Horror and comedy - it's the timing

I just realized recently that there isn't all that much difference between a horror screenplay and a comedy.

Both of them rely on timing, and if the timing is off, they won't work. That's why they are both so difficult to write. It's also why we've been seeing all those horror/comedies over the past few years.

Think about a joke you heard that you thought was hilarious. First time you heard it, you probably figured out the punch line about a half-beat before whoever was telling the joke said it. The punchline confirmed what you thought. And that's what takes something from kind of amusing to riotously funny.

It's also what makes something extremely scary--you figure out what's about to happen and, if it's something really bad, you've got a couple of seconds of dreading it before actually seeing it. It makes it even scarier than if the moment had come completely out of nowhere.

For example, I saw a movie a few years ago where a woman was staying in a hotel and noticed a peep-hole in one of the walls. The second she saw it I thought, "she's going to look through that peep-hole, and not see anything for a second, then an eye will appear, looking back at her."

Which is exactly what happened, two seconds later, and which caused everyone in the room with me to gasp. We all saw it coming, which made it even more effective.

A truly effective horror movie or a truly funny comedy rely heavily on timing, and it's difficult to get right. That's why the masters of both genres are so awe-inspiring. It ain't easy, and if it's even a little off the comedy goes from being a laugh-riot to mildly amusing and the horror movie goes from terrifying to kind of "meh."