Haunted House Comedies
Haunted houses are horrific locations, but they are funny places too. Buster Keaton found his way into a haunted house (The Haunted House (1921)); so did Harold Lloyd (Haunted Spooks (1920)). Bob Hope stumbled into several, as did comedy troupes like Our Gang and the Bowery Boys. Haunted houses turn up again and again in classic animation, as in Lonesome Ghosts (1937). More recently, filmmakers like the Wayans brothers and Tyler Perry have contributed to the haunted house comedy. Our collection hopes to excavate and understand this neglected strand, exploring some of the foundational connections between horror and comedy around the theme of haunted house.