Babel Clash

So Jesse wants us to get into the funny.  That’s cool.  I can roll with the funny–and not just the sort of funny that involves erecting elaborate scarecrows around the edges of the campsite while everyone else is still sleeping (although that was pretty funny).  I’m a funny girl.  I have to be, because funny is an absolutely integral part of horror.  Allow me to elaborate.

Have you ever been scared?  I mean really, really scared?  I’m talking about the kind of scared that makes your stomach drop down to your ankles and your head feel like it’s full of helium while your feet feel like they’re made of lead.  Think about that feeling.  Now?  Think about the way you felt immediately after you realized that you weren’t about to be eaten alive by an undead clown made entirely out of spiders.  Are you giggling nervously?  Well, you’re not alone.

Laughter is a natural human response to fear.  When something scares you, you try to laugh it off.  You make light of it, make jokes about it, because that keeps your brain from completely overloading.  (The line between “healthy, cleansing laughter” and “scary, hysterical laughter that makes everyone inch away from you and consider taking their chances with the zombies” is tragically thin, by the way.  So try not to laugh too much.)

My favorite horror movies and novels have always been the ones that included an element of comedy.  Stephen King’s IT is a beautiful example of blending screams with laughter–the kids may have everything evil under the sun to deal with, but they still get the giggles, goof off, and generally act like actual people put into an unbearable situation.  Or take Slither, written and directed by James Gunn.  That movie is insane, and I mean that in the best way possible.  And yes, all those people keep laughing, keep making jokes, and keep getting obsessed with little things, because that’s what keeps you sane when things get unbearable.

I find it really troublesome when horror loses its sense of humor.  No, a decapitation shouldn’t be funny, but that’s an extreme, and there’s a whole lot of room on the other end of the scale.  If things get too grim, too unrelentingly dark and depressing, why should I even bother trying to make it through?  It might be better to bow out while I still can, and go enjoy a story that still allows for a little bit of giggling in between the screams.  (It’s also possible to go too far toward the funny, resulting in things like Jason X, which was a lot of fun, but wasn’t really a horror movie.  Finding that fine line is part of the art of writing horror, like walking a trapeze line over a swimming pool filled with hungry mutant piranha.)

You can’t spell “slaughter” without “laughter.”  And that’s exactly the way I like it.

Related posts:

• Funny or Die
  Yesterday Mira Grant welcomed you into the First Church of Romero. You know, the one where the primary tenant is “kill it before it kills you”? Yeah, I’m also a member, so you know it’s where all the cool people hang out. Come on in, grab a shotgun and stay...
• The Why of Horror
  So Jesse mentioned the concept of the “why” at the end of her last blog.  I like the “why”.  I like the “why” a little bit too much, as the occasional narrative restraining order will illustrate.  I was the little kid who would keep asking “Why?” for an hour, not...
• In which Mira does not eat Jesse’s fingers, but does talk about ideas.
  No, Jesse, you’re wrong; it will not all be okay, and the odds are good that the mean ol’ series will kill me in the night.  I will take comfort from knowing that yours is likely to do the same to you.  The series is the monster under my bed...
• From “F” words to zombie apocalypses
  Well, guys, was I right about buckling up or what?  Jaye & Nicole, it has been a laugh riot having you both on Babel Clash.  You’ve made me blush (which is actually quite easy despite the fact that I come from a long line of sailors) and you’ve made me...
• Apocalyptic Musings
  So Jesse–who is apparently a lot more destructive than I knew, and by the way, if you come over, Jesse, I’m hiding the C4–wants to know why mankind has not yet descended into chaos and anarchy and lots of Mad Max-style hairstyling in the Newsflesh universe. The short answer: Because...