Would it surprise you to learn Bob Hope was influential in Horror? In 1939, he co-starred with Paulette Goddard in a comic remake of the Horror/Mystery The Cat and the Canary, based on a Silent film coming up in the 300s and currently sitting just outside the Top 1000. It was successful enough that Paramount reteamed Hope and Goddard – along with D.P. Charles Lang, Art Director Hans Dreier and Costume Designer Edith Head – for The Ghost Breakers. This crowd-pleaser starts as a crime picture before turning into a Haunted House film. Director George Marshall slides the atmosphere to dark as smoothly as the fog rolls in, but keeps the laughs going at a steady pace. (Years later, Marshall would direct a remake for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis called Scared Stiff, which is currently in the 900s.) This is the film Dan Ackroyd cites as the major influence for Ghostbusters, showing how you can deliver chills but keep it safe by not taking it so seriously.
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