Comedy horror
This article possibly contains original research. (April 2023) |
Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a
Author Bruce G. Hallenbeck cites the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving as "the first great comedy horror story".[2] The story made readers "laugh one moment and scream the next" and its premise was based on mischief typically found during the holiday Halloween.[2]
In literature
Horror and comedy have been associated with each other since the early days of horror novels. Shortly after the publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, comedic parodies appeared. Edgar Allan Poe put humor and horror on the same continuum, and many nineteenth century authors used black humor in their horror stories. Author Robert Bloch called them "opposite sides of the same coin".[3]
In film
In comedy horror film, gallows humor is a common element. While comedy horror films provide scares for audiences, they also provide something that dramatic horror films do not: "the permission to laugh at your fears, to whistle past the cinematic graveyard and feel secure in the knowledge that the monsters can't get you".[2]
In the era of
Some comedy horror movies, such as the Scary Movie series or A Haunted House also function as parodies of popular horror films.
In television
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Examples of horror comedy on television date back to sitcoms The Munsters and The Addams Family and more recently include gruesome slapsticks Ash vs Evil Dead and Stan Against Evil, mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, comedies Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Shining Vale and Santa Clarita Diet, and cartoons Beetlejuice, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Scooby-Doo. More recent examples include The Owl House,[6] Wednesday, and Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.
See also
- List of comedy horror films
- List of genres
- Zombie comedy – a subgenre involving zombies
- Black comedy
References
- ISBN 978-0-7864-1922-7.
- ^ a b c Hallenbeck 2009, p. 3
- JSTOR 432309.
- ^ Hallenbeck 2009, pp. 5–7
- Vulture.com. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ Brown, Tracy (10 January 2020). "For its creator, Disney's 'The Owl House' is the best revenge". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
Bibliography
- Hallenbeck, Bruce G. (2009). Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914–2008. Jefferson, NC: ISBN 978-0-7864-3332-2.
Further reading
- Och, Dana; Strayer, Kirsten, eds. (2013). Transnational Horror Across Visual Media: Fragmented Bodies. Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies. Taylor & Francis. pp. 201–208. ISBN 978-1-136-74484-6.
- Carroll, Noël (2001). "Horror and Humor". Beyond Aesthetics: Philosophical Essays. Cambridge University Press. pp. 235–253.