Comedy and horror
 

Sometimes when reading Ligotti, I can't help laughing out loud. Some of his observations and character interactions, the commentary he makes about our craptastic existence: Ligotti is one funny mother####er.

Not surprising. He's a master of horror, and horror deals with material that is repulsive in nature. So does comedy, what with it's focus on subjects like testicular cancer and farts and racism and other awful, stupid stuff. Both genres help us not only cope with the stuff we want to reject, but provide us tools to actively explore the hostile territories of our psyches.

So, iffins you would, give some of your favorite examples where the two genres are blended. Give me some comedy/horror mashups in any medium to help me start chopping down the uncharted wilderness inside so I can achieve total psychic unity, palpatate, and release my existence from the prison of 4d time/space. Also, my empty physical vessel will probably spontaneously combust. Pretty sure.

Re: Comedy and horror
 

I found Brian Evenson's Last Days to be funny in a dark, absurd sort of way. That's the first thing that comes to mind...I'm sure there are several others.

Re: Comedy and horror
 

Books, by author.

• Chuck Palahniuk: Rant, Invisible Monsters, Survivor, Diary, Haunted, Lullaby.
• Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho, Lunar Park
• Terry Pratchett: Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman), Hogfather, Mort, Carpe Jugulum, Reaper Man

Assorted movies: Childs Play 1-3, Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, American Zombie, Shaun of the Dead, A Fantastic Fear of Everything, Leprechaun 1-6, Rare Exports, Zombieland, 2001 Maniacs

Re: Comedy and horror
 

Not sure if it is what you are looking for but the film "Comedy of Terrors" (1963) with Vincent Price, Peter Lorre & Boris Karloff.

Re: Comedy and horror
 

Definitely second Zombieland, but my favorite movie for the comedy/horror combo is "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon." Funny as hell and then with like 20 minutes left it turns into an old school slasher film. Such a slick movie.

Re: Comedy and horror
 

I second Behind the Mask. a loving, laughing homage to the slasher movies of the 80s.

I would also like to add: Trick 'r Treat, Freddy vs Jason, The Woman, Strigoi, Botched, and Cold Fish to the movies list.

Re: Comedy and horror
 

I think the Dilbert comics are a great mix of comedy with (involuntary) corporate horror.

I remember reading them as a freshman Engineering student; I can thank them for waking me up to the horrors of corporate life and moving me into a different career path.

Re: Comedy and horror
 

Ramsey Campbell can be quite funny at times. He said about The Count of Eleven that it's disturbing "because it doesn't stop being funny when you think it should".

Re: Comedy and horror
 

When I was a kid, my parents didn't let me watch TV or movies except for cartoons, kids' shows like Captain Kangaroo, and occasional G-rated fare. (On the other hand, I was allowed to read pretty much anything I wanted to.) Most of the TV I saw, at least until I was a teenager, was at somebody else's house. Needless to say, I was naive, and was often mesmerized by the glimpses I got of this garish forbidden fantasy-world. I have some pretty strange memories of '70s TV.

When I was about seven or eight, I spent the night at a friend's house, and we watched The Abominable Dr. Phibes on TV late that night. This must have been only a year or two after the movie came out. I was riveted and horrified; my friend was interested but seemed less affected. I had nightmares about that movie for months afterward, and would often lie awake and think about it.

Years later, in my twenties, I was flipping through channels one sunny afternoon, and there (on WTBS I think) was The Abominable Dr. Phibes. I recognized it instantly, and within a few seconds realized: IT WAS A SPOOF!!!!! The whole thing was a joke, no more serious than the Airplane movies! My seven or eight year old self absolutely hadn't gotten that, not at all. I'm almost ashamed to admit I was that naive at that age.

In my memory, The Abominable Dr. Phibes still has a strange allure or aura. Somewhere within that comedy is a visionary movie, intensely atmospheric and stylish, of pure horror.

Re: Comedy and horror
 

Ramsey Campbell's The Grin of the Dark.

Re: Comedy and horror
 

Slightly off topic perhaps, but it seems to me that theory about comedy generally says as much if not more about horror, if only the comic terms are inverted. I haven't read it yet, but Jack Morgan's The Biology of Horror (2002) could be an example of this approach, I think?

In the field of contemporary sculpture, the works of Paul McCarthy seem to take place between comedy and angst.

http://www.kunstonline.dk/profil/pic...mccarthy_4.jpg

Re: Comedy and horror
 

There is an old saw, not sure where it came from, that comedy is about possibilities and tragedy is about limits. If we follow this line of thinking, then horror is more like comedy than it is like tragedy (in this way, at least). Horror, too, is about possibilities. :eek: