Why Filmmakers Should Start with Comedy and Horror

[@bsharp3281]

Comedy and horror map directly to the emotions of mirth and fear. Storytelling is about bringing emotions to the surface, everything else is supplemental. So, comedy and horror give young filmmakers very clear emotional targets.

[@matman000000]

Fear and laughter are the most common reactions to surprising and eventful situations. When you get jumpscared by a friend, when you're riding a rollercoaster, break the law in a small way or do something you've never done before, you get a weird mix of those emotions that makes you feel alive. Directors like Hitchcock, Lynch, Kubrick, Lanthimos, Tarantino, Aster, Raimi, Östlund or Gilliam often mix these emotions in surprising ways, which makes their movies so entertaining and unpredictable.

[@tmorganriley]

I am just a local stage director of radio theatre productions. But I started out directing horror, mystery, comedy, and adventure, in that order. It wasnt until my 6th show that I worked up to drama ("Little Women"). This makes total sense to me!

[@yungtubby989]

One of the best film theory videos ive ever seen. Fantastic video!!

[@pratikgarad]

Even the director of Lights Out started with a short horror film. He has a KZbin channel called Ponysmasher. He explains in depth how he started from a low budget and moved upto directing Shazam.

[@TENRAN432]

the pie shootout edit was a brilliant illustration!

[@Spokyn.1]

This is a real interesting and refreshing compared to a lot of the videos about movies I watch. Super high quality as well

[@alecstewy2215]

Funny enough I always classify Tarantino movies as comedy’s. I don’t get why people think they’re anything but. Pulp fiction is my favorite movie for many reasons but a major one is because of how damn funny it is

[@alismaeeli4883]

awesome editing and design

[@jmalmsten]

One bit that I feel was overlooked here was the audience and marketing aspect/perspective. The deep introspective "I don't know what to feel" stories may be great oscar fodder. But. They are really hard to sell, to market and without word of mouth, you get audiences who very likely do not jive with the intent of the film. With horror and comedy, you have much, much simpler expectations to meet. Distributors know how to market them and audiences let their guards down because they know why to chose your film over the other options. And like with hypnosis, a willing participant is so much more easy to give suggestions to.

[@theclosing2454]

I think filmmakers should start wherever they want

[@NE-lu7tn]

I think random KZbin video creators should tell random people how they should live their lives. I stopped watching this video after the intro. If the title was worded differently, I'd consider giving it a chance. It's like the saying goes: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Do whatever you want and make whatever you want. Plenty of excellent filmmakers have made excellent dramas for their first films. If you're talented, you'll find a way. And you may fail at your first attempt, or second, or third, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try what you wanna do.

[@spurdosparde7949]

you read the title read the title and took personal offense 😂

[@Stratmanable]

​@NE-lu7tn Boy! You're just the coolest guy in the room! So cool you hipped us to your wisdom, so smart you judged a book by its cover! Wow. I wish I was as cool and smart as you.

[@NE-lu7tn]

@Stratmanable For someone mocking someone's intelligence, you should really question your own first. I didn't judge a book by its cover. I clearly stated that I turned it off after the intro. And considering that you don't know who I am and know absolutely nothing about me, it would be wise for you not to throw insults. Unlike most people watching this video and/or posting in the comments (and/or potentially making this video), I actually have 30+ film credits, including one of the biggest TV shows of this century, and one of the highest-grossing movies of the year in 2022. So feel free to choose insults and sarcasm, but considering that you don't even know who you're insulting, maybe you should try to be intelligent and read the comment at face value, coming from someone who actually makes a good living in the industry.

[@sylaspartain3437]

@@NE-lu7tnI call liar

[@cmation1073]

This is an exceptional video. I cannot believe this has less than 1k views.

[@DorkoDoes]

The end scene with Louie was perfect summation of the video 👏

[@zeltzamer4010]

If someone makes a student film that isn’t a chamber drama about them whining over a girlfriend in their dorm room, they’re pretty much automatically a dove amongst the crows.

[@polandpeters9765]

I am always ready to get engaged in horror and comedy films. Ken Russell proved how great potential there is.

[@Tropdop]

I’m on my second draft on a novel and haven’t been enjoying myself as much as when I started. I’m gonna take this advice and see if the fun comes back!

[@oldplanetmedia1629]

A lot of great ideas here but I personally feel like upbeat music during horrific scenes takes the edge off and makes it more watchable, not more terrifying. Same thing happens in some of Rob Zombie's movies

[@sirjigglesthepanda]

I’m writing a drama and a comedy but for my advice is what ever works for you as long you know your story

[@XanderShiller]

This a handy breakdown especially for when you're stuck. Thank you.

[@omkarjoshi-wn6bf]

I think filmmaker must just START

[@facuuugb]

Great content! no doubts your channel will grow greatly

[@Nebulagracie]

Man you explained it so beautifully i used to think I'll never do comedy but this make me want to do experiment and not do serious drama right away

[@ThomasKent963]

Dude! You caught and kept me with the first 2.3 seconds... "the drums" with that overbeat slam on I... so BlueNote style. What a signature!

[@oaktreesewede5152]

Thank you. This was a good wakeup call

[@Matttalksfilm]

This is a great video that's like a masterclass

[@daizydoesstuff]

thank you for this! i really appreciate it and i’ll be referencing this often

[@WhiteBloggerBlackSpecs]

That's why It Follows is so suspenseful

[@figgles2472]

How is this guy on 2.2k this was amazing

[@JumpCutProYT]

Hey man, I really like your videos! You have good takes and insights. There's a lot of video essay channels, but yours feels fresh. Keep em comin'

[@MaximilienVignal]

The edit on this was something else

[@hhhsp951]

there's a reason Fargo is my 3rd favorite movie

[@somoscinelento]

Great video! But I'd argue good comedy is very hard to pull off. Horror is more approacheable

[@alexanderarea6157]

Novelists should start out with these too

[@VVhistory]

First of all we must understand what comedy means: Tragedy. There is not such thing as "happy" comedy, Comedy is a series of events from tragedy, this is evident in the book 'Divine comedy' by dante. If we pay attention, Chaplin's comedy or any jim carrey comedy is based on inconveniences or personal tragedies. it's psychological in many ways

[@DangerousMuteLunatic]

LONG LIVE GENRE CINEMA

[@SourushAI]

The Django and pie part's edit was crazy😂

[@vincentgoupil180]

Title made me think of John Demme's "Something Wild" starting out as a romantic New York comedy then turn on a dime with Ray Liotta into a dramatic movie. His next movie "Married to the Mob" wasn't a great comedy but "Silence of the Lambs" went full blown horror. Comedy is funny because it has a grain of truth to it.

[@ChernobylKid]

very good video!!!

[@Hdhdushzhz57743]

Home Alone with death and gore is just a deathtrap dungeon from old school D&D

[@MrinmayChakravarty-jf4nr]

I was thinking about that too starting my debut with comedy

[@The-db2ch]

I'm not falling for that one Nothing hardest to write than comedy AT ALL

[@dallassegno]

Schindler list is literally a comedy. Watch it again.

[@masonfarleyproductions]

why not both! my Movie The Instance comes out Oct 2nd 2025! and its a comedy horror!

[@toliveisrare]

Do you think Skinamarink counts as transcendental horror? I think it might. I saw it, it felt slow, yet the atmosphere and anticipation was anxiety inducing. We, the audience don't even see the top half of the characters' bodies for the first half of the film. A lot of low to the ground shots. It was a really good, spooky film in my opinion.

[@GoldenAugust-]

I think video needs blood/gore warning but overall fantastic!

[@thecinephiliac4034]

Very true how close horror and comedy are linked cause I honestly found the gore added to Home Alone to make it actually funny enough for me to laugh at where as the actual version wouldn’t. I like to call it splatstick comedy. Like stuff in Dead Alive and the goofier Evil Dead installments, or as in with the example used in this video, Tarantino’s gory but funny films.

[@CM-di1oz]

Although I think you have a lot of good points about the parallels of horror and comedy, its an interesting comparison that I don't see many people cover, some horror can use dark humor for a tonal dissonance that really works well. However I think your Thesis is... flawed and clickbaity. I will agree that many new film makers shoot too high, they try to create their magnum opus in their first year and this is disastrous for them. now, where I disagree is that genre inherently will change this, Yes making B-movies(which usually happen to be horror or comedy) is a great way to start your career, but both these genres can be as over ambitious as a drama, making people laugh can be hard, making people scared can be really hard. Its possible on a small budget and little experience(like a great example you shortly showed, I actually think evil dead 2 is Raimis best movie. and that was one of his earliest) but so many people go into making a horror movie trying to be John Carpenter.

[@MaleMentalMastery]

Totally agree with you. One of the worst beginner films I’ve ever seen is Spider-Man Lotus. Controversy aside, it’s extremely boring and self indulgent. Literally like 95% of the movie is just characters being melodramatic and sad. IN A SPIDER-MAN MOVIE! This is common among beginner directors (or artists in general), they don’t care about entertaining the audience. They only care about showing off how genius their dialogue is and how high brow their premise is. They take themselves way too seriously when they still suck! Filming a comedy kind of forces you to be goofy and get in touch with your inner child. Same thing with horror. Who doesn’t have experience trying to scare their friends or family members?

[@derwhiskeyflitscher1327]

i personally think the realistic version was hilarious

[@tareklegrand7747]

are you a filmaker ? how many films you made this far ?

[@stupendoushorrendous8258]

I bet that matters somehow.

[@tareklegrand7747]

@@stupendoushorrendous8258 it does the guy is telling people how they should start their career.

[@romeister]

good video! i am going to mention midsommar in mine now

[@TraceyBaby52]

Hey I love that you used tarantino's and jordan peeles way of Comedy/Horror. But I think the GTA series pushes it a step forward with there uses of C/H. I think you should check that out.

[@UShistorymatters]

Start with focus on the writing and not so much filmmaking. Write great comedy and you can do anything.

[@LetsCrashThisParade]

How would a horror movie typically have a cheaper budget than drama though? Drama essentially requires nothing, i think all your further points are true and very inneresting though, just genuinely wondering why comedy/horror is looked at as a "lower bar" than drama montetarily or qualitatively?

[@matman000000]

Horror can work with a limited cast, claustrophobic or cheap locations and mediocre actors as long as its concept and pacing is good. They're also pretty much guaranteed to make money with a lower budget. When you limit locations and cast in a drama, it might feel more like a stage play than a movie, which can still work wonderfully (12 Angry Men, Who's Afraid of Wirginia Woolf?), but it's not as versatile, you need to rely on exceptional actors and it can easily flop even with a low budget.

[@Somerandomfilmmakerguy]

💯. I did that. Only left it two times.

[@mondralegal]

Hey dude, i think the audio in this video is way louder on the left side than it is on the right. I feel like i lost hearing on one ear lol

[@ashtonsgotsauce]

15:43 this was jeepers creepers for me.

[@vdeovisuals]

The connection is that you have to suspend your disbelief for both genres For this reason I find most horror films comical to watch

[@et_puis]

Ironically, it's easier to produce the "serious" and "nothing happens" film than what you're suggesting first time filmmakers do😅

[@WhiteBloggerBlackSpecs]

Horror comedies work using both elements

[@nepp1592]

whats up with your audio?

[@AshleyGraetz]

Midsomer was crap. Now hereditary was brilliant. True romance was best comedy horror 😂

[@currentphonograph7487]

My film will bee A comedy/ musical

[@sad.boys.]

Where is that first clip with David Lynch from??

[@GrindHouseAllNight]

3:23 "imagine this scene with visible, painful injuries" Bro says "it wouldn't be so funny", but next makes it even funnier omg especially 3:39

[@Cheeselord83]

Without even watching the video I know it's because Dramas are more in depth and and require more cohesive, detailed writing which simply isn't as crucial in comedy or horror. Comedies and horror can be absurd and senseless where it's expected and accepted by most.

[@Deadsies556]

Now go sum up every youtube video you can find 🫡

[@JimmyMMcGill63]

well Jordan Peele started with comedy and now he’s making horror movies

[@DutchWestFilms]

Make the kind of film 📽️ you think you should make. I can't tell you how many cliche horror films people I know have made, and a few i worked on, that just blend in with the crowd

[@ChrisMorganComedy]

You made home alone much funnier with those injuries

[@noticiasinmundicias]

Those death scenes from Home Alone are your edits? Man if so they are GOOD

[@noticiasinmundicias]

also my god I can't stand tarantino

[@beans4126]

no it was done by the vfx channel Corridor

[@lofi.cinema]

VFX were done by Corridor and Bunni Walker KZbin channels. They did an amazing job indeed! Sharing the links if you wanna check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJivoquJha6biJI www.youtube.com/@bunniwalker

[@LofiMagick69]

@@noticiasinmundiciasyeah, I like maybe 2/3rd’s or less of his catalog,”-really can’t stand him personally, though.

[@dipansarkar3153]

is the sound of this video paned towards left or my headphone broken?

[@sebastianalegria3401]

As far as i know, Peter Jackson began making Gore movies before he made The Lord of the Rings, so if i could highlight one of his early movies, I would call Dead Alive "the goriest movies ever".

[@researchchannel1968]

What was that last song at the end

[@BoneHammerher]

Try to make me laugh. I'll bet you can't.

[@charlessmyth]

What's the movie at [11:22]

[@Sunnyside5574]

Once upon a time in Hollywood

[@vernaynaw2073]

your making a fantastic points, but I'm seeing a sevear lack of dogs.

[@santkarawazzy7675]

Guys, let me recommend a comedy horror movie for y’all. Chandramukhi (2005)

[@aktivniigomes1989]

Filmmakers should start wherever they want lmao

[@zachary1269]

good

[@user-fy6kr7yr9c]

My left ear enjoyed this video.

[@madmau]

I love horror but i'm not scary I like comedies and I know they're a good way to start, but i'm not funny.

[@tucholsk1]

Trick question do whatever you want because art is subjective

[@jw_lkr]

great video but not mentioning evil dead in a video about low budget comedy and horror movies is a bit of a sin

[@artirony410]

Evil Dead definitely shows up in this lol, you just weren't paying attention

[@CeeLoGreen666]

15:41 Peele says this but then does exactly that in NOPE. He shows the fucking alien??

[@SchizoPantheon]

Are you AI?

[@CM-di1oz]

Actually I was wondering that, his voice noticably glitches out for a portion of the video and over all his meter sound like that of a modern voice cloning software

[@johndimelu1247]

Anybody know the movie @ 14:12 ?

[@lofi.cinema]

@@johndimelu1247 "Hana-bi" by Takeshi Kitano

[@Segadrome]

Nah the running scene in Get Out is hilarious regardless of the music.

[@MLawrence-z9k]

Na it wasn't funny till he added the music because it was never ment to be funny

[@nicoquet]

yeah

[@mastersquinch]

too bad i was cackling at the corridor digital hom,e alone edits thesis destroyed 😎

[@gingersndragons]

this video felt ai generated

[@fastabst]

why?

[@gingersndragons]

@@fastabst both the script and the vocal performance of the narrator gave me the uncanny valley feeling

[@CM-di1oz]

@@gingersndragons Im 90% sure the vocals are AI, I dont know about the script. but still seems like an odd choice

[@MarcBrewer]

I am glad Orson Welles didn’t follow this advice

[@choppergirl]

I didn't find those films scary or funny.

[@karlkarlos3545]

What a convoluted mess of an "essay". So did he ever explain why Filmmakers Should Start with Comedy and Horror?

[@CM-di1oz]

yep, Thesis(Filmmakers Should Start with Comedy and Horror), Body1(horror and comedy are similar), Body 2(both can be done on a low budget), Conclusion(????)

[@AbuAnasJafar]

is this an AI fucking voicing this

[@Psyclonus7]

and if they don't?

[@Courier_333]

This video kinda feels like its saying that making comedy or horror is easier than drama.... This is not the case

[@cooper5566]

yeaaaaaaaaaaaa

[@mthaler108]

Umm..will you ever also mention female filmmakers and their visions and styles? Why do you (and every other "film youtuber" for that instance) only ever talk about the same 5 male filmmakers? It's getting boring. It is time to broaden our field of inspiration and the filmmakers we discuss, don't you think?

[@ABIRHS]

Japan does horror better and they do show the monsters. In contrast, Hollywood scripts are often too weak and rely on keeping the monsters hidden to create suspense and horror but this isn't a hard-and-fast rule.

[@matman000000]

Disagree. Ringu only shows Sadako in the last 5 minutes. As much as I love the early 2000's J-horror, it was a short-lived trend misunderstood and destroyed by the same people who created it. It took Japan just a few years to make terrible spin-offs of The Ring and Ju-On complete with anime-style fist fights.

[@anthonycameronnajera8471]

You should stop thinking of comedy and drama as two seperate things.