Silver Compass Studios has officially begun production on a new feature-length
documentary titled What Are You Afraid Of?, an ambitious film exploring humanity’s
enduring fascination with fear through psychology, history, storytelling, and community
ritual. Principal photography is now underway, with filming expected to continue through
the 2026 Halloween season and wrap in mid-November.
At the center of the documentary is the Boo Crew Haunted House in Rochester, Illinois, a
volunteer-built, charity driven attraction operated through the Rochester Lions Club.
Through the people who design, perform, and experience the haunt, the film examines what
happens when fear becomes something people intentionally seek out, and what that reveals
about human curiosity, emotion, and imagination.
“One of the questions that started this film was simple,” said director Ben Harl. “If fear is
meant to keep us safe, why are we so fascinated by it? Why do we sometimes choose to
move closer instead of backing away?”
Blending behind-the-scenes footage with interviews from psychologists, historians, and
creators working in the haunted attraction and horror storytelling worlds, What Are You
Afraid Of? explores fear not just as a survival response, but as something people actively
explore, and even build.
The documentary also looks at a lesser-asked question: why some people choose not just to
experience fear as entertainment, but to create it for others.
“Fear as entertainment is one of the strangest and most revealing things humans do,” Harl
said. “Some people don’t just want to feel fear, they want to design it, perform it, and shape
it into an experience for someone else. That impulse tells us a lot about how creativity and
emotions intersect.”
Production will document the Boo Crew’s season from early construction through
performance nights, capturing the creativity, decision-making, and emotional investment
behind an experience designed to provoke one of humanity’s oldest instincts.
“We usually think of fear as something to escape,” Harl said. “But again and again, people
choose to step toward it. That contradiction tells us something important about who we
are.”
By following the people who build fear experiences as well as the audiences who willingly
enter them, the documentary explores what motivates individuals to participate in the fear-as-entertainment world, and why creating controlled fear can be as meaningful as
experiencing it.
“What fascinated me wasn’t just what scares people,” Harl added. “It was why they want to
be scared and why some people feel compelled to create those experiences in the first
place.”
The production team is planning for a release in October 2027, aligning with the Halloween
season and the film’s exploration of fear as one of the most enduring forces shaping human
storytelling and experience.
The film is produced by Silver Compass Studios, the independent production company behind Afterlife (2024), continuing the studio’s focus on character-driven documentaries that examine how people interpret extraordinary emotional experiences.
