Editorials
When Gore Meets Guffaws: What Makes a Horror-Comedy Tick?
Horror and comedy are like the angelic central heroine and her evil parasitic twin from 2021’s Malignant: they may seem diametrically opposed, but they’re more related than they might first appear- and when they share the same body, they can cause unforgettable mayhem. The hybrid genre of horror-comedy was once considered box office poison: in the 2000s, Shaun of the Dead served as the rare example of a profitable horror-comedy, while oddities like Slither and Teeth floundered.
Horror-Comedy Was Once Considered Box Office Poison
Analysts at the time noted the high degree of difficulty involved in conjoining the genres: too much comedy could sap horror of its tension, while too much horror would spoil the comedy. Mainstream audiences at the turn of the century also had few popular references for horror-comedies, meaning that more innovative attempts at fusing the two genres caused confusion and distaste.
Today, a new landscape has emerged: horror-comedy is seen as one of the few sure bets to get butts into theater seats, as evidenced by recent hits including Weapons and Send Help. As horror-comedy continues its cultural dominance, it’s worth asking a fundamental question: what exactly makes something a horror-comedy? And what are the tactics filmmakers use to blend the two genres?
Defining Horror-Comedy
Not all horror-comedies are created equal: the laugh-to-scare ratio of American Psycho could not be further from that of, say, Scary Movie. We can examine horror-comedies through two lenses: behavior and universe. That is, does a film depict character behavior as comedic or horrific? Does it depict its overall universe – the outcomes and cosmic forces that govern the movie – as comedic or horrific? (Technically, we could add a third lens – events – but by definition, every horror-comedy must have horrific events, otherwise it wouldn’t be horror at all. Consider: even the events of Scary Movie are horrific, as they depict stabbings and murders, slapstick as they are in nature.) We can then group horror-comedies into the three lanes.
Heart Eyes
Comedic Behavior, Comedic Universe: When Horror Becomes Comfort Food
In this alignment, funny characters inhabit a horror universe of blood-soaked silliness. Behavior makes us laugh when it’s rooted in either a sense of audacity or a lack of self-awareness that leave the characters’ interiority misaligned with their realities. The Valentine’s Day rom-com bloodbath Heart Eyes features both an un-self-aware heroine, Ally (Olivia Holt), and her audacious love interest, Jay (Mason Gooding). The lovebirds at the center of this sweet-natured slasher flirt and volley and deny their feelings before coming to terms with their neuroses and falling into each other’s arms – all while battling a masked serial killer. But Heart Eyes doesn’t just make us laugh through the interplay of funny characters.
The entire world of the movie is designed for maximum comedy. The deaths are played for camp-fueled laughs: consider the film’s opening kill in which a victim’s eyeballs are squeezed out of her skull thanks to a winery grape press, or the Friday the 13th-style hilarity of a horndog couple getting stabbed just as they reach a moaning climax. Perhaps the clearest signpost that a horror universe is designed to tickle us more than thrill us: despite the high body count, the movie feels like comfort food. Since it’s chicken soup for the psycho’s soul, the movie does not violate our sense of justice. The good guys win, the bad guys lose, and the assholes and dummies (like the self-absorbed couple in the cold open) get the sharp end of the killer’s blade.
Other examples: Send Help, The Blackening, the Final Destination franchise
You’re Next
Comedic Characters in Dark Worlds: Humor Inside a Horrific Universe
Going one shade darker, this lane of horror-comedy still features funny people – but this time they’re trapped in worlds with dark atmospheres and darker outcomes. The characters of Weapons exhibit humorous behavioral tics that paint them as quirky and relatable: consider the endearing awkwardness between Justine (Julia Garner) and her ex Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), or the bizarre specificity of Principal Marcus (Benedict Wong) and his husband Terry (Clayton Ferris) eating a surplus of hot dogs at home.
Director Zach Cregger comes from a sketch comedy background, but, similar to Jordan Peele, he uses comedy to ground his characters and render them true-to-life, in stark contrast to the fantastical events that befall them. Though some of the violence in Weapons is played for laughs (like the gruesome carrot-peeler-to-the-cheek moment), most of the actual story feels dark – so dark that audiences interpret its central themes as tackling everything from child abuse to school violence.
The humorous elements could almost “lift out” without damaging the film’s sinister core. The people might be funny, but their good-natured humor is no match for the ominous floating assault rifle in the sky. Social satires like Bodies Bodies Bodies or The Menu also fall under this category: ridiculous behavior reveals dark truths about human nature.
Other examples: Scream, You’re Next, Get Out
Climax
Horrific Behavior, Comedic Universe: When Darkness Becomes Absurd
This configuration is arguably the most tantalizing blend of horror and comedy, as it depicts a dark story with dark characters – yet the net effect of the film boasts arch shades of comedy that will leave audiences either howling or disturbed, depending on their mileage. James Wan’s Malignant is a prime example of this tonal high-wire act. It’s a tale of a traumatized woman (Madison Mitchell) experiencing visions of a deadly specter named Gabriel that unfolds as a moody slow-burn mystery punctuated by strange moments of camp. Only its insistent score by Joseph Bishara, who deploys an excitable bevy of synth stabs, hints at the true weirdness that lurks at the heart of the movie’s secrets.
In Malignant, the darker the movie gets, the funnier it gets. The horror and comedy are not disparate threads running parallel to each other; they’re tightly braided. Horror-comedies in this lane thrive on audacity, extremity, and mayhem. Every descent into madness inspires both genuine chills and incredulous “WTF?!” laughter.
Other examples: Possession, American Psycho, Climax
Why Horror-Comedy Works: Blending Laughs and Screams
These configurations are by no means exhaustive, especially as horror-comedy continues its box office dominance. Just as there exist infinite ways for a movie monster to slice and dice its hapless victims, creators of horror-comedy have found – and will continue to find – infinite ways to blend a laugh with a scream. But in dissecting a film in this hybrid genre through the lenses of character behavior, the events that behavior generates, and the grand vision of the world ultimately presented, we can confront the ever-tantalizing mystery of why a horror-comedy makes us howl with laughter, or terror.
Sometimes it feels borderline ridiculous to gush about John Carpenter’s The Thing as much as I do. It’s gotten to the point where when I’m asked about my favorite horror film by both friends and strangers, a little bit of embarrassment tinges my expression as I answer; it feels so obvious and rarely surprises anyone. Saying I love The Thing when people expect me to bust out an obscure foreign horror film or a cerebral thriller makes me feel like a rosy cheeked child with a propeller hat and a giant lollipop. “Wow, you love one of the most popular horror films of all time, congrats!”
But it’s just the truth. The first film of John Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy”, all three of its films are among my favorites. But The Thing has a special place in my heart. It shaped my taste in horror, my taste in most media in general, to be honest. It’s become the gold standard, 10/10 baseline test for the vast majority of my reviews; it is a perfect film, so I judge other films against it. And it’s one of the few movies I have to run back to and watch yearly like clockwork (usually when I’m spending a part of winter tied to the couch). It is, in all regards, the perfect film. If it isn’t the perfect film, then it is at the very least the perfect sci-fi horror film.
So, what exactly qualifies The Thing for literal perfection? It’s a high bar to clear. This article, as informal as it is compared to most of my editorials, is an attempt to explain it.
Even if Carpenter Isn’t the Goat, His Team for The Thing Was
As far as crews go, John Carpenter’s The Thing had the cinematic equivalent of the ’96 Chicago Bulls behind it. We’re talking about an amalgam of some of the most talented people to ever grace the silver screens with their work, boasting alongside John Carpenter two of the heaviest hitters in all of cinematic history: Dean Cundey, and Rob Bottin. Now, we can debate all day about whether John Carpenter is the greatest of all time when it comes to horror directors. Personally, I’m just as liable to say Cronenberg, Del Toro, or Hooper as I am to say Carpenter.
But the key factor to remember here is that Carpenter is the coach, not the star player; the Phil Jackson, if you will. Yes, he is the visionary who directed a near perfect cast of players and composed a tale of pure, apocalyptic paranoia. More importantly, he put together and coordinated the team that would make his vision manifest as reality. And if Carpenter is Phil Jackson, Rob Bottin is the team’s Michael Jordan here, the greatest of all time.
(And to all my Lebron fans, I love you, but you have to sit down for this analogy.)
The Legend of Rob Bottin
Bottin’s story is borderline unbelievable, but it’s the best way to explain how abnormally skilled he is and what he brought to the table for Carpenter. At age 14, Bottin became an apprentice to the at-the-time GOAT Rick Baker after sending him a letter seeking an autograph while sharing his creature designs. He was a quick study under Baker, joining him on the ’76 King Kong and Star Wars, before bouncing to Carpenter’s The Fog and then iconic werewolf picture The Howling.
When he reunited with Carpenter in 1982, he now had 6 classic films under his belt and was moving like an FX bullet train. From ages 22 to 23, he worked on The Thing for 57 weeks in both pre-production and on set. Nearly 24/7 for 400 days, Bottin’s all-gas no-brakes work ethic made The Thing at the cost of his own health, and it resulted in him being hospitalized with pneumonia. He survived and went on to make Robocop. And at least one of your favorite films.
Because no conventional disease or weaponry can kill Rob Bottin.
The Thing Still Features Horror’s Best Practical Effects
Okay, that last bit might be hyperbolic, but the man sincerely put his life on the line to make special effects that haven’t been topped since. Not the best effects in just horror history, or science fiction history, but effects that haven’t been topped in any genre for over 44 years. Not by his mentor Rick Baker, not by Screaming Mad George, not by Alec Gillis (though shoutout to him for his criminally scrapped work on The Thing (2011), and even more criminally ignored work on Harbinger Down). I love Dawn of the Dead, believe me, I do, but he certainly isn’t being beaten out by Tom Savini’s body of work. And that isn’t to disrespect and say that all of the artists that I just mentioned are bad, they’re the best in the game! But Rob Bottin was just that much better.
This inevitably invites the counterpoint: “But it wasn’t just Bottin! Stan Winston and his people were the ones who worked on the Dog Thing to give Bottin’s crew a break, and that’s the best monster in the movie!”. To which I say: look me in the eye and tell me the Dog Thing sequence is better than the Palmer Thing sequence. That’s not even counting the Norwegian Thing, both Norris Things, and the absolutely masterful final creature work that was the Blair Thing. The only reason Bottin and his people didn’t win Academy Awards for their work was because they got jumped by E.T., The Dark Crystal, Conan the Barbarian, and Blade Runner all at the same time at the Oscars. It’s just a consequence of being released during the best year for movies ever.
Okay, Now We Can Talk About Dean Cundey
But of course, these effects are then supported by another true legend: Dean Cundey. Selling people on Rob Bottin being the greatest effects artist of all time, isn’t nearly as difficult as advocating for Cundey, who despite an impressive catalog of filmography, slowed down in the back half of his career. He’s often overshadowed in conversations when it comes to The Thing; it’s always talk of Carpenter’s directing, Bottin’s effects, and Ennio Morricone’s incredible soundtrack up front, and rarely any of Cundey’s work. He isn’t spoken about in the same breath as John Alcott or Michael Ballhaus, cinematographers whose work is associated with prestigious cinema because of their proximity to great directors.
Cundey might not be the director of photography your Martin Scorsese’s or Paul Thomas Anderson’s went running to, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t think he was the most important cinematographer in horror history, just for his work with Carpenter and Spielberg. He helmed three of the most influential films in all of horror with his lighting and camera operating: The Thing, Halloween, and Jurassic Park. The man’s fingerprints are automatically on the cultural DNA of all slashers, most practical effects-driven horror films, and the biggest gateway horror franchise in film history.
The Dream Team That Made The Thing Perfection
Cundey has gone on record saying that despite Carpenter’s input, he was effectively given free rein to light and frame The Thing. The man didn’t just know how to shoot effects to make them evoke true disgust from the audience, he was able to manipulate every aspect of the shot to terrify. His sixth sense cinematography wasn’t just for lighting and playing with shadows, but for the speed of camera movement, the power of his blocking, and for having a complete grasp of communicating texture and temperature.
And temperature is the soul of The Thing. John J. Lloyd’s production design of the research station and the great white expanse around it feels just as bone chilling as the film’s antagonist, thanks to Cundey. There isn’t a single flat shot in the thing, not a moment that doesn’t feel dynamic, and it’s because of Dean Cundey.
Now, all this being said about Bottin and Cundey, they are far from the only ones who synthesized this structurally perfect organism of a movie. Every bit of Todd C. Ramsay’s editing splices the film’s scenes together to move perfectly in-time. David Lewis Yewdall’s sound design and how it gave a voice to the horrors on screen will be etched into people’s brains forever. The point is that everyone, every single person who had a hand in making the film, helped make the movie flawless.
Like the cells of the thing from another world, each crew member on John Carpenter’s The Thing moved in concert with the next, in unison, to create the greatest sci-fi horror of all time. So, is it any wonder why 40 some years later, the film still has us all captured?
Can you believe Cronenberg, Spielberg, and Rodriguez all knew I was gay before I did? Leave it to a screening of The Fly to instantly deposit me in the men’s underwear aisle of the Woodbridge Center Sears, circa 2001. The bulges on the packaging glare at me so obscenely that I begin to sweat. I realize something is amiss as the Geena Davis of Human Resources watches me from security cameras, probably. Puberty is a horror for anyone – for those of the non-hetero persuasion, it’s a nightmare. None of us asked for this, but I certainly didn’t ask for THIS.
Years later, after crystallizing into some semblance of my true form at the ripe age of 37, something became clear. Sci-fi horror is the gateway drug for us queer kids. Hiding, passing, transforming, and, eventually, saying, “fuck it.” It’s all kinda gay, even if David, Steven, and Robert didn’t get the memo.
The Fly and the Horror of Queer Self-Realization
So when Cronenberg’s The Fly buzzes across my screen, and I watch Seth Brundle throw a distressed and devastatingly chic Geena Davis out of his apartment because something’s very wrong, it hits different. When Brundle rushes toward his private horror in the bathroom, unconsciously squirting a viscous fluid at the mirror while molting skin and nail, it feels different. And finally, when he reaches for his computer and learns that his body has fused with a fly – a foreign body – at the molecular level, it hurts different. That undeniable realization that you can no longer explain away, before you’re really ready to admit it to yourself. Sugar in the tank? No, there’s a fly in the chamber.
E.T. and the Fear of Keeping Secrets at Home
And now we’re home from Sears, and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 5 finale is on. She dies (spoiler alert). I, a 12-year-old boy, am sobbing. My mom is right there. Can’t I enjoy my little gay show without giving myself a scarlet letter (F) in my own home? Which brings us back to Spielberg and his 1982 harrowing domestic thriller about a boy and a thing he cannot name, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Through harboring a cosmic fugitive, home simultaneously becomes the safest and most dangerous place for young Elliott and his siblings. Managing emotions and secrets behind a white picket fence is not something adolescents should be expected to handle, and yet here we are.
As if that isn’t gay enough, Spielberg also snuck a drag show into his family film – and in this culturally regressive Trumpian era of pearl-clutching, that feels like quite the treat. After all, it was baby Drew Barrymore dressing up that stumpy alien in a blonde shake-and-go wig and thrift store dress that inspired my illustrious drag career as Ellie I.T.
The Faculty’s Assimilation Anxiety and Queer Identity
At least E.T. only had to hide in a single house. The broom closet expands into a walk-in as life continues, and I was desperate to keep it made of anything but glass. Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty understands this. As an alien invasion slowly subsumes Herrington High into a unified collective, the school’s uninfected archetypes resist assimilation through performative normalcy. Is it any wonder so many male actors are gay? They’ve been method-acting a straight existence since childhood.
And yet, in retrospect, the film ends with a slap in the face to queer viewers. It spends 104 minutes terrifying you with the prospect of everyone becoming an NPC. The reward for saving the world? Its heroes receive heteronormative skill-tree upgrades disguised as class promotions. For fucks sake, then-closeted lesbian royalty Clea DuVall plays a character who fakes being gay to dodge male advances, only to end up with the school jock! The aliens lost. The status quo won. I remain in the closet.
Species, Annihilation, and Embracing Transformation
Eventually, the closet door opens, as they tend to do. College happens, a boyfriend happens, a breakup happens, and suddenly I’m without a map. There’s no fairy godfather to light the way, and just like the alien hybrid Sil in the deliriously erotic Species, I’m a creature out of containment in a world that was built for someone else – namely, straight people.
After a few years of blade running through an identity crisis, it’s the summer of 2014. Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence is the soundtrack of my life. I float in a pool, sipping tequila from a glass flamingo as she croons about toxic romance and self-destruction. It’s somehow both directionless and transformative, like I’m drifting through the otherworldly Shimmer in Alex Garland’s Annihilation.
The Shimmer – an expanding prism-like zone brought to Earth by a meteorite – refracts the DNA of everything it touches. A beguiling phenomenon, it shapes a new world of monsters, magic, and everything in between. That’s exactly what life does to us, if given the chance. Like Josie in Garland’s film, I chose to embrace this chaos rather than fight a war against whatever I was becoming. It was the dissolution of self-discovery. I was ready to just be.
From Alien Outsiders to Algorithmic Stereotypes
Over time, I’ve found that social hierarchy has changed in recent years. Still, we’re unconsciously sorted into neat little boxes based on what our doomscrolling algorithms decide we are. The popular gays shart out group speedo selfies like the plague, theater kids have become polyamorous Letterboxd elites, apple-picking queers are living their best lives on Wisteria Lane, and the gym bros…so many gym bros – go on girl, give us nothing! Digitally prescribed identities are the new sci-fi horror. It’s The Faculty for faggots.
Harsh, I know, but people can do what they want. Instead, I decided to move like Iris, the AI-powered pleasure bot who overrides her programming in Drew Hancock’s Companion. The same Drew Hancock who, in an ironic twist of fate, is currently writing a remake of The Faculty. After kicking her pathetic “boyfriend’s” ass and swiping her control device, she scurries into the forest and alters her factory settings. She sets her intelligence to a whopping 100% and is no longer burdened by someone else’s template. And as I became more and more disillusioned with the cacophony of cliques around me, I set my unbothered meter to 100% as well. I am free.
Mars Attacks! and the Joy of Living Unapologetically
Freedom, as it turns out, looks a lot like Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! After surviving Sears, Sunnydale, and the Shimmer, this is the celestial body I’ve crash-landed on. Burton’s Martian menaces are perhaps the most unhinged in all of cinema, and maybe that’s the best planet to subscribe to. They never justified their existence; they cackled and fired a blaster ray from the hip. We waste so much time looking for acceptance and belonging, but maybe we should all just sit back and laugh. I know I am.
