List of satirical films

Films by genre
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of films that incorporate satire or were described as such. Made-for-television and animated films are also included.

Title Year Credits Country Subgenre
La signora di tutti[1] 1934 Directed by Max Ophüls
Written by Salvator Gotta (novel), Curt Alexander, Hans Wilhelm, Max Ophüls		 Italy Drama
A Face in the Crowd[2] 1957 Directed by Elia Kazan
Written by Budd Schulberg		 United States Drama
A Bucket of Blood[3] 1959 Directed by Roger Corman
written by Charles B. Griffith		 United States Comedy horror
The Manchurian Candidate[4] 1962 Directed by John Frankenheimer
Written by George Axelrod and based on The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon		 United States Thriller (Political, neo-noir, psychological)
Le Mépris[5] 1963 Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Based on Il disprezzo by Alberto Moravia		 International (France, Italy) Drama
(French New Wave)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb[6] 1964 Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Based on Red Alert by Peter George		 International (United Kingdom, United States) Comedy-science fiction
Night of the Living Dead[7] 1968 Directed by George A. Romero
Written by Romero, John Russo 		United States Horror (Zombie)
Sleeper[6] 1973 Directed by Woody Allen
Written by Allen, Marshall Brickman 		United States Comedy-science fiction
The Werewolf of Washington[8] 1973 Written and directed by Milton Moses Ginsberg United States Horror-comedy
House of Whipcord[5] 1974 Directed by Pete Walker
Written by David McGillivray, Walker 		United Kingdom Horror
Network[2] 1976 Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Paddy Chayefsky 		United States Drama
Dawn of the Dead[9] 1978 Directed and written by Romero United States Horror (Zombie)
This Is Spınal Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin Di Bergi[10] 1984 Directed by Rob Reiner
Written by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Reiner 		United States Mockumentary
Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future[5] (TV-film) 1984 Directed by Rocky Morton, Annabel Jankel United Kingdom Science fiction (Cyberpunk)
Nineteen Eighty-Four[11] 1984 Written and directed by Michael Radford United Kingdom Dystopian
Brazil[12] 1985 Directed by Terry Gilliam
Written by Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown 		United Kingdom Science fiction drama
Desert Bloom[13] 1986 Directed by Eugene Corr and written by Corr and Linda Remy United States Drama
RoboCop[6] 1987 Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Written by Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner 		United States Science fiction-action
They Live[14] 1988 Directed by John Carpenter
Written by Frank Armitage and based on "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson 		United States Science fiction-action
The Distinguished Gentleman[10] 1992 Directed by Jonathan Lynn
Written by Marty Kaplan, Jonathan Reynolds 		United States Comedy
Bob Roberts[10] 1992 Written and directed by Tim Robbins United States Mockumentary
Demolition Man[15] 1993 Directed by Marco Brambilla
Written (disputed) by Daniel Waters, Robert Reneau, Peter M. Lenkov 		United States Science fiction-action
Starship Troopers[2] 1997 Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Based on Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein 		United States Science fiction-action
The Truman Show[16] 1998 Directed by Peter Weir
Written by Andrew Niccol 		United States Comedy drama
But I'm a Cheerleader 1999 Directed by Jamie Babbit
Written by Brian Wayne Peterson		 United States Comedy[17]
Fight Club 1999 Directed by David Fincher
Written by Jim Uhls 		United States Drama
Battle Royale [5] 2000 Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Based on Battle Royale by Koushun Takami 		Japan Thriller-action
Dumplings[5] 2004 Directed by Fruit Chan
Written by Lilian Lee 		Hong Kong Horror
Land of the Dead [18] 2005 Written and directed by George A. Romero International (Canada, France, United States) Horror
(Zombie, Post-apocalyptic)
Idiocracy[19] 2006 Written by Mike Judge and Etan Cohen
Directed by Mike Judge		 United States Science fiction-Comedy
Long Pigs [20] 2007 Written and directed by Chris Power and Nathan Hynes Canada Horror-Pseudo-documentary
District 9[15] 2009 Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Written by Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell 		International (South Africa, United States, New Zealand) Science fiction-action
The Cabin in the Woods[21] 2011 Directed by Drew Goddard
Written by Goddard, Joss Whedon 		United States Comedy-horror
Nightcrawler[22] 2014 Directed and written by Dan Gilroy United States Crime thriller
The Final Girls[23] 2015 Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
Written by M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller		 United States Comedy-horror
Friend of the World[24] 2020 Written and directed by Brian Patrick Butler United States Body horror
Tughlaq Durbar 2021 Directed by Delhi Prasad Deenadayalan
Written by Deenadayalan, Balaji Tharaneetharan 		India Political
Triangle of Sadness[25] 2022 Directed and written by Ruben Östlund International (Sweden, Germany, France, United Kingdom) Black comedy
The Menu[26] 2022 Directed by Mark Mylod
Written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy		 United States Horror thriller
Hemet, or the Landlady Don't Drink Tea[27] 2023 Directed by Tony Olmos

Written by Brian Patrick Butler

United States Political dystopian
  1. ^ Ian Conrich and David Woods (eds), The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror (Wallflower Press, 2004), p. 17, ISBN 1 -904764-14-2.
  2. ^ a b c Cogan B, Kelso T (2009). Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO, p. 119, ISBN 9780313343797
  3. ^ "A Bucket of Blood (1959) - Roger Corman | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  4. ^ Davidson, Telly (2016). Culture War: How the '90s Made Us Who We Are Today (Whether We Like It or Not). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-6619-8. (p. 162)
  5. ^ a b c d e Davies, Clive (2015). Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won’t Write About. SCB Distributors. ISBN 9781909394063.
  6. ^ a b c Westfahl, Gary (2005). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, Volume 2, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 694, ISBN 9780313329524. Quote: "Science fiction films often turn to satire to comment on contemporary trends. Dr Strangelove satirizes the politicians and scientists who plot nuclear war; Woody Allen's Sleeper (1973) brings a slapstick sensibility to the story of a contemporary man who awakens to find himself in a strange future world; and Paul Verhoeven's Robocop (1987) satirically comments upon the casual violence and corruption of its future world even as it indulges in a violent spectacle of its own."
  7. ^ Webley SJ, Zackariasson P (2019). The Playful Undead and Video Games: Critical Analyses of Zombies and Gameplay. Routledge. ISBN 9781351716512. Quote: "Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, 2009) faced accusations of racism in its depiction of African zombies (Brock 2011; Pham 2009; Goldstein 2009), suggesting that the undead are not quite 'other' enough to alleviate moral and social concerns. This is an ironic turn in zombies' popular culture history, perhaps, given the satirical intentions of George A. Romero's original zombie movie, Night of the Living Dead (The Walter Reade Organization, 1968). The film was released just six months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and Romero sought to cast non-white actors in significant roles and went so far as to depict the lynching and murder of a key black character at the film's conclusion."
  8. ^ "The Werewolf of Washington (1973) - Milton Moses Ginsberg, Nina Schulman | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  9. ^ Knöppler, Christian (2017). The Monster Always Returns: American Horror Films and Their Remakes, transcript Verlag, p. 91, ISBN 9783839437353.
  10. ^ a b c Nillson J (2013), American Film Satire in the 1990s: Hollywood Subversion, Springer, ISBN 9781137300997
  11. ^ "1984 (1984) - Michael Radford | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  12. ^ Freudenburg, Kirk. Satires of Rome: Threatening Poses from Lucilius to Juvenal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-521-00621-X.
  13. ^ Levy, Emanuel (1999). Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-5123-7., p. 285.
  14. ^ Lethem, Jonathan (2010). They Live: A Novel Approach to Cinema, Catapult, ISBN 9781593763930.
  15. ^ a b Hughes, Howard (2014). Outer Limits: The Filmgoers’ Guide to the Great Science-Fiction Films. Bloomsbury Publishing. pgs. 230, 253. ISBN 9780857723932.
  16. ^ Flanders, Judith (2014),The Making of Home: The 500-Year Story of How Our Houses Became Our Homes, Atlantic Books, p. 189, ISBN 9781782393788.
  17. ^ "But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) - Jamie Babbit | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  18. ^ Fahy, Thomas, ed. (2012). The Philosophy of Horror. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0813136554., p. 121-3. Quote: "[E]xamining the film's satiric treatment of American capitalism and, by extension, a global economic order predicated upon class exploitation. Indeed, the economic system depicted in Land of the Dead has a remarkable parallel with Marx's representation of capitalist society. [...] THe besieged house is transformed into an entire city allegorically representing America and its relationship to the underdeveloped, exploited nations on the periphery of empire."
  19. ^ "Idiocracy (2006) - Mike Judge | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  20. ^ "Long Pigs (2007) - Chris Power, Nathan Hynes | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  21. ^ Cowdell S, Fleming C, Hodge J (2015). Mimesis, Movies, and Media: Violence, Desire, and the Sacred, Volume 3. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, p. 107, ISBN 9781628924657.
  22. ^ "Nightcrawler (2014) - Dan Gilroy | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  23. ^ "The Final Girls (2015) - Todd Strauss-Schulson, Paul Weitz | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  24. ^ Parker, Sean (2022-05-10). "Friend of the World: The Divine Comedy of Body Horror". Horror Obsessive. Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  25. ^ Whipp, Glenn (October 6, 2022). "In 'Triangle of Sadness,' strained satire, and vomit, on the high seas". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 31, 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  26. ^ Moskin, Julia (January 12, 2023). "'The Menu' Movie Serves Fine Dining on a Skewer". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 20, 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  27. ^ Bitel, Anton (2024-01-24). "Hemet, Or The Landlady Don't Drink Tea (2023)". Projected Figures. Archived from the original on 2024-01-24. Retrieved 2024-01-25.