Comedy horror is a literary and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: “black comedy, parody and spoof.” Comedy horror can also parody or subtly spoof horror clichés as its main source of humor or use those elements to take a story in a different direction.
In comedy horror film, gallows humor is a common element. While comedy horror films provide scares for audiences, they also provide 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”.
Movie: Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2011)
Two friends on vacation at their dilapidated mountain house are mistaken for murderous backwoods hillbillies by a group of obnoxious, preppy college kids. When one of the students is separated from the group, the boys try to lend a hand, but as the misunderstanding grows, so do the body count and the laughs.
Book: "A Hundred Billion Ghosts" by D.M. Sinclair
Ryan Matney has no life, but he’s pretty sure one’s going to start any day now. He’s felt that way every day for the last decade or so. But still, he has a good feeling about tomorrow. Then, in a world-altering cosmic event, the ghosts of everyone who ever died suddenly become visible to the living. Now every house is haunted and the streets are filled with wandering souls. Death, once humankind’s greatest mystery, is just a few inconvenient moments and then back to work on Monday. In this strange new world where everyone stays around forever, Ryan decides that life really begins at death. So, with the help of some questionable technology, he embarks on a permanent out-of-body experience and becomes one among a hundred billion ghosts. It doesn’t go well. And soon, Ryan finds that he wants his body back. But it’s not where he left it. And if he doesn’t get back into it by the end of the week, he’ll cease to exist. Totally. Forever. Also, there’s a cereal he really wants to try. That’s less of a problem. But still a problem.
