Should Comedy be interlaced with Horror?

[Laffin83]

For many recent years (mostly the 90's and on) Comedy has been placed in Horror movies in large doses. So much, in fact, the movie shouldn't even be "categorized" as Horror, but as a Comedy; yet through the loopholes of how movies are categorized by people internationally, these movies are still considered Horror even though the only "scare" you will get is when something jumps out and the orchestra bass blares on impact.

I love levity in my horror. I love my spoofs. And yes, I love my fun. But where's the Horror anymore? Is it now a "category" that has become obsolete because of so many subcategories? There are so many non-horror movies that are frightening, more than modern "horror." And it has come down to this:

Horror usually involves a creature, villain, or some paranormal oddity, that causes horrible things to happen to "innocent" people; this usually involves some degree of gore, terror, violence, and chaos/mayhem.
Well, we do see a lot of creatures of all shapes and sizes, but not in a terrifying way, anymore. Plenty of villains, that we can laugh at. And the only ghost I've seen so far has been "What Lies Beneath," and that was more mystery to me. Not too frightening.

Well, I can say the documentary of psychiatric units of Bellevue Hospital; Just, Melvin, another documentary about a pedophile, incestual fuck; that's what spooks me (that there are animals like that out there). Movie examples would be Hannibal Lector and John Doe who are realistic and can die just like everyone else and aren't Godly like Jason or Michael Myers (those are just laughable).

So, now...should we just lose the whole damn category thing of Horror and come up with new categories (I can't believe I'm saying that!)
For example:
Fear
Dark/Gothic
Monster (isn't that how they used to classify Horror back in the day?)
Disturbing
Or, by giving you those, are you now going to say:
Fearsome Comedy
Gothic Comedy...etc.?

Not taking into consideration of what is popular, what do *YOU* prefer:
Old fashioned Horror with levity or
Extra doses of Comedy so you won't be "scared"?

*Note, I'm not trying to sound cynical or anything, since this is only a message board, but this is kinda what I feel is true to Horror nowadays.

[This message has been edited by Laffin83 (edited 07-16-2001).]

[countchocula]

Comedy in horror movies gets on my nerves sometimes like in Scream and other modern slashers where a character always has a clever, witty one-liner to spit out when there in a serious situation. Comedy can work well every now and then. Dead Alive and Cemetery Man were both laced with dark humor that went together well with the tongue-in-cheek, splatter horror elements. If a horror movie is poor in quality and depth, but at the same is aware of the fact then comedy doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

[AntonioDelLago]

I don't mind humorous situations, dialogue or characters in a horror flick, as long as the said humor doesn't overshadow the actual horror involved. Most of today's crop of horror films feature at least one comic relief character, in the tradition of Bill Paxton's Hudson character from ALIENS. I love film spoofs and satires (horror and otherwise), and I love unintentional humor as well (featured most prominently in RAISING CAIN and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE).