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Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The acting in this movie is really good.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

'American Poltergeist' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing if not particularly original premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive as well as the low rating and poor reviews. It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films have are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'American Poltergeist' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is really nothing to recommend.Lets start with the sole positive. The setting, while simplistic, is fairly spooky at times.Unfortunately, it is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited and the drab colour palette, so much so it was hard to appreciate it, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm. In particular, the camera work was a nauseous assault on the eyes with its excessive amateurish-ness. Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting that shows a huge indifference to the situation and what is going on and extremely awkward prolonged pauses. Donna Spangler and the wooden lead are especially bad.Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés, lots of unintentional humour that makes some of the film play like a really bad spoof and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about and useless padding, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both incredibly poorly done.A lot of 'American Poltergeist' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper.There is not enough threat, and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror or creativity. Everything here is neither creative, suspenseful or nail-biting. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden and like their heart was not in it or ill at ease, with the chemistry between the characters and actors coming over as constantly random and aggressive with the subtlety of an axe. This is very dreary and amateurish stuff.Overall, awful with no redeeming value apart from an element that is difficult to appreciate with it being complemented so badly. 1/10 Bethany Cox

After 5 minutes I knew it would be bad. I watched maybe 30 minutes and fast forwarded through the rest to see if anything interesting happened. It didn't. Bad acting, bad writing, badly filmed.

Here's the thing: most horror movies get poor ratings on IMDb, rotten tomatoes, pretty much everywhere, and usually the average/highly rated ones are also works of comedy (eg Housebound), or game-changing classics (Exorcist, Blair Witch) People are all different but most of the things that frighten us are really quite the same, so the result is that horror movies come off formulaic and predictable. Occasionally you get a real gem or a classic that manages to scare you in unexpected ways, but that's the exception rather than the rule. I can still enjoy something with too many jumpscares and an entirely predictable premise. So as a horror lover myself I tend to disregard ratings, because if I put too much stock in them, I just wouldn't watch very many horror movies to begin with. I'm sure most of you who like horror take those ratings with a grain of salt too. I'm here to tell you, don't do that with this movie.You think your standards are low enough to enjoy this? No they're not. The characters are 1-dimensional and can't act. The things they do don't make make any goddamned sense. There is no building of tension, no atmosphere, nothing. It's not even one of those so bad it's good movies, it's just straight awful. Avoid at all costs.

In a genre sadly known for releasing an increasing number of films of below average quality, the action which best serves me is lowering my expectations. That way I can at least almost enjoy even the not so well made films, by recognizing their positive features. American Poltergesit is not a good film, but the rates and reviews on this site are (as always) extremely exaggerated. Giving 1 star to any film that isn't a masterpiece doesn't make you cool, it makes you a juvenile amateur.The story starts off as nothing remotely original. A bunch of teenagers arriving at a haunted house. There have been, what, a thousand similar plot in the past decade? However, as events unfold and new information is given, the story takes a rather interesting turn, actually offering something rather new. Additionally, the antagonist ghost (played by screenwriter Nicole Holland in a nice Peter Jackson/Stan Lee kind of touch) is very well designed, and comes out as pretty frightening (so, compliments due to the make-up artists, I guess).Sadly, that's pretty much all I can say in favor of this film. While the acting by most of the cast was okay (and not more), Donna Spangler (Diana) wasn't really acting. I don't know if I should blame her or the instructions she'd received from director and screen-writer Mike Rutkowski, but she honestly appeared unconvincing and in no way professional. Her attempt at being troubled and eccentric came out as "this is my first time in front of a camera". Seeing as how this is in no way Spangler's first performance - I must assume bad direction.In addition, a lot of the build up receives no conclusion at all, some of the scenarios are illogical enough to make you face-palm yourself, and the ending lacks any twists or climax. I can't say I suffered during watching this, the purpose of "let's enjoy a Horror flick I haven't seen yet" was indeed served, but nothing about this film was impressive or worthy of remembrance. One can only hope that the sequel will be better, despite the tendency of sequels to be far worse.