Films like DEAD ALIVE, a British ealry 80's horror film used heavy comedy to lighten up and even make fun of the horror. The horror pokes fun at itself. Also SCREAM films by Wes Craven have relied on the humor of "parady" mixed with the horror to excite and amuse people. Scary plus it's funny. Also A Nightmare On Elm Street does this a lot, too, because Freddy has a lot of one liners in these films like, "You've got the body, I've got the brain" just before he pulled back the skin on his own scalp to expose his brain. He gave that line in part 2 of the series to the teen protagonist as he was having a nightmare.