Finally, horror movie writer and fan Tal
Zimerman answers the question us genre fans get all the time. Basically, that
would be “wtf?” To put it in other words, why do we watch such outrageous and
often horrific images for our own amusement? Zimerman puts fandom on the couch
and pronounces it of sound mind in Nicolas Kleiman & Rob Lindsay’s
documentary, Why Horror? (trailer here), which airs this
Friday on Showtime.
Zimerman started as a fan and collector,
eventually evolving into a magazine writer. However, when he became a new
father, he took a harder look at all the spectacularly gruesome DVDs, books,
and posters that gave his home such a distinct identity. Obviously, this was
the time to re-examine his lifestyle, so he might as well do it with a film
crew in tow.
Starting with his family, Zimerman traces the
development of his fandom. He had one good friend and fellow horror compadre in
high school, who is now a programmer for the Toronto International Film
Festival, so the whole fandom thing clearly worked out for them. He also takes
a wider cultural-historical view of the genre, eliciting analysis from art
historians, literature professors, cultural anthropologists, sociologists, and
psychologists. By widening the cultural focus, Zimerman also gets to travel to
Japan to discuss horror manga and Kaidan Kabuki Theater, as well as celebrate
the Day of the Dead in Mexico. Still, he is a good sport for allowing several
research scientists hook him up to various monitors while he watches some blood
and guts.
The big takeaways probably will not be
especially shocking to anyone. A case is made horror fans live more fruitfully
because they are more fully aware of man’s mortality and they are better suited
to deal with the darker manifestations of human nature. It also turns out guys
are more likely to score if they take their dates to a horror movie, provided
they act appropriately stoic and manly.
They also legitimately argue there is no
better way of studying a society or country’s fears and hang-ups at a given
time than through its horror flicks. People’s collective Freudian baggage comes
out embarrassingly plain as day. A cigar to an eyeball is never just a cigar to
an eyeball. It represents the threat of nuclear weapons, modernity,
globalization or what-have-you.
However, Zimerman and company miss part of the
appeal of these films. Nothing sharpens your sense of humor like a horror
movie. We’re not talking about campy Roger Corman mutant-monster movies here.
The more perverse and extreme a film might be, the more your inner comic
sensibility looks for an opening to score a laugh—at least that is our personal
experience.
