The blending of the two tones has never been a slam-dunk, though when done right, they do strike a chord with critics and pop culture. John Landis combined the two in 1981's "An American Werewolf in London," grossing $30.6 million -- a solid number at the time, with the movie ranking as that year's 23rd top domestic grosser.
But more recently, hybrid horror movies have faced resistance as theatrical releases. In 1990, "Tremors," about giant worms in the Southwest, bowed to just $3.7 million and grossed $15.5 million. That movie eventually was embraced by fans and critics, however, and became a minifranchise, spawning a series of direct-to-video sequels.
In 2002, "Eight Legged Freaks" tried to capture audiences with its web of chills and laughs, but had an opening weekend of only $6.5 million and a $17.3 million domestic gross.
Those examples suggested that "Slither" faced an uphill fight..."
"..."Slither," which according to sources had a sticker price of $29.5 million, might have killed off the horror-comedy genre for the near future.
"Horror-comedies are a tough sell," said Eli Roth, who directed the hard-core horror entries "Cabin Fever" and "Hostel." "There are core groups of fans that love them, but it seems like that the majority of people, when they want to go see a scary movie, they don't want to laugh, they just want to be straight up scared and horrified." Roth added that the negative responses he has received for his movies have mostly been directed at their humorous elements. One reason he made "Hostel" as hardcore as he did, he said, was that modern audiences seem to want to push themselves to see how much horror they can stand.
The demise of "Slither" already has attracted a noisy debate among horror fans on the Internet.
"The horror Web sites are chiding the fans for bitching and complaining that they never get original horror and then not coming out to support it opening weekend," Roth said. "The horror fans are an interesting bunch: They complain about remakes, then flock to them."
Still, if history is any indication, "Slither" could rise from the dead to find an afterlife in home video and ancillary markets.
"In 15 years, nobody is going to be watching 'Ice Age: The Meltdown.' Everybody is going to be watching DVDs of 'Slither,' " Roth said.
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