{{Infobox film | name = Why Horror? | image = File:Why Horror film poster.jpg | alt = | caption = | director = | producer = Nicolas Kleiman<br>Rob Lindsay | writer = Rob Lindsay | screenplay = | story = | based_on = <!-- {{based on |[title of the original work] |[writer of the original work]}} --> | starring = Joe Begos<br>John Carpenter<br>Rodrigo Gudiño | narrator = Elijah Wood <small>(animation only)</small><ref name=TF /> | music = Joel S. Silver | cinematography = Kiarash Sadigh | editing = Nicolas Kleiman | production_companies = Don Ferguson Productions | distributor = | released = {{Film date|2014|10|03|Feratum Film Festival}} | runtime = 81 minutes | country = Canada | language = English | budget = | gross = <!-- Please use condensed and rounded values, e.g. "£11.6 million" not "£11,586,221" --> }} '''''Why Horror?''''' is a 2014 Canadian documentary film directed by Nicolas Kleiman and Rob Lindsay and written and co-produced by Lindsay.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hiler|first1=James|title=Congrats to 'Why Horror?' Indiewire's Project of the Week!|date=28 October 2013 |url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/congrats-to-why-horror-indiewires-project-of-the-week|publisher=IndieWire|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref> A work-in-progress draft of the film was screened in August 2014 at the Fantasia Festival and the official final version was screened on 3 October 2014 at the Feratum Film Festival.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sandwell|first1=Ian|title=Fantasia co-director hails "extraordinary" year|url=http://www.screendaily.com/news/fantasia-draws-record-numbers/5076097.article|publisher=Screen Daily|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref> The documentary explores the psychology of the reasons why people enjoy the horror genre and includes interviews by several well-known horror icons.<ref>{{cite web|title=Horror Doc "WHY HORROR?" Picked Up; Goes to Cannes|url=http://www.fangoria.com/new/horror-doc-why-horror-picked-up-goes-to-cannes/|publisher=Fangoria|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref>
Funding for the film was partially raised by a successful Kickstarter campaign.<ref name=DC>{{cite web|last1=Barton|first1=Steve|title=New Documentary Examines an Age Old Question – WHY Horror?|date=November 2013 |url=http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/49515/new-documentary-examines-an-age-old-question-why-horror/|publisher=Dread Central|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=ks>{{cite web|title=Why Horror? – A New Documentary|date=3 October 2014 |url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/whyhorror/why-horror-a-new-documentary|publisher=Kickstarter|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=fsr>{{cite web|last1=Campbell|first1=Christopher|title=Fund This Film: 'Why Horror?' Hopes to Explain Our Love of Scary Movies|url=http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/fund-this-film-why-horror-hopes-to-explain-our-love-of-scary-movies.php|publisher=Film School Rejects|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref>
==Synopsis== The documentary follows horror movie fan and journalist Tal Zimerman as he tries to look at the reasons why people enjoy the horror genre. The genre is globally popular and is present in a wide variety of formats such as films, books, music, graphic novels, artwork, and video games, yet reactions to it can sometimes be polarized and in some instances Tal feels that the genre's fans are misunderstood. At the same time, Tal is conflicted over how he can be "disturbed by gruesome imagery showcased in the news, but thrives on blood and guts found in movies, books, music, graphic novels and video games" and as such sets out to try to find how horror affects his mind. For his research Tal interviews several different people, from genre filmmakers and writers to scientists and psychologists, to uncover why people enjoy horror and how perception, traditions, and beliefs help impact how horror is perceived and displayed in various countries and globally as a whole.<ref name=synopsis>{{cite web|title=Synopsis|url=https://whyhorror.com/synopsis/|publisher=Why Horror?|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref>
==Cast== * Tal Zimerman * Joe Begos * John Carpenter * Rodrigo Gudiño * David Hackl * Junji Inagawa * Shinji Mikami * Tony Moore * Gary Pullin * George A. Romero * Eli Roth * Takashi Shimizu * Graham Skipper * Jen Soska * Sylvia Soska * Kazuo Umezu * Chris Alexander * Elijah Wood (animation narration)
==Development== Initially Zimerman approached the directors with the intent to focus specifically on Toronto's horror scene, to which Kleiman and Lindsay asked "why only Toronto if that city is very small and horror very popular" and why Zimerman personally enjoyed the horror genre.<ref name=TF>{{cite web|last1=Ortiz Garcia|first1=Eric|title=Feratum 2014 Dispatch: Tal Zimmerman And Nicolas Kleiman Talk At The WHY HORROR? World Premiere|url=http://twitchfilm.com/2014/10/feratum-2014-dispatch-tal-zimmerman-and-nicolas-kleiman-talk-at-the-why-horror-world-premiere-gallery.html|publisher=Twitch Film|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref> Zimerman was unable to answer, which gave them the idea of focusing on the psychology of horror.<ref name=TF /> Filming for ''Why Horror?'' took place over a three-year period, during which time the film's crew traveled to various locations in the world to explore the different variations of horror and how that society's culture impacted how horror was depicted and viewed.<ref name=DC /> By October 2013 the film had moved into production but still required funding to buy the rights to films the crew wanted to showcase in the documentary as well as to afford travel to different locations to film various interviews that they still required and to document horror in other countries.<ref name=ks /> A Kickstarter campaign was launched and actor Elijah Wood contributed to the campaign and later agreed to narrate the documentary's animated clip.<ref name=TF />
They chose to avoid focusing on heavy metal and rock music as they felt that it was "part of the greater subculture that doesn't necessarily apply to why we enjoy being scared".<ref name=TF /> They also wanted to avoid covering material that had already been done in other documentaries that focused on how creative professionals scare people and while editing the film eliminated material that they did not feel dealt with the primary question of why people enjoy horror.<ref name=TF /> Filming in each global location chosen for ''Why Horror?'' typically lasted about two and a half weeks and events covered included Mexico's Day of the Dead festival.<ref>{{cite news|title=Se reúnen para documental|url=http://www.eldiariodecoahuila.com.mx/notas/2014/10/6/reunen-para-documental-458959.asp|accessdate=3 November 2014|publisher=El Diario de Coahuila (in Spanish)|date=October 6, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Desentrañan el placer de asustarse|url=http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Entretenimiento/05102014/894225-Desentranan-el-placer-de-asustarse.html|accessdate=3 November 2014|publisher=El Imparcial (in Spanish)|date=October 5, 2014}}</ref> Other elements covered included fMRI brain scans where they monitored Zimerman's brain activity while viewing clips from horror films.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hood|first1=Megan|title=Waterloo researcher examines brain activity of horror movie fan|date=27 October 2014 |url=https://uwaterloo.ca/stories/waterloo-researcher-examines-brain-activity-horror-movie-fan|publisher=University of Waterloo|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref>
==Reception== ''Twitch Film'' praised ''Why Horror?'', stating that they found it to be "humorous, inciteful and still manage to provoke thought".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mack|first1=Andrew|title=Toronto After Dark 2014 Review: WHY HORROR? Speaks To Fans And Outsiders Alike|url=http://twitchfilm.com/2014/10/toronto-after-dark-2014-why-horror-speaks-to-fans-and-outsiders-alike.html|publisher=Twitch Film|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref> ''Digital Journal'' also reviewed the film and wrote "There are no ground-breaking ... revelations. Instead the film appears to have a different objective: to show dedicated horror fans they're not alone (and there's nothing wrong with them)."<ref>{{cite web|last1=GoPaul|first1=Sarah|title=Review: 'Why Horror?' retorts "why not?"|date=23 October 2014 |url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/a-and-e/entertainment/review-why-horror-retorts-why-not/article/410494|publisher=Digital Journal|accessdate=3 November 2014}}</ref>
===Awards=== *Bronze Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (2014, won)<ref name=TAD>{{cite web|title=Award Winners Announced for Toronto After Dark 2014! Dead Snow 2 and The Babadook Win Big!|url=http://torontoafterdark.com/2014/awards/|publisher=Toronto After Dark|accessdate=3 November 2014|archive-date=25 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425150857/http://torontoafterdark.com/2014/awards/|url-status=dead}}</ref> *Best Poster Award at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (2014, won)<ref name=TAD />
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20160324012804/https://whyhorror.com/}} * {{IMDb title|3135424}}
Category:2014 films Category:2014 documentary films Category:Canadian documentary films Category:Documentary films about horror Category:2014 English-language films Category:2014 Canadian films Category:English-language Canadian films Category:English-language documentary films