Screenwriter & Director, Joe Begos
Joe Begos is a renegade indie filmmaker and a household name in horror. His body of work includes Bliss, VFW, The Mind’s Eye, Christmas Bloody Christmas, and his latest splatterfest Jimmy and Stiggs—which is easily one of my favorite horror films of the year. I love this movie, I love that it exists, and I love what it represents.
Joe is one of the most adaptive and irrepressible filmmakers I’ve ever met—he’s worked across multiple budget tiers and has delivered a consistent stream of bold and unique horror films throughout his career.
What Joe has proven to me—film after film—is that there’s no excuse not to make movies, and no excuse for them not to be good. Jimmy & Stiggs was shot entirely in his apartment, on a shoestring budget, and stars Joe himself. But despite its humble production origins, the film is propulsive, fun, fully unique, looks fantastic and was edited beautifully by former guest Josh Ethier. The film holds its own next to splatter classics like Evil Dead, Dead Alive, and Bad Taste, all while staying true to Joe’s gonzo, neon-soaked style. In this conversation, Joe walks us through the insane 4 year journey of making Jimmy & Stiggs, his process, influences, alien creature design and the chain of events that led to Eli Roth picking up the film. He also offers his blunt, no-BS advice to emerging filmmakers.
Key Takeaways
Imitate before you Innovate
Joe describes his early films, like Almost Human and The Mind’s Eye, as exercises in emulating his inspirations like John Carpenter and Cronenberg. It wasn’t until Bliss that he felt like he’d really found his voice, but to get there, he had to imitate the masters that came before him. Once he found his voice, he fully committed to making movies only he could make.
Make movies only you can make
Joe has one of the most defined directorial signatures in horror today—every one of his films is instantly recognizable as his. This commitment to personal vision has allowed him to carve out a cinematic identity that stands apart from the increasingly homogenized landscape of genre filmmaking. Developing a body of work that is unmistakably your own is a high watermark for any filmmaker and a path to building a sustainable, meaningful career.
Make your fucking movie
If you look at Joe’s career, one thing is clear—he does not stop making movies. Jimmy & Stiggs was born during COVID, between greenlit projects, when the industry was on pause. Instead of waiting around, Joe did the classic indie move: he took inventory of what he had access to—his apartment, a camera, a few close collaborators—and made a movie, casting himself in the lead.
Joe’s irrepressibility is something to study. He seems physically incapable of not making movies—and he’ll sacrifice his apartment, personal finances, and whatever else it takes to get the job done. This is the kind of relentless drive that indie filmmaking demands. Joe is also well aware of how the system works. Agents often discourage small projects because there’s no commission in it for them. But Bliss and Jimmy & Stiggs—two of his lowest-budget films—were made outside of that system, on his own terms, and ended up being some his most talked-about work. For filmmakers being told to wait their turn, Joe’s message is simple: don’t. Make your fucking movie. Even if it sucks, it’s better than having no movie at all.
Jimmy & Stiggs is now streaming on VOD.
Show Notes
Movies:
- Bliss
- VFW
- Christmas Bloody Christmas
- The Mind’s Eye
- Almost Human
- Jimmy & Stiggs
- Evil Dead
- Dead Alive / Braindead
- Bad Taste
- Communion
- Predator
- Street Trash
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- Natural Born Killers
- JFK
- Nixon
- King of New York
- The Addiction
- A Dangerous Game
- The Ritual
- Hellraiser (2022 remake)
- American Movie
TV Shows:
- Unsolved Mysteries
- Sightings
- The X-Files
Directors Referenced:
- Oliver Stone
- Abel Ferrara
- Gaspar Noé
- Sam Raimi
- Peter Jackson
- David Bruckner
