Screams of laughter

Horror movies can be as funny as they are scary. Think Freddy Krueger's trove of (admittedly problematic) zingers in the many "Nightmare on Elm Street" films, or the hilarious, knife-wielding doll Chucky dispatching yet another towering victim in the "Child's Play" series, just to name two examples. A horror movie without any laughs? Pretty grim.

At any rate, comedy and horror are natural, if sometimes uneasy, bedfellows. Exploring the overlap between humor and terror will be "Laughing in the Dark," presented by Wilmington theater and comedy troupe Pineapple-Shaped Lamps. Billed as "an evening of spooky sketch comedy," the mix of live action and video segments runs Thursday through Saturday up in Thalian Hall's Ruth and Bucky Stein Theatre downtown.

"One thing that I like about both horror and comedy is that they're set up the same way," said Jordan Vogt, who's directing PSL's Halloween show for the second straight year. "You've got the heightening and the tension, leading up to the scare or the laugh."

The poster art for "Laughing in the Dark" — a hand holding a match illuminating a dimly lit title — references "Are You Afraid of the Dark?",  a Canadian-shot kids' horror series that aired on Nickelodeon in the '90s and which recently returned to the network.

"Looking back at it, it's pretty bad. But at the time, some of it really got in my head," Vogt said, adding that "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" is a show he and other millennials feel very nostalgic about.

Like "Are You Afraid of the Dark?", PSL's "Laughing In the Dark" revolves around a group called The Midnight Society who assemble to tell each other scary stories.

One sketch, by Matt Carter, takes on the absurdity (and insanity) of the Salem witch trials. In another, Stephen King is visited by three different horror writers who inspire him. There's even a sketch that imagines a dating game for famous monsters.

A few spooky Wilmington references pop up — the downtown ghost tours for one, Vogt said. But the goal of the show's six writers and 10 cast members, he said, isn't necessarily jump scares or even driving the audience screaming from the room (satisfying as that might be).

Rather, he said, they're playing around with such horror tropes as teenagers camping in the woods by a lake. Who knows? Even the notably humorless "Friday the 13th" killer Jason Voorhees might approve.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.

Want to go?

What: Pineapple-Shaped Lamps presents "Laughing in the Dark," an evening of spooky sketch comedy

When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24-26

Where: Thalian Hall's Ruth and Bucky Stein Theatre, 310 Chestnut St., Wilmington

Info: Tickets are $10 and $15, plus taxes and fees.

Details: 910-632-2285 or ThalianHall.org