“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Cask of Amontillado" is most easily classified as a horror story, but that's missing the humor of it. The protagonist orchestrates an illogically elaborate murder because reasons, and whatever terror one might feel when confronted with monstrous evil is undone by his target being a buffoon who does more to get himself in the trap than the protagonist does; one could easily repurpose this as a Degrassi B-plot without violating the spirit of either work. "Cask" has unsettling elements, but c'mon, the victim drinks himself silly and the protagonist commits murder via masonry. I call that damn good comedy.

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