis. And Paul Guilfoyle provides one of the best cameo-like roles in a movie like this in awhile.
But American films like this often struggle to dedicate screentime to this type of tonality while also writing consistent characters and a satisfying narrative. It often feels like the script more wants to pay lip service to the central emotional arc of the couple learning to resolve their differences than actually spending time with it. Perhaps it is due to a lack of trust in their audience or simply a laziness. To be fair, creating solid, well-crafted character arcs is easier said than done. Yet so many great movies demonstrate that comedy and good characterization do not have to work independently of each other.
Over Your Dead Body manages to be an enjoyable experience overall. There are several instances of clever comedic set-ups and pay-offs indicative of the filmmakers doing more than phoning it in. Which is perhaps why it’s a shame that this doesn’t quite fully live up to its potential. With a little more in editing, this could have been a new cult comedy classic.
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