The American Nightmare
The American Nightmare
R | 09 February 2001 (USA)
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An examination into the nature of 1960's-70's horror films, the involved artists, and how they reflected contemporary society.

Reviews
Stevecorp

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Teddie Blake

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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Staci Frederick

Blistering performances.

Billy Ollie

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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Michael_Elliott

The American Nightmare (2000) *** (out of 4)This documentary takes a look at the social issues of the 1960's and 70's and what impact they had on the American horror film. John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George A. Romero, John Landis, Tobe Hooper, David Cronenberg and Tom Savini are the famous faces on board to discuss films like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE.If you're a fan of this era's horror films then you'll certainly want to check this documentary out as it has a great group of filmmakers being interviewed and it was great fun getting to hear their thoughts on their own movies as well as the movies of others. The three films I mentioned are the ones that get the most attention, for obvious reasons, and thankfully all three of the filmmakers are on hand here. Of course, watching these films today these interviews are all the more special since all three have since passed.For the most part I guess you could argue that there really isn't anything new here since we've heard Craven, Romero and Hooper discuss these three landmark films countless times before. Between the magazine articles and the documentaries and the commentary tracks, I'm sure most fans know all about these movies and what impact the social enviroment had on them.With that said, there's no question that this is a very fun documentary and if you're a horror fan you're always going to be interested in what people have to say about these types of films. Savini goes into great detail about what his days in Vietnam were like and how this leaked over into his work. All in all this is a very entertaining documentary that is very much worth watching.

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thesar-2

It's probably – okay, it is – my error for expecting a different type of documentary on horror films in 'The American Nightmare.' Yes, I was expecting and hoping to see 'Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film' (which was a great documentary, by the way, with more than dozens of clips and interesting background info,) but instead got a history lesson on America's trouble times and the horror genre. Yes, we get a few horror clips, but only from probably five movies, and two of which were in the same series – 'Night of the Living Dead' and its sequel 'Dawn of the Dead.' This 'Nightmare' doc was specifically made to show the parallels with the real world and horror cinema (not sure why either Wes Craven's other hugely under budget 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'Godzilla' were excluded, but whatever) so they really should've have wasted time on both 'Dead' one and two. They should've just included #2 and brought in another movie – such as the dozens of eco-friendly/horror films made since the 1970s (heck, even 'The Stuff' had some kind of message and mirrored the times.) Glad it was only 73 minutes, and it was mildly informative (I did somewhat enjoy hearing how the film creators came up with ideas,) but, still, hardly recommended. There are dozens of more horror film documentaries to check out. Start with 'Going to Pieces' for die-hard horror fans.

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Paul Andrews

The American Nightmare is a 70 odd minute documentary that makes the comparison between a few classic horror films & the social & political struggles America has gone through over the past few decades. Written & directed by Adam Simon (who has directed a couple of horror films himself Brain Dead (1990) & Carnosaur (1993)) it was funded by the Independent Film Channel & I really didn't find much in The American Nightmare to enjoy, for a start the earliest film it discusses in any detail is Night of the Living Dead (1968) & the latest are Halloween (1978) & Dawn of the Dead (1978). That covers precisely 10 years, well I'm not being funny but the horror film has been a popular mainstay of the film going public since cinema began right up to the present day. A couple of early classics are mentioned but in little detail & are quickly forgotten about & absolutely nothing from the 80's, 90's or 00's are mentioned at all. The American Nightmare is also very limited in the fact that it only refers to six films, Night of the Living Dead, The Last House on the Left (1972), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Shivers (1975), Halloween & Dawn of the Dead. It seems to me that the film selection depended upon who they could convince to appear on camera. This is one of those documentary's that feature loads of college professor type people who seem able to read so much into a film it's untrue. Sure a film like Night of the Living Dead was made to change the entire lives of everyone who saw it & possibly change the course of the entire world as we know it, but on the other hand maybe it was made as a cheap horror film to make money. You decide... Am I the only one who thinks David Cronenberg (who, by the way, is Canadian not American so what's he doing in this?) is far too intellectual for his own good? Talk about boring! It's not without it's good moments & has lots of clips from the films mentioned but I didn't like it's approach & this whole 'I made such & such a film to rebel against the system & make a political statement' just doesn't wash with me, they were made to make money whatever anyone says...

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Coventry

The American Nightmare is a very interesting ( and even educational ) documentary that explains us a bit more the more "politically incorrect" milestones in horror such as Last House on the Left, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead. For those who already worship these movies, the documentary is a nice way to discover a large amount of trivia elements and the sequences shown are terrific eye-candy. But...to those who always considered these movies to be perverted and unethical, this documentary is a real eye-opener! Adam Simon lets the masters of American horror explain themselves about their motivations and inspiration to shoot these movies. And so we learn that these motion pictures often are a direct consequence of real-life horror and social trauma's. For example, we see George A. Romero explain what influence the assassination Martin Luther King had on his movie, how it was the Vietnam war that influenced Tom Savini to scare people with his photography and how the violent student riots shocked Wes Craven. A real pleasure to observe is also Tobe Hooper explaining how the complete script of Texas Chainsaw Massacre developed in his mind. The American Nightmare is a mixture of some of the best footage, interviews with legendary directors and an overload of psychological explanations by University professors. Some points of view of these profs are rather interesting, but most theories they're trying to sell are just way over the top and far-fetched. The directors all are cooler than cool when they get interviewed. Especially George Romero makes a big impression and John Landis is fun to watch, since he's so enthusiastic about what he does and worships.Surely recommended to everyone who's interested about the origin of groundbreaking horror and milestones. The American Nightmare can for example be found on the double-disc special edition DVD of The Hills Have Eyes.

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