Over the years, horror has seen a rise in filmmakers creating groundbreaking, and sometimes record-breaking, films that amaze audiences.

And all of these people have one thing in common: they come from a comedy background. There’s a good fact that if you are a good comedian, then you will be a good actor as you can pace and deliver lines with emotion and take direction well. With Seth Rogen, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, and Steve Carell all having serious and emotional roles in non-comedic films, it seems that’s a skill transferable to filmmaking too.

Let’s start with the main one I think about, Jordan Peele.
Jordan Peele started his career in improv comedy in Chicago and got his first break as a performer on the sketch comedy show MADtv. He met his friend and comedy colleague Keegan-Michael Key on the show, and they would team up to create the legendary Key & Peele comedy sketch show. As well as appearing in many tv shows and films in a comedy factor.
That show ended in 2015; he made his filmmaking debut in 2016 with the comedy film Keanu, which he wrote and produced.
He would make his directing debut a year later with Get Out, a psychological horror about a Black man fighting for his life trapped in a house with wealthy white people.
Get Out was a major success and won Peele an Academy Award for Best Screenplay as well as being one of the first horror films in a long time to be nominated for Best Film.
He hasn’t slowed down either with his second film, US, being a creepy tale of doppelgängers taking over the USA and doesn’t hold back on the blood.
His third film, Nope, is more drenched in that psychological aspect of trauma while also teaching us about behaviour and aliens.

A recent one would be Curry Barker. The YouTuber uploaded sketches on his YouTube channel but did have some success when it comes to filmmaking with his short film The Chair. He originally wanted to become an actor and enrolled in the New York Film Academy campus in LA. He appeared in a small role in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. While at the university, he met Cooper Tomlinson and they created the channel That’s A Bad Idea where they uploaded sketches and later dropped out of university.

Barker wrote, directed, and produced his first feature, Milk and Cereal for $800. A found footage horror film about two YouTube pranksters. He struggled to get a distribution deal so uploaded it on YouTube in 2024 and it went viral which led to him signing with an agent.

His most known film to date is the 2025 horror Obsession which was made on a budget of $750,000 and grossed $300 million and has seen Barker sign a deal to write and direct a film for Blumhouse.

I will stay on the YouTube path and couldn’t forget to include RackaRacka or simply Danny and Michael Philippou. The Australian brothers have been big on the YouTube game since they were both 11 years old. The brothers team up with their friends, which include the British group Sidemen, to create slapstick comedy, comedy horror, and very surreal videos. All while getting their editing skills on point.

The brothers had previously been assistants on the 2014 horror The Babadook. Their first feature film was the 2022 horror film Talk To Me, which had the world hooked with the premise of talking to spirits through a hand. The film was a success, earning $92 million on a budget of $4 million. It won lots of awards, especially in their home country of Australia, and cemented them as horror filmmakers. They followed this up with the 2025 Bring Her Back, which delves deeper into grief and the paranormal, with critics saying this one outclasses Talk To Me. It was another global phenomenon while only earning $39 million. Critics praised this movie to the heavens. This won’t be the last time we hear from the brothers.

The last one I will talk about will be a horror filmmaker who I admire for how he writes his films, as it’s the same way I write my scripts and stories. And no, it’s not Stephen King who writes like that; it’s Zach Cregger.

This man created two films that have drawn my attention immediately when I watched them: Barbarian and Weapons.
Zach first stepped into filmmaking way back in 2009 with the comedy Miss March, a trailer I remember watching and liking but never watching the film.
He was part of the comedy group, The Whitest Kids You Know.
The 2022 horror film, Barbarian, shocked me. The disturbing nature of the film and fascinated me with the way he wrote it. He started writing with no outline and let it come to him.
The film reflects themes of SA, trauma, and good guy narcissism.

His 2025 film, Weapons, was an even bigger success while using the same writing style. It uses a non-linear timeline and focuses on grief, addiction, and anger.

I want to sing its praises, but I want you to watch the films if you haven’t already.