Why Are People Afraid of Me?

Why Are People Afraid of Me? is a 1977 comedy-horror film produced by Gil-Mar Film Productions and released by Frank Astaire Releasing, showed as a children's matinée. It was directed by Gilmar Sanford.

The film is known as "The Room of children's movies starring Jake Sanford before he became famous with The Jeff Jones Show and his campy films".

Made on a budget of $100, the film features amateurish camera, sound, puppets, animatronics and special effects and the audio sounds like the cast are recording their lines through the wrong end of a computer microphone in an auditorium. This film could also double as a crash course on how NOT to make a film made to show for bored preschoolers on rainy days at cinemas.

Plot
A child named Jake (played by Jake Sanford) has problems because he loves monsters who frequent his house.

Cast

 * Jake Sanford - Jake
 * Jim Kennedy - Jake's father
 * - Jake's mother
 * Frank Welker and BJ Hughes - The voices of the monsters

Production
The film was shot in the in Municipality of Delta, British Columbia, Canada, with some filming done in Point Roberts, Washington, United States.

According to Jake Sanford and Gilmar Sanford on the DVD commentary, the budget was raised by having them work at the McDonald's in Richmond, British Columbia.

The puppets were built by. According to Jake, his father got them to do it by mailing them through Jim Henson's lawyers telling them to build the puppets, and attached design sheets to them. Henson responded by mailing him a piece of yellow legal paper, signed and written by Henson, saying "We will".

They also explained the tricks of the film. Jake heavily stresses their needs for cost cutting. The slate was a fake write-on slate bought from a dime store. The cameraman did not use a dolly but held the camera while being pushed around in a wheelchair (since the cameraman lost his legs sometime before production of the film began). He did not employ on set sound recording equipment; the film was instead shot silent with audio dubbed in post-production in an auditorium. Professional lighting was replaced by having journalist David Carmichael (who was especially critical of the filming, and Jake's father won him over by letting him work on the film) hold a 200-watt clip-on desk lamp clipped-on to a small sheet of wood. No film crew was hired; actors not in the scenes helped out. Bloopers were also cut in, such as Jake's father having to adjust his acoustic guitar's strap after throwing it on too quickly, one of the monster's puppeteers being seen having to unlock the car door before they and Jake get in, the bush by the front door that snags one of the monster puppets and Jake's mother's nightgown, and a phone ringing in the background of one scene.

Home video
It was released on VHS in 1990 by Burbank Video. In 2009 it was released on DVD by, of all companies,.