With so many different stories in the world, it was inevitable that some plots and premises would become tropes and cliches. These are scenarios that are used as jumping off points to tell a particular story. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Audiences have become so accustomed to these stories that they accept the fact that they are used as templates to do something original. A great example of this is the classic ghost story of a family moving into a haunted house. Traditionally, these stories are viewed as works of horror, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be flipped upside down for a completely different genre.
There are many different examples of this phenomenon, where a standard horror trope is utilized for comedy. Beetlejuice starring Micheal Keaton, handles it very well as it doesn’t introduce this premise at the start of the film. Instead, the audience first meets the couple who will eventually become ghosts. It isn’t until after they die and grow accustomed to their new reality that a new family moves into the home. But rather than have the ghosts be the terrorizing entity in the story, it’s the new homeowners who need to be exorcised.
It’s a great way to take something that is fairly standard in the horror genre and twist it to become wholly unique and original. But it isn’t alone in trying to make a comedy out of the standard haunted house formula. Casper is another example, as is the sitcom Ghosts. Both instances feature a family moving into a house that is haunted. But rather than double down on the horror that has made this trope famous, the stories have fun with the premise and use it for comedy instead. It just goes to show that given the right tone, any staple of a particular genre can be twisted into becoming something new.
Beetlejuice is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
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