My friends and I rented American Nightmare expecting that it would be pretty cheesy. In fact, we have spent many weekends watching (and enjoying)cheesy horror films that are obscure, usually for good reasons. However, American Nightmare was probably the worst movie I have seen in a long, long time. Now, there are horror movies that are so bad they are good because they are funny. (Evil Dead is a great example) After a while, American Nightmare wasn't even funny anymore. The plot didn't make any sense AT ALL, and although most of the actors were fairly decent (and that might be a stretch), the dialogue was so poorly written we spent more time laughing at what they were saying than watching their performances. (one of my favorites- "Go to www.I killed your friends.com"- and yes, there was a web site by that title in the film, but it never got explained) At first I hoped that the bad script was just tongue in cheek due to the whole, predictable concept... but it's doubtful after watching it progress. The film is just taken very seriously by it's actors/director for what it actually is. The beginning of the film- the flashback to the original killing spree- starts a trend in the movie of just not making ANY sense. Although I fully believe that audiences should not have things spelled out for them, a little help would have been nice to make the movie watchable. The movie played on every cliche in the horror movie book (the characters, needless nudity, really typical scenes), which if used properly can make for a pretty decent(funny)film. But as the movie employed every bad horror film technique there is, it also tried desperately hard to be an "artsy" or "innovative" film, by not explaining the murderer's motives at all, and then giving a "twist" ending that didn't answer any questions. The whole thing seemed like a bunch of poorly made movies seared together without any explanations. If we don't know anything about these people, why should we care? You never find out why the murderer is killing this lady's friends, and the "she's just psychotic" thing doesn't work. (even with a really bizarre knife scene) If motives were given, I missed them due to the poor audio quality in some parts. The really standard sound effects were not very balanced with the dialogue. This movie lacked organization, A PLOT, characterization, creativity, and was really over the top and melodramatic. (and it didn't resolve anything) It just sucked, very badly. My friends have made more developed, interesting movies on a cam-corder in the middle of the night. Watching a marshmellow in the microwave is more climatic. And on a technical note, most of the lighting was so strange, it just made the whole thing even worse. AVOID THIS FILM. It's not even good for a laugh.
