Why Horror?

Why Horror? (2014)

*** (out of 4)

Entertaining but flawed documentary has Tal Zimerman asking fans, critics and filmmakers why they are attracted to the horror genre. The likes of George Romero, John Carpenter, Alexandre Aja, Chris Alexander, Don Coscarelli, Barbara Crampton, Elvis Mitchell, Jen and Sylvia Soska and Eli Roth are among the people interviewed.

If you're a fan of horror movies then you'll certainly enjoy the stories that are told here. After all, how can you be a fan of horror and not enjoy hearing others talk about it? It was great getting to hear some comments from the likes of Romero and Carpenter and then you've got some movie critics who also share their thoughts on the genre.

This documentary does suffer from too much time being devoted to some rather silly things including the subject and his mother going for brain scans to see what effect horror has on a person. I'd also argue that some of the topics covered aren't the most interesting but that doesn't take away from the fact that there's some good stuff here. The subject of men versus women when it comes to watching horror was fascinating as was the entire idea of "the final girl."

This "documentary" is more like a home movie with the documentary maker talking to his younger brother, talking to his mother, talking to the whole family at dinner, talking to himself, and talking, talking, talking. We see him dressed as a zombie, getting dressed as a zombie, getting undressed as a zombie ad infinitum. As a horror movie it's pretty good, and could be shown at the man's wedding or funeral. But as a documentary about horror it's pretty horrible. Yes, there are a few good interviews (e.g., John Carpenter) but in large part he misses the essence of horror and its attraction. It's a good topic but deserved a better film.

Horror and thrillers are my go to form of entertainment. I see a lot of folks think this wasn't that great. I didn't watch this for any other reason other than I just love horror and I like to hear other people talk about their experiences with the genre. Yeah, I've heard most of it before but it still interests me. I didn't care that this fella made this about his personal fascination with horror. I thought this was an ok documentary. Don't be horror snobs.

Not too bad Documentary about horror, however, the director is in front of the camera too much in he makes it too much about himself, a problem known as "Michael Moore Syndrome", a serious documentary doesn't focus on the life of the director, but on the subject! We are treated to long scenes of the director's childhood, interviews with his parents(?!?!?) and other scenes that have nothing to do with horror movies. In my opinion if a director wants to make a documentary, he should NOT be in front of the camera, except for a few seconds, that's all!! The interviews are OK, but nothing we haven't seen before, all in all mediocre effort.