This document contains research by George Wetton on the genre of comedic horror films. It includes potential essay titles, questions that could be asked, existing ideas on a mind map, and examples of existing analyses of comedic horror films. The document explores how directors like John Landis, Sam Raimi, and Edgar Wright have successfully blended horror and comedy genres. It discusses how they established and maintained a balance between the two genres and influenced future filmmakers. The research aims to analyze what makes these hybrid films successful and their impact on filmmaking.

1. PERSONAL
RESEARCH
G E O R G E W E T TO N

2. TITLES FOR THE ESSAY
• Laughing in horror – the evolution of spoof horror
• You’ve got red on you – the analysis of Shaun of the dead
• Comedy in horror – the influences of evil dead
• The slaughtered lamb – the process behind an American werewolf in London
• Comedic scare legacy – the legacy behind comedic horror
• Creating the genre – the perfect balance between horror and comedy
• All things horror – the dominance of the cabin in the woods
• Happy death no no – the failure of happy death within the comedic horror genre
• Comedy horror – stereotyping in horror films and the importance of over analysis
• Get in the genre – the comedic elements in get out
• Not laughing anymore – the limitations of comedy
• Poking fun at horror – horror is the most easy genre to be fun of

3. QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ASKED
• How comedic horror films have become more successful?
• Why Shaun of the dead is such a success?
• How Sam Raimi combined the two genres?
• What makes an American werewolf in London so successful?
• How many directors have been a success within this genre?
• How to make sure one genre doesn’t dominate the other?
• How cabin in the woods was reintroduction to the genre?
• Why Happy death day was failure?
• How comedic horror films don’t fail at stereotypes and even make them fun of them?
• Could Jordan’s Peele’s ‘Get out’ be classified as comedic horror?
• How far can comedy go?
• Why horror is the most intense but made fun of genre?

4. MIND MAP: EXISTING IDEAS

5. MIND MAP: MAIN IDEA

6. EXISTING PRODUCT ONE:
Bloody disgusting: Matt Donato breaks down the best
horror comedies of the 2010’s –
In this article Matt is breaking down which films are his
favourite and which films aren’t. It’s through giving these
subjective opinions that some elemental facts come out of
them too. Piranha 3D is rate down below on the list because
of the girl gone wild trope that is used a lot. A lot of films
have rate down below too because they haven’t got the
of keeping the balance between horror and comedy. Some
too funny. Some too scary. The films like tucker and dale vs
evil are like upon there most usual reasons. Because the
majority of these films are spoofs. Stereotyping is big quality
when presenting these characters. Doing it on purpose. So
that’s its saying we aren’t be serious. Laugh at us rather than
taking itself too seriously. This list has a good way of
presenting the films to a new set of eyes by using the
examples of previous ones. For the film ‘Deathgasm’ which
ranked pretty hight it says “Think Sam Raimi, with plenty of
shouts at the devil and projectiled practical gore.
Link: https://bloody-
disgusting.com/editorials/3597242/matt-donato-

7. EXISTING PRODUCT TWO:
Ryan Hollinger: The art of Gremlins – how comedy and
horror work together –
It first starts off by stating the confusion in which gremlins falls into.
In terms of what genre it is. It’s confusing state of not balancing the
horror and comedy has been something that have puzzled many
fans. When being released it was only a PG (despite its use of
) and it was only soon after the film was released it became a PG-
horror and humour are two things that are discussed of being
similar. A lot of comedy focuses on every day misfortune and even
death. ‘From dusk till dawn’ is used as an example of the rapid
changes that a film can make when shifting the genre in the film. It
starts of as a comedy everything is pretty realistic and there's
out the normal. Then the film flips and become more of a horror.
Everything becomes horror and some comedy elements are
in. It’s unreal nature, along with the comedic elements make it even
more funnier than the first half of the film. Concluding that horror
and comedy as a formula. Really do work. Gremlins does the
opposite of having the comedic payoff at the end. However both
films succeed are keeping the tone of the film well balanced
the two. ‘From dusk till dawn’ more so.Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9tVpiv-

8. EXISTING PRODUCT THREE:
Every frame a painting: Edgar Wright – how to do visual
comedy –
This video delves into the uses of visual comedy. A lot of comedy films
dry medium shots that totally rely upon dialogue. Something which
wright doesn't do. He fetches everything into the scene from the visual
comedy to the dialogue. This is demonstrated perfectly from one film
when placed in comparison to hot fuzz. Its not just aerial shots with
in the background. You can feel the characters emotion in each quick cut
that has been presented. The character is being away from here he was
before. There’s no music and it takes you along the journey with him. The
point that is taken here is that its top marks to the director that taking
what is happening in the shot. Whether its s the most simple shot of
someone pulling pints at a pub and making them interesting with
angles. This video breaks down that any camera movement can cause
comedic effect whether it’s a pan, zoom, crane up. Etc. along with things
entering in and out of the frame in a funny way. Matching scene
transitions is also a clever way to the transitions one scene to another.
most common trope that is used in Edgar Wright’s films is the falling over
the fence scene. This isn’t a stereotype and was something he created for
his series of films. So it fit’s perfectly along with continuity and is done
deliberately with the intention of turning something that is meant to look
badass into silly.
Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOzD4Sfgag

9. PARAGRAPH STRUCTUREIntroduction to the theory (100 words)
In this paragraph it will be focusing upon introducing the subject that I will be talking about. This will be brief and it will be an explanation as to
I am posing this question for my essay. Coming up with a little background information just so that the reader knows what the main theme of
topic is.
Introduction to the statement (100 words)
This paragraph will continue from the next one. Now that I have introduced the particular subject that is focused on my essay. I will now in this
paragraph talk about what are the specific points within the subject. The directors that I will be looking at and what my main objective is meant
be for the end of the essay. What do I hope to achieve?
Paragraph one (400+ words)
These three paragraphs will be structured on focusing on one key director per paragraph. For the first paragraph I will be using John Landis and
examples of how he took his route of comedic horror. Offering the success that this had mad with his career and statistical sources showing how
popular this was at the time and even today.
Paragraph two (400+ words)
In this paragraph I will be looking at the second choice of director which is Sam Raimi. With this paragraph we will look at the balance between
two genres. The difficulty balancing the fine line between comedy and horror. Taking a look at his evil dead series and seeing why upon first
it could be mistaken for just as horror film.
Paragraph three (400+ words)
This paragraph will focus on Edgar wright as a director.. Because he is a lot more younger and is more of a modern filmmaker then the others.
subject of inspiration is talked about it. The previous directors from before were big inspiration. In this paragraph I will be looking at the films he
made and how they were similar to the previous ones. Showing that these films had a major impact on his life and how they helped shaped up
films that made his career.
Conclusion (100 words)
My last paragraph will be the conclusion in which I have made to finalise my opinion towards the question, this last paragraph will just be short
on what I have already discussed. Picking out the most important parts that I have discussed and what example could be set to further films that
being released.

10. 2 OPENING PARAGRAPH
• Plots over the years have developed a changed but most importantly there have also joined together. Romance
joining in with adventure and so on. The most unique hybrid is mixing horror and comedy together. This genre
is considered the most popular and common genre of hybrids. Which is particularly odd considering how
different they are? So is putting them together something that actually works? Yes. But why is it such a success
and why has it influenced so many future directors. Here why.
• Today I plan to discuss why this genre is so important and showing the influence that it has had on some
important directors. I shall be using comparisons as too how they have not only developed but how they are
also alike. I will focus upon the political correctness of the originals and yet the charm they still retain. The
maintain of the balance between horror and comedy and how one can overpower the other to create
something dark or a parody. To achieve this, I shall be using three directors as prime examples. Using John
Landis, Sam Raimi, and Edgar wright as what major impact they have given out to this genre

11. WRITING THE ARGUMENT
• Comedic horror has evidently become more successful over the years and the most inspiring
part is how these films had started. Sam Raimi started making ‘Evil dead’ as soon as he left
high school in the hope that it would look good. Edgar wright was different case. Comedic
horror had already became a established genre and so he wasn’t creating this genre to show
people but was instead bringing in the modern approach Edgar wright has named Sam
Raimi's evil dead as an inspiration. He has also claimed that ‘Raising Arizona’ was a film that
deeply inspired him to. This brought on more of the slapstick humour which made ‘Shaun of
the dead’ funnier. What makes it such a successful film is that it has the perfect balance
between he two. It’s also the transition between the undead world and the real world. It
focuses on parallelism. For instance when you compared the two scene when Shaun is
walking to the shop and doesn’t notice the change. There's the occasional bloody print but
the difference isn’t far different but is recognisable. This comedic effect shows how the real
world isn’t far from looking like zombie apocalypse. Society on the bus sneezing and getting
ill. Looking like they are on the urge of death.

12. CONCLUSION
• In conclusion, I consider comedic horror films to be highly successful genres to selective
amount of people but sadly they aren’t reaching their full potential into how they can
become even more successful. These films feel underrated and should be praised a lot more
because of their uniqueness. A lot genres are very expressive with what emotion that they
want to convey. If its romance. Its happiness. If it’s a drama it will be suspense. If it’s a
comedic horror related film then it could be expressing anything and because the two
genres that are being mixed. The audience are one minute laughing and then next they
have scared. It sets a tone and then flips it make the audience jump from fright. Shaun of
the dead is such a success because of this but also because it has a whole different variety
of genres. The romance of Shaun and Liz. The drama between his mum and step dad. The
mystery between how to get to the pub for safety. All this is done in the slapstick style. So
it’s not taking anything away from the main genre of what the film intends to be. Overall I
consider this genre to be a success but doesn’t have the attention that it deserves. Whilst a
lot of people think that these are just comedic films. From a filmmakers perspective. These
films are cleverly laid out and structured differently. So that they start differently to how
they finish.

13. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. The Conversation (October 31st 2017) Horror and comedy films have more in common than you might realise – Link:
https://theconversation.com/horror-and-comedy-films-have-more-in-common-than-you-might-realise-85048
2. Clear Critique. (November 3rd 2018) Horror comedies that are actually funny – Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWxQPzpL2zs
3. Clear Crique. (October 25th 2018) Horror comedies that are actually funny Volume 2 – Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHC7Mf1QJ1I
4. David Wong. (3rd October 2017) What the hell did I just read? – Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Hell-Did-Just-
Read/dp/1250040205
5. FilmSchoolRejects (October 31st 2018) Horror and Comedy are more alike than you think – Link:
https://filmschoolrejects.com/horror-and-comedy-are-more-alike-than-you-think/
6. Grady Hendrix. (23rd September 2014) Horrorstor – Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Horrorstor-Grady-Hendrix/dp/1594745269
7. Seth Grahame smith. (1st May 2007) How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills – Link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Horror-Movie-Skills/dp/1683691466
8. Patrick (H) Williams (July 17th 2017) Sam Raimi – How does Horror Comedy work? – Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwcjToDEsUY
9. Reelrundown (September 9th 2020) Why horror comedy movies work? – Link: https://reelrundown.com/movies/Why-Horror-
Comedy-Movies-Work
10. The Discarded image. (October 25th 2018) Horror comedy: Juxtaposed Genres?deconstructing funny – Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxlUTNfoBPw
Green – articles
Blue – videos
Red - Books