Watch The American Nightmare For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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...

This is a serious look at some of the most groundbreaking and innovative horror films ever made. It is also incredibly graphic, disturbing and somewhat bleak and depressing, so consider yourselves warned. No hardcore fan of horror will want to miss this, but people with weak stomachs may not be able to take it.There are long and satisfyingly gruesome clips from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Night of the Living Dead & Dawn of the Dead, Last House on the Left, Shivers and many others, each accompanied by a look at what was happening in the world at the time they were made, and the bizarre ways in which art imitates life and vice versa. Gore Make-up Master Tom Savini has some amazing stories to tell about his time in Vietnam and how the atrocities he viewed through a camera later inspired his craft. There are also some wickedly clever moments here, as film footage of crazed shoppers are intercut with scenes from the zombie feeding frenzy in Dawn of the Dead. Nausea inducing moments include the rape and sadistic torture scenes from Last House on the Left, and an unflinching look at such real life horrors as Vietnam, the rioting following the King assassination, the Kent State Massacre and the Kennedy Assassination. The directors interviewed (Romero, Cronenberg, Carpenter, Hooper, Craven, etc) have some great stories to tell about their famous (and infamous) films, not only about how they were made, but also why, how they continue to inspire the current genre, what kind of an effect they had upon being released and how they reflect the times in which they were made. This is a totally engrossing documentary from start to finish that was sometimes hard to watch but which also seemed much too short. I didn't want it to end! VERY well done and highly recommended for hardcore fans.

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.

This excellent and entertaining documentary examines the deeper meanings behind some of the most disturbing films from the 1960's and 1970's. Director interviews are intermixed with footage from their films as well as news footage from the era to provide a bit more insight than is usually provided to horror movies. A great documentary that gives deeper meaning to many of the most popular horrific films of these turbulent decades. Very interesting and informative and just might make you look at all horror films in a new light.