Okay so I’m a little overcooked after these last couple of weekends. For that reason, I’m going to take the day off. I might even need another one but we’ll see. A few of you were asking me about Second Chance Showdown. It’s still on. Not only is it on, it will be a 2-parter that takes place over 2 weekends. Six entries for each weekend. I’ll do that the weekend after the final Blood & Ink pitch.
And since horror is on the brain, I’ve got one other little tidbit I’ve been thinking about. Did you know that two of the biggest horror writer-directors to hit the scene lately both originally came from comedy? Everybody knows that’s the case with Jordan Peele. But not as many people know that Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons) used to be in a comedy troop called “The Whitest Kids You Know.”
This got me wondering – is the secret to writing great horror comedy? And, if so, how is the best way to use it? To answer the first question, I believe it’s a bigger part than people realize. Because horror is often about creating tension and you need a tool to occasionally relieve that tension. People who are good at comedy can achieve that.
I also suspect that the creative bone that comes up with good jokes works adjacent to the bone that comes up with good scares. Cause, in both cases, you need to be a little nutty. You need to be a little weird and out there to think of that uncomfortable joke that nobody else would’ve thought of. And you need to be really weird to come up with some of these crazy unpleasant scares in horror movies that nobody else is capable of imagining.
The greatest horror writer of all time, Stephen King, has a good sense of humor too. His books would always have good laughs between the horror elements. Then again, you have Ari Aster, who’s about as funny as a chain link fence in a prison yard. But maybe he’s the exception.
What do you think? Am I onto something?
