10 Incredibly Dark Comedies That Dare You To Laugh

2. Happiness (1994)

As with a handful of other entries on this list, the irony of the film's title becomes immediately apparent. Every character we meet is miserable, pathetic, desperate, lonely and unfulfilled. In short, they're not the kind of people that you'd choose to spend two hours with. So why is it that you can't look away? To say that Todd Solondz's second feature is a bit controversial would be a giant understatement; each scene revels in making light of such taboo subjects as suicide, rape and paedophilia. Amongst a cast of grotesques there's Allen (the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman), who masturbates while making obscene calls to strangers. There's Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle), the woman he's calling, who is only too glad of the attention.And then there's Bill (Dylan Baker), Allen's therapist and arguably one of the most disturbing characters you'll ever see. After Bill develops an obsession for his eleven-year-old son's classmate, Johnny, he arranges for the boys to have a sleepover. It is here that he drugs and sodomises Johnny. He then preys on another of his son's friends. But it isn't long before the secret is out. Which leads us to... Darkest Comedy Moment: The conversation between Bill and his son Billy is truly, thankfully, one of a kind. It's the type of dialogue you hear once and never forget. It's the sort of jet-black, unbearably inappropriate humour that even Chris Morris' Jam might shy away from. And it goes like this:

Billy: Dad, did you, um... with Johnny Grasso and Ronald Farber? Bill: Yes. Billy: Would you... would you do it again? Bill: Yes. Billy: Would you ever f**k me? Bill: No. I'd jerk off instead.