An examination of an extremely popular box office genre - the gross-out movie - Laughing Screaming is a serious study of this unashamedly lowbrow product.

Concentrating on films produced during the 1970s-1980s, this study explores the social and psychological implications of horror and comedy on film in a discussion ranging from the classics of Chaplin and Hitchcock to 'movies that embrace the lowest common denominator as an aesthetic principle'.