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By the time American Gothic had come out, horror fans were familiar with the “don’t go in the woods” trope. Trouble was, and still is, expected for anyone who trades city comforts for the great outdoors. John Hough’s 1988 slasher admittedly follows the same path taken by others before it. However, where many of these kinds of movies continue to complete the same old routine, American Gothic takes a delightfully twisted turn that helps it stand out, even after all these years.

With a tagline like “The family that slays together, stays together,” it’s not hard to figure out where American Gothic is heading. The classic poster art, a dark parody of Grant Wood’s famous painting, even puts Yvonne De Carlo and Rod Steiger’s villainous characters front and center. Yet before they show up, viewers first meet Cynthia (Sarah Torgov), the movie’s ostensible Final Girl.

Start out 2018 with some of the latest releases from Scream Factory! Though they’re probably best known for releasing definitive Blu-ray editions of many of our most treasured horror movies, one of the things I like best about Scream Factory is their willingness to use their brand to put out smaller films and oddball curiosities that would probably not otherwise see the light of day on the format. Let’s take a look at three such titles, all recently released on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

First up is American Gothic, a tongue-in-cheek horror comedy from 1988 starring Yvonne De Carlo and Rod Steiger as the parents of a family of backwoods misfits living on a secluded island where a group of young people suddenly appear after their prop plane breaks down and forces them to land. Before you can say “this family is probably a bunch of murderous maniacs,” the murderous...

This should be a gas, eh? Canada's The Comedy Network is reviving the Corner Gas TV show as an animated series. Watch a teaser, below. The original live-action comedy series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. A feature film followed, in 2014.Set in the fictional town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, Corner Gas features the only gas station around for miles. Brent Butt, Gabrielle Miller, Fred Ewanuick, Eric Peterson, Janet Wright, Lorne Cardinal, Tara Spencer-Nairn, and Nancy Robertson starred in the original series. Learn more from The Comedy Network, after the jump.Read More…...

Janet Wright, who was best known for her long-running role as Emma Leroy on “Corner Gas”, has died at the age of 71, CTV can confirm. The award-winning actress starred in the sitcom from 2004 to 2009 and would later reprise the role in the big screen reboot in 2014. “Janet was like no other […]...

Our previous battle was a heckuva long time ago. Jeepers My apologies. But were back on track and ready to announce the winner of the last fight If youll recall Tawny Kitaen of Witchboard was up against Janet Wright of the lesserknown American Gothic. Its not a surprise to learn that Ms. Kitaen takes the win and will move onto the semifinal round. We wish we could see more of Ms. Wrights fabulous Fanny (that didnt sound quite right) but she will take a bow and leave the ring for good. As for Kitaens Linda well see you in the near future. Get some rest stop playing the damn board by yourself and prepare for your next battle...

Canadian sitcom Corner Gas is set to get a film spin-off.

The show, which ran for six seasons, was the top-rated sitcom in Canada with a record-breaking three million people watching the series finale in 2009.

The film already has funding from Canadian broadcaster Bell Media and film financier Telefilm Canada but is looking for an extra $100,000 from crowd sourcing to fund the spin-off.

Eric Peterson, Janet Wright, Gabrielle Miller, Fred Ewanuick, Lorne Cardinal, Tara Spencer-Nairn and Nancy Robertson are all set to return as their characters.

Writer and star of the show Brent Butt said of the 90-minute project: "I'm excited. The entire gang is back."

Picking up five years after the TV finale, residents of Dog River will discover their town has been mismanaged and they all have to move away.

Deciding to make one last rally to save Dog River, they discover a plan by a corporate chain...

TORONTO -- Canadian broadcaster CTV Inc. said Monday that it has acquired Corner Gas, a 13-part ensemble comedy series starring comic Bret Butt about "a bunch of nobodies" frequenting a Prairies gas station. Corner Gas, produced by Regina, Saskatchewan-based Prairie Pants Prods., follows the success of Trailer Park Boys, a low-budget mockumentary series about dope-smoking, hard-talking trailer park residents that enjoys a cult status on Showcase Television, Canada's cable rerun channel. CTV is putting Corner Gas in a competitive time slot, on Thursday nights at 8 p.m., where it will go up against Survivor, which airs in simulcast on the rival Global Television Network and is the most-watched U.S. show on Canadian TV. Corner Gas also stars veteran Canadian actors Eric Peterson (Trudeau) and Janet Wright (The Perfect Storm), who play parents to Brent Leroy, a character played by Butt who owns and operates the rural gas station.

The jagged, blurry snippets of past scary events involving a car crash while driving drunk -- seemingly going on around-the-clock in the mind of the enigmatic lead -- are all-too-obvious clues that things are not as clear as they seem in the two-bit potboiler "Blackwoods".

A woeful nonplayer at the boxoffice, the Velocity Entertainment release, directed by Uwe Boll, will be banished to the rental/retail hinterlands as one of countless low-grade studies of cinematic psychos.

In a less-than-hypnotizing, herky-jerky jumble of scenes and memories, "Blackwoods" makes one quickly leery of writer Matt Patrick Muldoon), who is preparing to go on a trip to meet his girlfriend's family outside the safe confines of the city. Every few minutes hit with flashbacks -- that for the audience become a regular and eventually boring jolt to the senses -- Matt heads off in a Dodge convertible with young and frisky Dawn (Keegan Connor Tracy).

After a few pit stops and an intimidating encounter on a lonely road with gruff Sheriff Harding (Michael Pare), Matt and Dawn don't quite make it to her family's place in the "Blackwoods", so they check into the gloomy Yellow Rose Motel, run by bozo-haired eccentric Greg (Clint Howard). After some energetic lovemaking, Dawn goes out for a walk, while Matt hides when a man with an ax comes into the room. But the Mystery Man disappears and Dawn never comes back.

Soon enough, Matt finds where Dawn's family lives and goes to investigate. He is promptly made captive and put on trial by Dawn and her family -- including dictatorial Pa (Matthew Walker), revengeful Ma (Janet Wright) and two berserker brothers (Ben Derrick, Sean Campbell) -- for the death of her sister in the drunk-driving accident seen many times leading up to its revelation here, and replayed again a few times for good measure.

But who exactly did sloshed-on-wine Matt run into on a slick road while speeding, smoking a cigarette and changing his radio? It appears his old girlfriend (Sarah Deakins) -- seen in many of the flashbacks as the one who can't stop him from driving off -- was right. Matt is a big loser in the game of life and doesn't seem to know it. Unfortunately the filmmakers forgot to make his "Beautiful Mind"-like meltdown a halfway engaging trip.

The performers have only serviceable dialogue to work with, and the production values are similarly backwoodsy.

BLACKWOODS

Velocity Entertainment

Boll KG, Shavick Entertainment, Cine Media

Credits: Director: Uwe Boll

Screenwriter: Robert Dean Klein

Producer: Shawn Williamson

Executive producers: Wolfgang Herold, Philip Selkirk, Uwe Boll

Director of photography: Mathias Neumann

Production designer: Jason Sutherland

Editor: David Richardson

Costume designer: M. Livingstone

Music: Reinhard Besser

Casting: Katy Wallin

Cast:

Matt: Patrick Muldoon

Dawn: Keegan Connor Tracy

Sheriff Harding: Michael Pare

Greg the Motel Clerk: Clint Howard

Johnny: Ben Derrick

Jack: Sean Campbell

Sarah: Sarah Deakins

Running time -- 92 minutes

MPAA rating: R...