There’s a fine line between horror and comedy: in fact, the only thing that makes slapstick funny instead of horrifying is when the guy gets back up after being knocked down a flight of stairs. It’s no wonder then that dark comedies are so much fun. Whether it’s Evil Dead II or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010), you have to be able to appreciate that fine line as a horror fan. Everything, after all, can be funny given the right context — just look at the success of Cabin in the Woods (2011), now considered a horror classic and taught as an example of tired horror tropes subverted for modern sensibilities.
Even better, look at Happy Death Day (2017) where the premise is watching our hero suffer hilariously. Or Mel Brooks’ classic Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) where the Dracula story and all its various incarnations get a spectacular parody. Young Frankenstein (1972) does this too, playing on what we know culturally about the Frankenstein novel and film adaptations.
Ghost Light (2018) is in that line of thought, using a play everyone knows — MacBeth — and the superstitions around theater to weave a hilarious tale. It’s a little like High Spirits (1988), if you remember that one, except darker and less loving.
Check out my full review at Dead, Buried and Back here.
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Morbid Smile 