Horror Comedy

[Signal30]

Re: Horror Comedy

The comedy doesn't undercut the horror.

If you watch ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, the horror is always taken seriously and very real... but the characters are funny people who make jokes. But no one ever makes a joke that makes the horror less frightening. If you look at the scene with Bud sitting in the chair that the F Monster is sitting in, it's not making fun of the monster at all - the humor comes from the fear of the monster. Bud looks at one hand, then his other hand, then a third and fourth hand... and realizes he's sitting on the monster's lap! Looking at the hands and counting them is funny... and scary!

So take the horror seriously.

- Bill

Exactly. That's why I think Shaun of the Dead is the perfect horror comedy and Zombieland fails...it's a road movie with zombie sprinkles. In Shaun, right on the heels of an epic gag, one of the main characters gets tore apart. Graphically. In Zombieland we get a zombie picking its teeth in a mirror.

The characters' reactions can be absurd, but the threat has to stay real. Otherwise it's just a comedy.

[wcmartell]

Re: Horror Comedy

The comedy doesn't undercut the horror.

If you watch ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, the horror is always taken seriously and very real... but the characters are funny people who make jokes. But no one ever makes a joke that makes the horror less frightening. If you look at the scene with Bud sitting in the chair that the F Monster is sitting in, it's not making fun of the monster at all - the humor comes from the fear of the monster. Bud looks at one hand, then his other hand, then a third and fourth hand... and realizes he's sitting on the monster's lap! Looking at the hands and counting them is funny... and scary!

So take the horror seriously.

- Bill

[capper]

Re: Horror Comedy

Tucker and Dale had a very clever concept. +1 to the woodchipper!!

Proper Horror/Comedies incorporate comedy in every aspect, even in the horror parts. If it doesn't, it's a dark comedy IMO, and not Horror/Comedy.

[Biohazard]

Re: Horror Comedy

Thanks for the input. And I also just watched Tucker and Dale and its already one of my favs. But I have another question. Does hollywood or any studio outside of hollywood have any real interest in making horror-comedy? Would it be considered a hot genre or something studios are reluctant to make?

Zombieland made money. And it's getting a sequel.

Glad you liked Tucker & Dale!

Re: Horror Comedy

Thanks for the input. And I also just watched Tucker and Dale and its already one of my favs. But I have another question. Does hollywood or any studio outside of hollywood have any real interest in making horror-comedy? Would it be considered a hot genre or something studios are reluctant to make?

[goldmund]

Re: Horror Comedy

Among many, many other things (like recognizing that horror and humor are first cousins), I think you really need to be willing to push every boundary imaginable for both laughs and scares -- sometimes both coming at the same time.

This is a very good point. There's a word GROTESQUE which nails it.

[Biohazard]

Re: Horror Comedy

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Great characters, great character relationships, great moments, great laughs, great thrills, great fun, etc.

Same as every other story...just make it as great as you can.

[SuperScribe]

Re: Horror Comedy

Among many, many other things (like recognizing that horror and humor are first cousins), I think you really need to be willing to push every boundary imaginable for both laughs and scares -- sometimes both coming at the same time. Check out Henenlotter's supremely effed-up BAD BIOLOGY for a great example.

Also, check out OTIS, which is, in my opinion, hilarious and sick and wonderful because it turns every torture-porn horror trope on its head while remaining true to the genre it's (almost) parodying.

[Mr. Earth]

Re: Horror Comedy

In a way, horror comedy is dependent on what you personally believe is funny even moreso than a straight up comedy because you're dealing with a humongous canvas. It depends on if your idea of horror comedy is farcical, a parody, gore-tastic stuff, or ordinary people in an extraordinary situation, etc.

I'm sure there are people that find Friday the 13th's funny, so just like all comedy analyses, it's almost impossible to pin down.

I think the ones that have been more successful with audiences seem to have focused more on the story first and then added the comedy later (although "added" is probably not the best term to describe how writing comedy is done).

As far as examples, the first two Evil Deads are pretty much off the scale in all categories, including the cheesey scale at times. Drag Me to Hell is close to that level as well.

There are also legitimately, intentional funny moments in Halloween (although they've been copied so much, some of the original punch has been lost). Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises have always included comedy to a certain degree and stray into cheeseyville quite often.

I guess the point is not to worry about cheese-y, but to focus on the story and make the writing and dialog interesting, unless your idea is something like having a tire rolling around killing people. In that case, you might want to worry a little bit about the cheese factor.

[carcar]

Re: Horror Comedy

Sean of the Dead.

[Southern_land]

Re: Horror Comedy

Tremors

[WriteByNight]

Re: Horror Comedy

A good piece of advice I've been given: There has to be a dramatic center in any comedy -- no matter how irreverant or zany. This is why YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and ABBOT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN work and why the vat of crap called NOTHING BUT TROUBLE doesn't work.

[christopher jon]

Re: Horror Comedy

Fright Night.

Comedy is comedy. Cheesy is cheesy. Genre shouldn't make any difference.

[goldmund]

Re: Horror Comedy

Well, most of horror comedies thrive on the cheesy, it's their sole source of humor, actually. When violence/frights cross the border between scary and cheesy, or campy.

The best horror comedy (and one of the best TV shows for that matter) is Lars von Trier's Riget, or Kingdom, a mini-series which Stephen King copied in his Kingdom Hospital, losing a lot of quality on the way.

Make sure you watch it. Both very scary and hilarious.

I have an idea for a horror comedy but im curious as to what you guys think makes a good horror comedy without coming off as being cheesy.