Summary

• Horror and comedy share similar wavelengths, leading to successful crossover filmmakers like Jordan Peele and John Krasinski.
• Zach Cregger transitioned from sketch comedy to horror directing, gaining critical acclaim with "Barbarian."
• Cregger's film "Weapons" promises interrelated horror stories with a star-studded cast, continuing his success.

Barbarian director Zach Cregger seemed to suddenly burst onto the scene in the 2020s, but the comedian has actually been working for many years now. Horror and comedy have always gone hand in hand. That feeling of shock an audience gets when watching a film can lead to fits of laughter or shouts and screams. They both operate at similar wavelengths, and it's why so many comedic actors are great at horror. Jordan Peele, John Krasinski, Bill Hader, and Elizabeth Banks are just a few names of filmmakers who started in comedy and now are renowned for their horror films.

What those four filmmakers have in common is that they all began in acclaimed and widely seen shows and movies. For someone like Zach Cregger, his origins were much more modest, though maybe equally important to a generation as Key & Peele, The Office, SNL, and 30 Rock were. Cregger, born on March 1, 1981, tried his hand at feature directing in 2009 with the comedy Miss March, but for many reasons, that film flopped. So Cregger receded to television, only to return with one of the best horror films of the 2020s.

Zach Cregger Is A Comedian Who Was In The Whitest Kids U' Know Troupe

Cregger Wrote, Directed, And Acted In The Sketch Comedy Series

Before he rose to acclaim as a modern horror film director, Zach Cregger was a starring member of "The Whitest Kids U' Know" comedy troupe, which also had their own sketch comedy show from 2007 to 2011. Cregger and the other four of the troupe all wrote, directed, and starred in the series, which featured exaggerated, and often offensive, sketches where one man is suddenly confronted by an unexpected, hilarious, and mystifying situation.

The group got together in 2000 when Trevor Moore transferred to the New York School of Visual Arts and met fellow dormmates Sam Brown and Cregger (via AAE). Timmy Williams and Darren Trumpeter ed soon after. Cregger often played the straight man in sketches, either horrified about what he's witnessing or completely blasé in the face of some absurd situation. He did sometimes play the comic part, such as in the Lincoln sketch where he appeared as an Abraham Lincoln who refuses to stop heckling during a fateful play.

Cregger Rose To Prominence As A Horror Movie Director With Barbarian

Barbarian Was A Surprise Critical Hit

The Whitest Kids U' Know show ended in 2011 and Cregger appeared in a handful of films and TV series afterward, generally in small parts. He did direct the ill-received Miss March in 2009 and the little-seen history parody The Civil War on Drugs in 2011, but none of that hinted he would make a breakout horror film in 2022.

Barbarian is a horror movie that flips so many of the genre's trends that the entire film feels completely fresh and original from start to finish, and it's terrifying the whole time.

Barbarian is a horror movie that flips so many of the genre's trends that the entire film feels completely fresh and original from start to finish, and it's terrifying the whole time. The plot finds a young woman staying in a rental property for a weekend only to discover there's someone else there with her. Barbarian has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and is frequently cited as one of the best horror movies of the year and even the 2020s.

The word "Barbarian" is never spoken in Barbarian​​​​​.

Cregger Is Helming A New Horror Film Called Weapons

Weapons Will Be A Magnolia-Like Horror Film

The breakout success of Barbarian meant Cregger would be helming another film soon, and a bidding war in early 2023 saw New Line Cinema come out as the victor to make Cregger's next horror movie, Weapons. Set for release in January 2026, Weapons is going to be a Magnolia-like movie with interrelated horror stories. Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, and Benedict Wong are among the announced cast (via IndieWire). Zach Cregger's well-deserved success suggests a long and acclaimed career for the sketch comedian turned horror icon.