10 Great Dark Film Comedies You Have To See

Happiness was released in 1998 to a storm of controversy. Rejected by the Sundance Film Festival for its heavy sexual content, the film was written and directed by Todd Solondz and has since received a cult following.

It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, Lara Flynn Boyle and Jon Lovitz (amongst others), and is the most unapologetically daring dark comedy to make the list.

The film primarily focuses on three sisters - Joy, Helen and Trish - all of whom find their lives unravelling in increasingly peculiar and morally questionable ways. Throughout the film, audiences are introduced to Helen's creepy neighbour Allen; they meet Trish's secretive psychiatrist husband, Bill; and Joy's student boyfriend Vlad.

It's a seriously mature and disturbing work from a director clearly seeking out the meanings behind peoples' unhappiness and why society is the way it is.

Like World's Greatest Dad and The Voices before it, Happiness is by no means a film for everyone - a dark, adult assessment of morals, social interaction, desire and despair. But underneath the controversy and the bizarre, often horrifying characters, it's a great comedy with no qualms about pushing the envelope, and for that it deserves to be seen.