# Why are Comedy and Horror so often/well paired? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379 "2011-09-15T07:55:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/1 "2011-09-15T07:55:48Z")
Somewhat inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=624235) thread, but I’ve been kicking around the idea for a while. It seems that for every legitimate horror series, there’s another that is “comic horror” or similar. Sometimes they’re more comedy then horror, but sometimes they hit the mix where the comic horrors can be both funny AND creepier than the purely creepy movies at the same time. Even a lot of internet reviewers and celebrities that are primarily comedians (James Rolfe, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw) have entire sections of their sites dedicated to horror and are general horror buffs. My principle theories: 1. Providing more highs to balance out the lows builds and releases tension better, causing the scary moments to be scarier by comparison. 2. Many horror movies work with a shoestring budget, so you need to have a sense of fun about it or everybody will just gripe about your special effects. 3. Horror and Comedy both derive primarily from subverting expectations and perverting the normal in incremental, seemingly insignificant ways (The NYU style of comedy is “take an everyday scenario, except one thing is very wrong with it”). The only difference is the way in which you subvert them – in a way that instills humor, or in a way that instill disgust or fear. Because masters of both horror and comedy have to know how to subvert these expectations, and more importantly, how not to (because doing it in the wrong way may illicit a scream rather than the intended laugh or vice versa) means that horror directors are well suited to directing comedy, so they throw it in. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/2 "2011-09-15T11:01:33Z")
1a: Providing more highs to balance out the lows builds and releases tension better, causing the funnier moments to be funnier. In fact, I’ve never gotten the impression that comic horror is supposed to be scary. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/3 "2011-09-15T11:51:17Z")
Also, horror movies are often inherently ridiculous. “Oh no - someone’s killing us off! Let’s split up and walk around backwards in the dark!” The _Scream_ franchise is based on pointing out how stupid a lot of the standard horror movie conventions are and lampshading them. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/4 "2011-09-15T13:45:05Z")
Someone was telling me that the Evil Dead films started with a horror film and ended with a comedy, making the transition as they went along (I’ve only seen Army of Darkness though, which is definitely a comedy, with some horror scenes.) The fact that Sam Raimi made both that film and Spiderman 2 made one of the scariest scenes of that film also (probably intentionally) one of the funniest. I’m not sure if it’s funny to folks that aren’t familiar with Raimi’s older films though. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/5 "2011-09-15T14:39:16Z")
Evil Dead was a serious attempt at a horror movie that was so bad it was funny. Evil Dead 2 was a horror movie that was intentionally funny. Army of Darkness was a comedy that was based on the horror themes established in the first two movies. Part of the overlap between Comedy and Horror is that Horror done badly starts being funny, even if unintentional. Horror that goes over the top or is based on a ridiculous premise can really blur the line. Case in point: [Jack Frost](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116671/)(no, not he Micheal Keaton one). Often is can be hard to tell if and where a horror movie stops being Horror and starts being Comedy. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/6 "2011-09-16T00:49:23Z")
Hitchcock said (often) that PSYCHO was a “fun” film, and there are certainly lots of dark comedy elements… most of which are only noticeable on second viewing (or knowing the plot.) F’rinstance: - Cop talking to Janet Leigh tells her she should stop in a motel over night, “it’s safer.” - Anthony Perkins as Norman says, “Mother isn’t, what’s the phrase, isn’t herself today.” - Scene in hardware store, immediately after second murder, little old lady is buying rat poison and wants one that “is painless.” - Mother, being taken to hide in fruit cellar, says, “Hah, you think I’m fruity, do you?” ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/7 "2011-09-16T01:12:33Z")
I’ve heard arguments that Romeo and Juliet was one of Shakespeare’s comedies, rather than one of his tragedies, to take this in a slightly different direction. Some horror films are hilarious because of the bizarre and outlandishly contrived circumstances that will get folks killed. Either the person is terminally stupid, or else they are smart and do everything the right way, only for some Rube Goldberg contraption to take their head off with a can of peas (yeah, I’m looking at you, “Final Destination”) ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/8 "2011-09-16T05:24:35Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Evil Dead was a serious attempt at a horror movie that was so bad it was funny. Evil Dead 2 was a horror movie that was intentionally funny. Army of Darkness was a comedy that was based on the horror themes established in the first two movies. > > Part of the overlap between Comedy and Horror is that Horror done badly starts being funny, even if unintentional. Horror that goes over the top or is based on a ridiculous premise can really blur the line. Case in point: [Jack Frost](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116671/)(no, not he Micheal Keaton one). Often is can be hard to tell if and where a horror movie stops being Horror and starts being Comedy. I think that ED One was made on one of the cheapest budgets ever. I used to make the joke that the budget included bus fare for the actors to get to locations. ED 2 made a parody of itself, the success and in-jokes of ED 1. Army of Darkness was just a parody of Bruce and the entire series. I LOVED it. Of course, then you have the flick "Bruce Campbell vs. " the rest of his career. While funny, probably didn’t net him much credibility. Although, I’ve got to say “Bubba Ho Tep” is still one of my faves. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-comedy-and-horror-so-often-well-paired/596379/9 "2011-09-16T06:04:40Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > …Part of the overlap between Comedy and Horror is that Horror done badly starts being funny, even if unintentional. Horror that goes over the top or is based on a ridiculous premise can really blur the line. Case in point: [Jack Frost](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116671/)(no, not he Micheal Keaton one). Often is can be hard to tell if and where a horror movie stops being Horror and starts being Comedy. I think this goes to the heart of the matter. Horror approached comedy through these two direction, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. A few years ago I saw the remake of The Wicker Man, and laughed so hard I almost passed out. I _think_ it was not supposed to be funny. Maybe that uncertainty made it seem even funnier.