It’s Halloween and we’re screaming with laughter: Why horror and comedy remain a potent blend to fright and delight
What’s so funny about horror?
What makes people laugh in the face of death?
Why do terror and humor work so well together?
That is a grave matter to consider this Halloween season. There is a deep connection between jumping in fright and rolling with laughter. They have delighted millions of people for many years, and appear to be more popular than ever.
There is a long history of successful, even revered horror comedies. Bob Hope was never funnier than in 1941’s “The Ghost Breakers.” A dozen years later, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis remade it as “Scared Stiff.”
Other comedians mined laughs from scary stories, most memorably Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in a string of movies where they tangled with Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy and other ghouls. Crowds packed theaters for the blend of laughs and jolts.
Abbott and Costello had a long, successful career on stage, in movies, radio and TV. Their movie “Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein” is still funny 77 years after it was released.
Costello, as Wilbur Grey, gets to know Larry Talbot, aka the Wolfman, played by Lon Chaney Jr., who built a career out of getting furry and howling at the moon.
“I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but … in a half-an-hour the moon will rise and I’ll turn into a wolf,” the tortured Talbot tells him.
“You and 20 million other guys,” Grey says.
People instinctively fear the unknown, the dark, the mysterious. It’s why we whistle past a graveyard, trying to distract ourselves from a danger we can only imagine. People like to laugh to take their minds off the dark forces and sinister creatures that populate our Halloween myths.
“Ghostbusters” was a massive hit in 1984 and spawned several sequels. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver headlined a modern horror comedy that captured the nation’s attention. Unlike many movies, where the ghost was determined to be a very live person trying to scare people to hide some nefarious actions, the Ghostbusters faced actual spooks and specters.
Weaver, as the demon-possessed Dana Barrett, explains to Dr. Peter Venkman — Murray at his smart-ass peak — what is happening in her kitchen.
“This voice said ‘Zuul.’ And then I slammed the refrigerator door and I left. That was two days ago and I haven’t been back to my apartment,” she says.
“Generally, you don’t see that kind of behavior in a major appliance,” Dr. Venkman responds.
Several other movies have found humor in horror, including “Young Frankenstein,” “Beetlejuice,” “Army of Darkness,” “Scary Movie,” “Shaun of the Dead,” “Hocus Pocus,” “Get Out” and others. There are scenes that are honestly frightening, with humor injected into the story to lessen the tension. If done well, it makes for a terrific film.
If not, it just lays there like a corpse, and that’s rarely cause for amusement.
On TV, “The Andy Griffith Show,” in the episode “The Haunted House,” spun a hilariously chilling tale of a spooky house that frightened Opie and his pal Arnold, and sent Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle running in terror.
Only wise Sheriff Andy Taylor was able to figure out it was just a moonshiner using the haunted house legend to allow him to operate a still in the basement.
Andy Griffith and his close friend Don Knotts worked together on “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” the best movie Knotts made during his post-Barney career. Griffith didn’t appear in it, but he did help craft the story.
It’s a fun romp filled with actors who passed through Mayberry.
Ron Howard later starred in a “Happy Days” episode that was a revised version of the haunted house story. This time, Richie Cunningham was in for a good scare. Howard, who became a highly successful director, hasn’t tackled a ghost story yet. Maybe he feels he’s been there, done that — twice.
“The Dick Van Dyke Show” also mixed comedy and horror in a charming and funny story — with some legitimate scary moments — in “The Ghost of A. Chantz.”
“M*A*S*H” did their own version of a Halloween tale, “Trick or Treatment,” with a few spooky stories to chill folks at the camp. Numerous other series have crafted Halloween stories, with some shows, such as “Roseanne,” “Frazier” and “The Middle,” turning to ghosts for a laugh more than once.
I usually watch some of these shows every October. It’s a modern ritual, a chance to literally chillax. Sometimes, as in “The Andy Griffith Show” episode, there actually is an ax.
That sure got Gomer’s attention.
Clowns are symbols of both laughter and dread. Kids are introduced to harlequins early on in life, and usually, they are friendly, gentle creatures. However, as Pennywise in Stephen King’s “It” proved, some clowns will make you cry. Frankly, I find most clowns downright scary, especially the ones in our politics.
It would be easier to laugh at them but they are just too frightening — and sadly, they are all too real.
I’ll take the reel thing instead. Bring on the ghosts and the gags.
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: still from the 1957 movie “The Curse of Frankenstein,” public domain, wikimedia commons
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