Can "corniness" and comic relief make a scarier film?

[Dr. Briggs]

I started thinking about this in the My Bloody Valentine remake topic; apparently a whole lot of people think the film was basically corny fun, though I personally thought it was a lot scarier than many other recent "down-to-earth" horror films... Personally, I definitely don't think MBV was downright cheesy, but it wasn't quite as "dark" and... "serious business" as the others. ...It got me to thinking that maybe if more horror films nowadays veered away from the "serious business" approach and into a "less-grounded" place where they could almost wallow in the madness and creepy absurdity of their situations, there'd be more surreally chilling stuff like Maniac or even Monkeyshines coming, in addition to more "genuine" modern slashers.

IMO it could depend largely on a film's tone. If a movie is slow-moving and bleak to start with, then off-the-wall and over-the-top stuff could ruin the mood (I feel some more serious-toned but dismissed horror could have been better regarded if they took themselves more seriously in the "kills" department), however in more fast-paced films some more "off-the-wall" (If not outright "silly") moments can register completely in the other direction as shocking and overwhelming (I think this is one great strengths of The Evil Dead and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

I'm not entirely sure if all this is true, as I have yet to really think about it in-depth, though I do think it is an interesting theory. Anyone else have thoughts on the subject?

[FreddysFingers]

For MBV, I got frightened here and there although I don't know if I would call it corny at all. A corny horror movie would Dead Alive or 2,001 Maniacs. I personally think that if a horror movie was corny, it would loose it's scare factor easily... films like Creepshow and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 are so corny, though they try to scare you. Honestly, if you're weak to horror or you're a kid these movies will terrifying... but as adults, do we get terrified easily from these films?

I recently saw a movie, that I will do a post on later, called Dark Remains and it was so tense and so moody and so dark that I actually jumped out of my seat while watching it. You can think of a "less grounded" idea but it depends on what atmosphere you go with it. With Monkey Shines, the idea is hysterical but Romero builds this serious and dark tone with the movie... it loses it's funniness. To me, you have to build up the horror and you have to make a movie that is really moody and deep in depth.

Btw, GREAT post as always.