kono eiga ha kowasou desu ga, zissai ha kanasii desu.

They are only there to make the sentence easier for learners to read.

In normal Japanese writing, this would usually be written without spaces:

この映画は怖そうですが、実際は悲しいです。

Japanese normally does not separate words with spaces the way English does.

怖そう means looks scary or seems scary.

It comes from the い-adjective 怖い meaning scary. To make the looks/seems form:

• remove the final い
• add そう

So:

• 怖い → 怖そう

This does not mean the movie is definitely scary. It means that, based on appearance or first impression, it seems scary.

These are two different grammar patterns, and they are easy to confuse.

• 怖そうです = it looks scary / it seems scary
• 怖いそうです = I hear that it is scary

So in this sentence, 怖そうです is about appearance/impression, not hearsay.

A good way to notice the difference:

• if そう attaches directly to the adjective stem, it means looks/seems
• if そうです comes after the plain form, it often means I heard that...

Here, が means but and connects two contrasting parts of the sentence:

• この映画は怖そうです = This movie looks scary
• 実際は悲しいです = actually, it is sad

So together:

• This movie looks scary, but actually it is sad.

In this sentence, が is a polite written/spoken connector. Similar alternatives are:

• けど
• けれども

They also mean but, though the nuance and level of formality can differ slightly.

実際 means reality or actuality, and 実際は means in reality, actually, or as a matter of fact.

The は adds a contrastive feeling. It is a bit like saying:

• as for the reality...
• in actual fact...

That fits well with the earlier impression:

• it looks scary
• actually, it is sad

So は helps highlight the contrast between appearance and reality.

Because Japanese often leaves out information that is already clear from context.

The topic この映画は is introduced at the beginning:

• この映画は = as for this movie

Once that topic is established, the second part does not need to repeat it. The listener naturally understands that 悲しいです is still talking about this movie.

If you spelled everything out, it would be something like:

• この映画は怖そうですが、実際はこの映画は悲しいです。

But that sounds repetitive and unnatural.

Because the sentence is making a contrast between appearance and reality.

• 怖そうです = it looks scary
• 実際は悲しいです = in reality, it is sad

If you said 悲しそうです, that would mean it looks sad or it seems sad, which would weaken the contrast. The point here is:

• first impression: scary
• actual nature: sad

So 悲しいです is the better choice.

In this sentence, it is describing the movie: the movie is sad.

In Japanese, adjectives like 悲しい can sometimes describe an emotional quality associated with something, not only a person’s direct feeling. So here it means the movie is a sad one, or it turns out to be emotionally sad.

A more explicit version could be:

• 実際は悲しい映画です。
  = Actually, it’s a sad movie.

But the original sentence is perfectly understandable because 映画 is already the topic.

Because each half of the sentence is polite.

• 怖そうです
• 悲しいです

The whole sentence is in polite style, so です appears at the end of each predicate.

Also, note that 怖そうです here is not the same grammar as the hearsay pattern 〜そうです. In this sentence:

• 怖そう is the adjective-like form meaning looks scary
• です is simply making it polite

So the structure is:

• 怖そう + です
• 悲しい + です