Comedy Horror

Short film: Toast / Phobia

• sex is almost always involved
• always a random turn of events
• the victim is oblivious and isn't as scared as they should be

Comedy horror is a literary and film genre that combines the elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorised under three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." The genre almost inevitably crosses over with the black comedy genre. Comedy horror will often use satire on horror cliches as its main source of humour or take a story in a different perspective, such as 'The Cabin in the Woods' and 'Drag Me To Hell'.

Author, Bruce G. Hollenbeck, cites the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving as "the first great comedy horror story". The story made readers "laugh one moment and scream the next", and its premise was based on mischeif typically found during the holiday Halloween.

In comedy horror film, gallows humour is a common element. As well as scares that comedy horrors provide for the viewers, it also provides 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".

In the era of silent film, the source material for early comedy horror films came from stage performances instead of literature. One example, The Ghost Breaker (1914), was based on a 1909 play, though the film's horror elements were more interesting to the audience than the comedy elements. In the United States following the trauma of WW1, film audiences sought to see horror on screen but tempered wuth humour. The "pioneering" comedy horror film was One Exciting Night (1922), written, directed, and produced by D. W. Griffith, who noticed the stage success of the genre and foresaw a cinematic translation. While the film included blackface performances, Griffith also included footage of a hurracaine for a climatic storm. As an early experiment, the various genres were not well-balanced with horror and comedy, and later films improved the balance and took more sophisticated approaches. Charles Bramesco of Vulture.com identifies Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein as the first commercially successful comedy horror film. Its success legitimised the genre and established is as commercially viable.

Lots of reference to sex, very rude and lots of taboo subjects, shaky unprofessional camera work, lots of cliches.

The gore and specail effects are often very poorly done.

Reviews:

• "True, this film relies a bit much on poddy humour, but at the same time, there is a cleverness in the way a;l the films being spoofed (and there are many) get twisted together and played with here. Some of the slapstick and sight gags do fall flat, but the movie is quick paced and the satire is fun. If you don't go in expecting Shakespeare, you'll enjoy it. And you might even get some Shakespeare."
• "Though the comedy is frequently predictable, there is still elegance about the way Wayans achieves this effect. His close and unflinching style gives that humorous and equally horrific substance to fly across both genres into this tantalizing tale."
• "Funny, with better, more original writing that any spoof or other comedy I remember. First rate entertainment which keeps giving surprises which had me (and most of the audience) laughing aloud. Keenan Wayans (director) should be feeling on top of the world!"