Josh Ruben makes horror-comedies that take affection seriously and find laughs in gruesome interruptions. We like the warmth and comic timing; his scares need more patience, and his plotting can get cumbersome.
Fi1m perspective
Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding make the awkward business of attraction worth watching in Heart Eyes (2025), and Josh Ruben gives them room to do it. His interruptions can be bloody, but he does not make their affection look foolish. We warmed to the pair because their tentative romance survives the violence without becoming a joke at their expense. Ruben is worth watching for that warmth, even when his ability to frighten us does not keep pace.
After writing and directing shorts at CollegeHumor, he made his feature directing debut with Scare Me (2020), which he also wrote and acted in. Its contained cabin setting gave way to the small-town ensemble of Werewolves Within (2021), a creature feature built as a whodunit. With Heart Eyes, he brought that interest in mixing laughter and fear to a studio slasher-romantic comedy, without treating the courtship as something to hurry through.
Ruben has worked with editor Brett W. Bachman and cinematographer Stephen Murphy, and favours a set where ideas need not come from the director. His instruction to actors is especially useful: play the terror straight rather than signal that a laugh is coming. In Heart Eyes, composer Jay Wadley shifts between affection and violence, although his music contributes more to the romance than to the fear. The performances make that imbalance forgivable; Holt and Gooding give us a reason to mind the interruptions.
The limitation is in how Ruben handles fear over a longer stretch. He times a gruesome surprise more confidently than he builds dread, and the cumbersome plotting of Heart Eyes makes some of the waiting feel like delay rather than suspense. The abrupt changes can be funny, but a successful joke does not make the scares more reliable. Try Heart Eyes when the choice of film has come down to a dispute between a romance and a slasher.
Biography
Josh Ruben is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He began his career at CollegeHumor, where he directed and appeared in numerous comedic shorts, and has continued to feature in Dropout productions.
He has directed the horror-comedy features Scare Me (2020), Werewolves Within (2021) and Heart Eyes (2025). He co-directed the Netflix special Death to 2021 (2021) with Jack Clough. Ruben has also acted in television series including You're the Worst (as Greg) and Hacks (as Briian), and in films such as For a Good Time, Call... (2012) and Scare Me.
