When I was in high school, I refused to watch Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Dead Alive, etc. because I thought horror and comedy didn’t belong together. Then again I was “edgy” and took everything too seriously.
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Now as a young adult, I love nothing more than my friends and I crushing a bunch of beers and watching said movies.
Extreme hatred is kind of an extreme statement. I just don’t watch it and choose films that interest me. Easy peasy lemon breezy.
shareI don't hate horror-comedy but I do think that horror and comedy just simply can't exist together.
There is nothing remotely horror in Shaun or Zombieland. They are basically horror movie parodies. They are funny because they make fun of horror movies. They are comedies, not horror. The horror is just the theme, but the movies are simply comedies.
Those movies are not scary at all. You can't make something scary and funny at the same time. You don't laugh when you're frightened. You don't get scared when you're amused. They're like... opposites, man.
i agree
shareThere are some out there that are scary too. The tar man in Return of the Living Dead is one horrifying zombie.
shareYes and no.
Humor is often a tool that allows us to deal with tragedy, pain and fear. Since Horror movies are often a way to express inner fears, the natural consequence is that humor appears as a way to deal with those Horror stories.
Horror comedies are not parodies: they don't try to mock or ridicule those movies. Think that most horror comedies often have a tragic plot. Shaun of the Dead: many people die and the main character sees how close friends are being eaten alive in front of him. And however, we laugh. In an American Werewolf in London, a man sees his life completely destroyed. And again, we laugh. The Frighteners is a story about a man catching the serial killer that killed his wife. And we laugh. Cabin in the Woods in a movie about the end of all life. And we laugh.
Think about those stories. Think about them without the jokes: they're far from being funny. And however, we laugh. Horror comedies are about being able to laugh at those horrible stories. Because... that's what's humor is about.
Shaun is a parody to me. Even the title is a parody.
Cabin in the Woods is just a hodgepodge of all horror movie tropes. It's meta.
Idk, I haven't seen a really frightening horror movie that able to make me laugh. It's either scary and no laugh or funny and not scary.
Of course horror tropes are not scary in horror-comedies! That's the point of being a comedy! The same way war doesn't look scary in MASH, and plane crashes don't look scary in Airplane (1980). But you wouldn't call MASH a war-parody, or Airplane! a plane crash-parody.
shareI think we have a slight mis here. I was talking specifically about Shaun and Zombieland when I said they are parody of horror movies and not horror movies themselves. I also called Cabin a meta movie and not a parody. It still a self aware movie by the use of virtually every horror movie tropes known to man.
I hear you. Not every horror comedy is a horror movie parody. My point was the purpose of horror is to frighten, not to amuse. Which is the opposite of what happens in horror comedies. They make me laugh. Thus, not horror.
But yeah, maybe for some people horror movies are not to frighten. That's possible too. Maybe movies like Nightmare Before Christmas can be said as horror too? It has some horror qualities in it. Obviously not scary for adults, but still.
I get what you say. My point is that a horror comedy is a movie that can make you laugh even though it would be rightfully a scary story. It becomes a comedy because you laugh at it, because you make jokes about the horror. Horror comedy is a type of black comedy, actually.
In a horror parody, on the contrary, there's no real horror, no stakes. You take the 'Scary Movie' franchise, for example, and it's very rare for a character to die. There's no risk, no real danger. Unless horror comedy, in a parody there isn't a scary story hidden below the jokes.
Okay. Fair enough. You said it better. Horror comedy is a type of black comedy.
My original post was in response of the OP who was talking about hating horror comedies because he took horror movies very seriously, and considers horror comedy = horror + comedy. And they don't belong together. And gave examples of Shaun, Zombieland, etc.
At least that's what I took from OP's post.
Which then I reacted as nope, those movies are not horror + comedy, but simply comedies (with horror movie themes.) And I consider Shaun and Zombieland as parodies because they are referencing other movies or movie tropes and make fun of them.
yes. black comedy, horror-comedy very closely related genres.
shareget out was a horror-comedy
imo its difficult to pull off, but can be done
there are almost certainly other examples, but i can't think of any right now
Good point. Maybe you're right. I saw Get Out, and overall it's not scary to me, more like a mystery movie, but the one scene where he was trapped in somekind of infinity dark room was quite a horror I give you that.
shareI'd say that's pretty uncommon. Imo, comedy horror has always kind of had massive cult followings. Look at Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Hocus Pocus, The Frighteners, Evil Dead II, The Addams Family, The Lost Boys, Fright Night, Gremlins, etc. Sure, there are some people who hate them, but generally they're quite beloved.
shareIt just feels a little to much like reality TV for me.
It's fakey...the players are real, the environment is real but when they're interviewed on camera...they all seem like actors.
The suspense has been undercutted and shown itself for what it actually is.
It's all a fake and a joke.
This undermines the whole premise.
It wasnt well understood in the beginning.It is appalling.
share