...are kind of out of place don't you think? I mean, they're pretty creepy, makes it seem like an intro to a horror movie, hell, the opening credits set the mood and are creepier than most horror movies haha. Maybe that was the point, to set the creepy mood then the comedy starts.
share[deleted]
Horror and comedy have gone together for decades.
Can't stop the signal.
Mel Brooks always believes in making a film as authentic as possible, even if it is a spoof/comedy.
shareGuys, what I meant is, the rest of the movie isn't scary at all (though, the graveyard attack scene with Lucy could be considered scary too) it makes fun of the various things about Dracula, those opening credits aren't a spoof or anything, it plays it straight. The images aren't edited to be comedic at all.
shareExactly: The best parodies are the ones that play it straight. Also, the music score throughout the movie is that of a horror movie (for the most part).
share[deleted]
Good opening credits. And the sets really pay tribute to the old Gothic horror movies. I think that comedy and horror were intermixed very well during the entire film.
shareLucy's scene gave me a shiver. I think the statue and the voice as she glides up to Jonathan were nightmare inducing. I liked how restrained the scene Was compared to the actual work.
shareI think that a “realistic” atmosphere is beneficial to the effect of the funny scenes. Terry Gilliams said in the Monty Python autobiography that for Monty Python and the Holy Grail he wanted to create as authentic a dirty medieval atmosphere as possible, which is then made absurd by the funny scenes.
I’m sure the scene with Jonathan and Lucy (“I’m British” – “So are these!”) works better because there is a somewhat creepy, atmospheric scene before it (the shot of the statue seemingly shouting “Jooonathan”) that could well have come from a real scary movie. When a film constantly tries to be funny, it’s rather tiring.
The scene with the blind hermit from Young Frankenstein has a similar structure: first the camera moves through his hut while you hear sad music. This scene is not funny at all. Brooks builds up a “realistic” atmosphere here, only to make fun of it in the scene between the hermit and the creature. If the scene in which the hermit is introduced already contained gags, the effect of the following funny scenes would not be so great.