Can there be two more contrasting genres of popular fiction than horror and comedy? Horror is heavy, comedy light. Horror is dark, comedy bright. One causes fear and loathing, the other joy – distress versus pleasure. How can they be combined in a single fiction? Yet they are often blended successfully. James Whale’s 1935 The Bride of Frankenstein may just be the greatest horror film ever.
It is uncontroversial that horror fictions often employ comedy, if only to relieve the tension. Think of Freddie Krueger’s strained, one-off jokes. But there are also comedies, such as the 1988 film Beetlejuice, that enlist horror. For the most part the character Beetlejuice is just a clown. But at moments, especially towards the end of the film, he becomes positively menacing – no longer a feckless fool but a monster. And the Men in Black and Ghostbusters films shift effortlessly between horror and comedy. How is it that in popular fictions, their authors can slide back and forth so readily between genres so apparently at odds?
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