How do you incorporate Humor into Horror?

Dom Perkins

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R.L. Stine once said that scary stories have some humor in it. He compared horror to a roller coaster; people are screaming but they're also laughing.

What do you think? Do you agree? How can I incorporate humor into my horror stories. I also typically have a darker sense of humor. I'd imagine dark humor would fit right in with horror, but would it fail to lighten the mood or atmosphere if need be?
 

triceretops

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I can only say that I use a specific character for comic relief. That means a character who is somewhat of a blunderer, a knuckle head, a clumsy fool, or has some other trait that breaks the tension in the dark matter. There are many other ways to achieve humor in horror, I'm sure, but I haven't written or read enough to see how it can be specifically done. I know Stephan King can pull it off when he wants to. But humor and funny irony can go hand in hand with horror.
 

Cal_Noble

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I can only say that I use a specific character for comic relief. That means a character who is somewhat of a blunderer, a knuckle head, a clumsy fool, or has some other trait that breaks the tension in the dark matter. There are many other ways to achieve humor in horror, I'm sure, but I haven't written or read enough to see how it can be specifically done. I know Stephan King can pull it off when he wants to. But humor and funny irony can go hand in hand with horror.

+1 on this ^^

Personally, I think humor and horror are very closely related.

A man is Chased by a mummy...horror.
That man is one of the three stooges...humor

To me, horror or humor, is based upon the reaction of the character experiencing or perpetrating it.
Look at some of the old Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Freddie Krueger had some funny lines.
 

Feidb

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I do it so naturally I don't even think about it. I do it mostly through dialogue, but sometimes through narrative or actions of the characters.

If you watch most any horror movie, you'll see bits and pieces of comedy, just to relieve the tension, even for a moment.

I tend to sprinkle a bit more, at least tongue in cheek, if not more overt.

The whole point of my icky bug is to have a good time, maybe scare a bit as well.

I leave the truly disturbing to those so inclined. I'm not near that depressed or serious or whatever you want to call it.

In the end, scares or otherwise, I want people to be able to close the book with a smile on their face.
 

RookieWriter

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+1 on this ^^

Personally, I think humor and horror are very closely related.

A man is Chased by a mummy...horror.
That man is one of the three stooges...humor

To me, horror or humor, is based upon the reaction of the character experiencing or perpetrating it.
Look at some of the old Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Freddie Krueger had some funny lines.

I'd like to dig deeper into this.
 

Auteur

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Us (the movie) has some humor in it. Actually, those are some of the best scenes.
 

zahra

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Have to say, when there's comedy and horror, I usually think of the piece as comedy. 'Shaun of the Dead' being a prime example. 'Us' now - definitely horror with comedic bits, as is 'Get Out'. don't incorporate comedy in my horror, though. I let my characters get a little snarky sometimes, but that's the extent of it. Not sure I want my readers to have light relief and not sure I'm a howlingly funny writer!
 

Charles Windsoap

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Just think of it like slipping on a banana peel. Only instead of landing on the floor, you land on a spike. That's horror, so far as I can see. Everyday life, humor and love and missteps -- then madness. You have to have the former in order to make the latter believable.
 

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So my daughter is more of an expert on humor in horror, but several ideas: Have you ever read (or scene the movie) "John Dies at the End"... there are a number of tongue in cheek references, like a ghost lock on a ghost door that can only be opened by the girl with an amputation (thus a "phantom" hand) or the opening scene where a man kills a baddie with an axe, then later breaks the handle (and replaces it), then breaks the head (and replaces it), then the baddie comes as a zombie and says: That's the Axe that killed me... Is he right?

My favorite zombie movies are "Shaun of the Dead", "Fido" (the touching story of a boy and his zombie), and "Warm Bodies" (zombie love story).... all of which are more comedy than horror.
 

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Characterization is one method I have used to some success in this regard. Interactions between characters is another. Character personalities can be a fertile playground for crafting humor into horror fiction, no matter how dark the tone and/or theme. Think of the serious, horror tone as a frame or foundation onto which you can build incredibly funny humor. Contasting the two—humor with terrifying horror—can really keep your readers engaged and turning those pages.
 

CJEvermore

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It depends on how you want to use humour. Sometimes, comedy can bring some light relief to some dark moments, and release a bit of tension. Dark humour, however, can sometimes make the horror of the situation worse. You can be laughing, and at the same time utterly horrified. I'm always down for a bit of black comedy in my horror stories.
 

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I always thought the slasher movies of the 70s and 80s had things happen that evoked laughter.

One of the Texas Chainsaw movies had Leatherface dent his weird brother's metal plate in his head with the chainsaw. Rooting for the victim to get away, one may get laughter when the bad guy sabotages his own team or himself.

Some of the attacks on the villains of slasher films are so outlandish, one may chuckle.

It can't all be non-stop horror. There needs to be some kind of release.
 

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How you'd approach this depends on the kind of humor you are aiming for. Are you aiming for over-the-top slapstick type humor, satire (where you poke fun at cliches and tropes within the horror genre), subtle commentary on the human condition, commentary on our contemporary society, or for something else? Is the story first and foremost a comedic work, or is it a serious tale with some subtle humor worked in?

In my experience, humor is the hardest story element to explain or define. It's one of those things where I know it when I see it, but I always have trouble explaining to someone why I find a given TV show, movie or novel funny. Pretty much every situation and character have absurdities built into them, though. And the words one chooses to describe things can add to the humor. I don't think Douglas Adams's books would have been half as funny without his narrative style which managed to be both hyperbolic and understated. I find characters' internal contradictions, quirks, unspoken assumptions, and cliches within certain genres potentially funny, but it's all in the execution.
 
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Biffington

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A lot of horror stories, thrillers, or whatever they want to call themselves, are the kind of fun, controlled horror you have at an amusement park. Cabin in the Woods or Scream are great examples of those. They're a thrill ride, and the rider knows it's all in fun.

Then there are the serious horror stories. The tragedies, the hopeless, miserable cases. I'm not as big on these, but they have some interesting qualities, as well.

Even in the most serious, depressing horror story, the audience needs some time to breathe. They'll take any excuse they can get to surface for levity before diving back into horror. If the story keeps the same horrific tone the whole time, readers lose interest, and it loses all but an obsessive cult audience. Not all of them use humor, but they have points where they let the reader breathe. Think of it like a warped sine wave. the horror ramps up, gets really intense for a few pages, then lowers itself into a dimmer sense of normalcy to allow the reader to digest it and give them a chance to feel a bit of dread before plunging them into the horror again.

Well, unless they're short fiction. In short fiction you don't have to pace yourself.