From terrifying transformations to gut-busting gags, ‘Stranger Things’ star Finn Wolfhard and ‘Hell of a Summer’ director Billy Bryk share their 7 favorite horror comedies that deliver scares and laughs in equal measure. Finn and Billy break down 'An American Werewolf in London's' jaw-dropping practical effects, 'Shaun of the Dead's' well crafted screenplay, and 'Evil Dead 2's' legendary tracking shot. Finn recalls his first-ever horror movie experience, Billy shares his admiration for mind-blowing special effects, and they both geek out over Michael Cera's role in 'This Is The End.'
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00:00Who took my cell phone, man?
00:03Martin, empty your pockets!
00:04Yeah, I just love that Michael Cera is a coke fiend in this movie.
00:07Yeah, it's brilliant.
00:08It's so funny.
00:10Hey, I'm Finn Wolfhard.
00:11And I'm Billy Brick.
00:12And we directed the movie Hell of a Summer,
00:14and these are our top seven horror comedies.
00:22It is truly one of the most impressive sequences, I think,
00:26in, like, the history of film.
00:28Yeah, he really went for it, too, in his performance.
00:31You really believe that he's in, like, the worst pain ever.
00:35Oh, my God, dude.
00:37So shiny.
00:38Whoever did the effects for this, they worked tirelessly to do this sequence.
00:42Worked on it forever, and they shot it head-on,
00:44and the special effects supervisor and makeup effects person
00:49was so proud of it.
00:51And John Landis actually ended up cutting around it a lot.
00:55Oh, wow.
00:56And it really pissed off the special effects people
00:59because they had worked so tirelessly and so long.
01:01But I guess the whole reason why they cut around it
01:03is because they just wanted it to feel really chaotic and kind of crazy.
01:08And it's more scary that you don't see it fully head-on.
01:11Although that's such a cool moment when he's, when the, like, the elongated torso.
01:18Yeah.
01:19And I'm pretty sure that's just, like, a hole in the floor.
01:20Yeah.
01:21And that's two different.
01:22That's, like, his upper half and then someone else's lower half
01:25and then the amazing practical to sort of marry it.
01:27And then all the other, like, simplest tricks ever that are so effective,
01:30like, they'll pull the hair into the prosthetic and then reverse it so it looks like the hair's growing out of it.
01:36So many great tricks.
01:37It's like, oh, there's stuff that feels like the simplest trick in, like, movie history of just, like, reverse photography.
01:42Yeah.
01:43But it's just so effective when, when put together and it's, like, every single trick in the book.
01:46Yeah.
01:47Also, I mean, even the lead up to this scene, too, where he's, like, about to transform,
01:52he gets, like, an insane fever and so he strips off all of his clothes and he's in, like, the worst pain ever.
01:59And it's so believable.
02:00The whole thing is so believable.
02:02I always loved that part.
02:04It does feel like you see brilliant effect after brilliant effect after brilliant effect for this, you know,
02:08minute and 20 seconds leading up to this.
02:10And then you cut to Mickey for that little break and, like, it resets your mind a little bit so it's not all continuous.
02:16And then the second it cuts to this being, like, the main shot and it's just the most incredible thing you've ever seen.
02:22It looks insane.
02:23This was one of those films I was, I was really afraid of movies, like, horror movies when I was a kid.
02:29I just had such a profound admiration for the work that went into these effects that it didn't matter how, like, insane and gross and real it looked.
02:37It was, like, so much cooler because of that.
02:39The attackers can be stopped by removing the head or destroying the brain.
02:45Shaun of the Dead is the first, technically, first horror movie that I ever saw.
02:50It was my gateway into horror films because it's an incredibly funny character-driven movie.
02:55It's blended my love of comedy and gore in a lot of ways.
02:59What's so funny about this scene is that they just are using anything that's right in front of them as weapons.
03:06They haven't even gotten that far even thinking about, like, how they could actually defend themselves.
03:12So they've just taken things from their house, which shows that their priorities are pretty, like, they didn't really think things out very properly.
03:21Now, some of these are limited.
03:22Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what was that?
03:23Um, I think it was Bray Monday.
03:25That was the original presser.
03:27Fuck, sorry.
03:28The script is, like, basically the perfect script.
03:30It's such a brilliant screenplay.
03:31And there is something so great about, like, little elements of that and that breakup and him still trying to hold onto his girlfriend's stuff.
03:39Um, just sprinkled throughout the entire movie, like, even in the funniest moments or the scariest moments.
03:44It's all coming back to that thing, which is about him sort of needing to grow up.
03:48Like, they're not heroes in a movie way.
03:50They end up being heroes in the only way that they're capable of being, which is using, yeah, records that, or just doing the first thing that really comes to mind or that's in front of them.
04:03Looting, rioting.
04:04For all we know, the Lakers could have just won, and that's the reason why all this is happening.
04:07I think it's the apocalypse.
04:09This Is The End is maybe one of the funniest movies ever made.
04:12It's one of the fondest memories I have in theaters watching a horror comedy with my fans.
04:16Me too.
04:17I think one of the hardest I've ever laughed in a theater before.
04:19And also, it was a completely packed theater in Vancouver where I saw it, and it was just, it was such an awesome experience.
04:25Three!
04:26One!
04:27Two!
04:32What's happening to me?
04:33What's happening?
04:34There's something about the dialogue after being impaled that we, I would say, stole from a little bit, where it's like, he has this telephone pole.
04:42Then he's still embarrassed about his cell phone.
04:44I remember seeing behind the scenes of this.
04:46That's like fully practical.
04:47Like, the electricity popping out.
04:49The blood is spurting out as well.
04:53Oh , that's embarrassing!
04:56There's something weirdly relatable and true to that of, no matter how dangerous of a situation that you're in,
05:02you still kind of care about what people think.
05:05We're always obsessed with the idea that these characters couldn't help but be themselves.
05:09He's, yeah, still concerned with the phone, even until the very end.
05:13And, yeah, I just love that Michael Cera is a coke fiend in this movie.
05:16Yeah, it's brilliant.
05:17It's so funny.
05:18The book speaks of a spiritual presence, a thing of evil that roams the forests and the dark bowers of man's domain.
05:27Evil Dead 2 is one of the most exciting horror comedies ever made.
05:30It has an absolutely incredible physical performance at the heart of it.
05:34Okay, we actually have to talk about this because the tracking shot through the woods is so iconic and has been recreated by so many movies.
05:41There was a shot, it's tracking through the woods and then it smashes through a window.
05:46And they just did that by running the camera and had a two-by-four that stuck out in front of the camera,
05:53stuck out in front of it and above it so that it would reach the window first, so it would break the window before the camera would get there.
06:00So, like, little tricks like that that just make the movie so incredible, so immersive.
06:05I just respect this movie so much because it's such a gigantic swing that pays off so well.
06:10It's such an exciting way of making movies where they just were, like, doing all this really groundbreaking stuff
06:16and throwing a lot of the rules sort of out the window and just making a movie.
06:20And I feel like if you kind of did that, like, the Hollywood way, you just couldn't.
06:23No.
06:24You just would be missing something that's, like, felt so clearly in those films.
06:28It's another movie that has unbelievably, that puts its characters in an unbelievably dangerous situation,
06:34an uncontrollable situation.
06:36But at the core of it, it's just a guy who's trying to make his girlfriend,
06:40trying to get his girlfriend back and trying to make her happy, essentially.
06:42And he keeps falling for it over and over and over and over again.
06:45It's so funny.
06:47I know who you are.
06:49I don't want to hurt you.
06:50I don't!
06:54It's not me.
06:55It's my hand.
06:56It's like, it's like I have no control over my hand.
07:00Idle Hands I remember seeing at probably nine years old.
07:05My uncle, who's a big horror fan, showed it to me.
07:08Also one of the great physical performances.
07:10Sawa in this movie is so funny.
07:13And so underrated.
07:14I think this is one of the great, like, comedic, physical performances.
07:19There's a sequence in this where Anton is fighting with his hand over who can have the TV remote.
07:24And I remember watching that and, like, kind of just being mind blown about how intimate of a moment that felt like in a movie that's, like, so much bigger than that moment.
07:32This weird character-driven thing of him arguing with his own hand about what to watch on TV.
07:37Which is such a funny little moment.
07:38And then, yeah, all the supporting characters were so funny.
07:40I mean, Seth Green is one of the funniest.
07:41Seth Green is so funny in it, dude.
07:42It was one of the funniest performances.
07:43What does he say about the music?
07:44He's like...
07:45Oh, it's like Enya or something.
07:46He's like Enya.
07:47I mean, there was this big bright white light at the end of a long tunnel, right?
07:50And there were all these chicks' voices and that music.
07:53Music?
07:54Yeah, kind of uncool music like Enya.
07:57Was it you that told me about it?
08:03Yeah, I don't know who told me to watch it, but I watched it.
08:05I went in completely blind.
08:06We saw ads for it.
08:07Yeah.
08:08I had heard that it was, like, just go in and watch it.
08:10The first, like, half hour of this movie, I thought, like, everybody is crazy.
08:13You don't know.
08:14Like, this movie kind of sucks a little bit.
08:16Yeah.
08:17Yeah.
08:18And then there's a twist where everything makes sense and the movie was, like, purposely not very good.
08:23And then you're jumping back in time.
08:25It's so funny.
08:26It's so smart.
08:27It's just, like, incredibly unique, specific movie.
08:31Unbelievably sweet, too.
08:32There's kind of nothing like it.
08:33And it was made for, like, nothing, too.
08:35It was made for, like, $25,000 or something like that.
08:37Yeah.
08:38And it's brilliant.
08:39Now I just want to watch it.
08:41This is, like, the film within the film.
08:44The movie is set up to where you have this, you're watching the zombie movie for real.
08:48And it's the first 30 minutes.
08:50And the reveal is that it jumps into basically in-camera style.
08:55So, yeah, exactly.
08:56So right here it's locked off.
08:58And this is the payoff.
09:01So now you're watching them film that exact scene.
09:04And you're watching everyone.
09:07And this is honestly, like, it's so authentic to what making a movie really feels like,
09:12which is just complete panic and complete celebration as well,
09:16when you get stuff like that done that feels kind of impossible.
09:19It's locked off.
09:20Like, here's the reality of the situation.
09:22You see the other perspective of it and everything that's going into making that initial sort of movie.
09:28And then you'll see, like, the camera will be in the frame and they'll call it up, like, get out of the frame.
09:32Like, you kind of see all the things that go wrong.
09:34That's why you can see everyone off camera totally panicking and running and grabbing buckets
09:38because they're realizing that they have to think on the fly.
09:42It's just a great story about, like, teamwork and...
09:45Great characters.
09:46Yeah, I couldn't recommend it more.
09:48It's, like, incredibly unique.
09:49Love letter to horror films and film in general and making movies.
09:53There's something really awesome about watching a movie like that,
09:56which really celebrates the filmmaking process.
09:59Where's it going, man?
10:04It's coming.
10:09Oh, I can see its eyes.
10:11Not sure them things is eyes.
10:15Attack the Block is maybe one of my favorite movies ever.
10:18It came at a similar time, actually, as I watched Shaun of the Dead,
10:21and Joe Cornish directed this.
10:23It jump-started John Boyega's career
10:26and has this amazing cast of discoveries who were from London.
10:31And I think its style is so good.
10:35And I think the most original...
10:39One of the most original designs for aliens ever in movies.
10:43I feel like this is done so well.
10:45I think the anticipation before this...
10:49When John Boyega goes up to the people, there's, like, I think it's so well done.
10:53The anticipation is so well done.
10:55And then the alien is so striking-looking.
10:58And it's, I think, the first time in the movie...
11:02I mean, we've seen them, and we've definitely seen them by then,
11:05but I think this is the first time you really see their blue teeth head-on,
11:08and it's so striking and specific.
11:11Yeah, it feels like a movie in the best way.
11:13Like, the best version of a movie that you'd want to make with your friends.
11:16Like, that you're making with your friends in, like, high school.
11:17Totally.
11:18Because it has this really youthful, fun energy, and it captures that so well.
11:22I gotta rewatch this. It's such a good one.
11:24And one of the most, like, triumphant endings, I think, of any horror movie ever, in my opinion.
11:29Can you hear that?
11:30That's for you, man.
11:44Thanks for checking out our top seven horror comedies.
11:47Go see Hell of a Summer in theaters to check out our spin on it.