Frank Zappa once asked, “Does humor belong in music?” This question was asked because many people, feeling that music was a serious art form, shouldn’t have humor because it wasn’t something to be made fun of. Zappa, being the genius that he was often used humor in music to prove a point and make the music more poignant. The same can be said for Horror films. Now, some are serious, very artsy, and meant to only provoke the feelings of fear. But most of them equate scares with fun and adding laughter to the mix only can help create an experience worth enjoying. Laughter and screaming are not very different from one another and release endorphins to the body. And Endorphins, if you’ve ever taken BIO 101, are good things. Plan 9 From Outer Space

That is why I, as well as many others, quite enjoy Horror films. But nothing is as fun as a horror film that makes you laugh. Sure, serious, pure unadulterated horror is great, but I prefer something to laugh at and be scared at the same time. So what is the difference between regular horror, horror comedy, horror with comedy in it, comedy with horror in it, and unintentional humor in horror? Well lets take a look at a few examples.

The genre mixer Horror/Comedy is a good place start. For this I have picked a prime example: 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead. An affectionate parody/remake/re-imagining comedic turn on the zombie genre, ROTLD, as it is abbreviated, is about a group of teenagers who like to party in graveyards, inept night watch men, a medical supply company located right next to a funeral home, and talking, running, wild zombies. Visual puns include a medical supply company named the “Uneeda Medical supply company”, the undertaker carrying a German Lugar and listening to WWII era marches on his walkman, and of course, the jacket with an obscene phrase on the back that at times will read “F**k You” and other times, because of re-shoots “Television Version”.

Other great jokes include two friends named Bert and Ernie, a retelling of the original Night of the Living Dead story as if it were a real event, tons of zombie lore jokes (“I thought you said if you chopped off their heads it would kill them!” “It worked in the movies!”) and of course gore so profuse, you cannot help but laugh at it’s insanity. No one has that much blood. Honestly.

The humor juxtaposed against the scary makes the film entertaining and also a good horror film, because for all the great gags, there are also a GREAT many scares. The birth of the zombie “Tar Man”, the initial resurrection and attack of the zombies, and the reveal of the amount of zombies in the ambulance’s headlights. There’s also the military aspect of it, because we find out quite early, this is all their fault.

What most Horror/Comedies do is take what makes a great horror film and turns it into not only a good scare but a great comedy as well. Take for instance 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. The film maker’s insistence that it was not a horror film with a romantic comedy element, but a Romantic Comedy with Zombies was brilliant. That’s the best way to describe some horror comedies. If you take the horror element out, it is still funny, and if you take the humor out of it, it would still be a good scare. And still there are parodies of horror films, like The Raven, The Comedy of Terrors, Redneck Zombies, The Toxic Avenger, and the meta –horror comedy Terror Firmer. These films are more intent on making fun of horror itself without being too scary.

Love means never having to say you're ugly A little harder to describe is a horror film with humor in it. The humor is usually used here to lighten the frightening mood. A few good examples include Friday the 13th part 5, Behind the Mask, Club Dread, and Q: The Winged Serpent. My prime examples here would be Scream and the Abominable Dr. Phibes. These films are more darkly humored, but are in fact more horror than they are comedy. Scream being the meta-horror film, referencing other horror films while creating its own lore. A slasher is loose and copying many famous slasher films and killing off teens one by one. Many of the moments are funny, but all and all, very scary. The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a revenge tale with darkly humored murders that make one cringe and laugh manically. Anton Phibes is a musicologist and inventor who supposedly died, but is getting revenge anyway on the surgeons who failed to save his wife. The reveal of all of his plans are what make this film disturbing and makes you think even after the laughter has died down.

Now, some horror films are unintentionally funny, making them instant classics just for that point. For example: Bert I. Gordon’s Empire of the Ants. Giant ants (obvious camera trickery, shooting ants in a class case that is set up to look vaguely like the set) are loose on a timeshare island! Joan Collins is in danger of breaking a sweat! Paper Mache Ant heads! Oh the horror of it all! Plan Nine From Outer Space- Aliens have had eight plans that have failed them, so their ninth plan is sure to work! “Long distance electrodes shot into the penal and pituitary glands of the recently deceased to revive them.” Yes. All you could want and more! Moving Astro-turf when actors walk! Actors getting stuck in their tombs! Horribly edited scenes with Bela Lugosi! Hubcap UFOs! And my personal favorite, the lead’s angry over being silenced by “army brass”, which when the actor says it each time, it sounds like he’s says “Harmy’s Brazz” . Absolutely hilarious. Or how about Bug, a film where cockroaches shoot fire out of their butts and spell out menacing messages. I mean, yeah…I’m serious. And these films were not made with tongue planted in cheek. They are made with all the seriousness one can muster, and that’s what makes them even funnier. Someone, somewhere thought this was scary…in some way. Empire of the Ants

Horror is a genre with many great adaptabilities. Sci-fi/Horror, Horror/Drama, Romantic Horror, heck, even Kids horror. But there is no unholy marriage of genres as Horror/Comedy. Two elements that employ surrealism come together is not so strange, and makes for the best hybrid of film. Without something to laugh at, how do you know when to scream? And when you scream, isn’t nice to laugh about something right after? And hey, what’s that right behind you? Just kidding….maybe.

by Henri Cheramie