The American Nightmare

i saw this documentary and as a big horror movies fan i must say it was excellent!!! however some things are very bloody but it doesn't matter 'cause now i know almost everything about my favorite movie genre.

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.

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.

American horror movies of the 70s are well known for newly defining the genre and changing the borders of what was possible to show up to that point. Up to then there had been Hammer Productions with their usual suspects like Frankenstein, Dracula or there had been "gentleman" murderers like Dr. Phybes, who killed their victims out revenge, but still with a certain esprit of spirit. The "new" horror of the American movies was highly influenced by five movies the directors of which still have their say in today's horror industry: George Romero („Night of the Living Dead" 1968), Wes Craven („The Last House on the Left" 1972), Tobe Hooper („The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" 1974), David Cronenberg („The Parasite Murders" 1975) as well as John Carpenter („Halloween" 1978). The documentation "The American Nightmare" now sets out to connect interviews of the film makers, film critics and academics with excerpts of contemporary as well as fictional movies. The core thesis now is that the young generation of the 60s and 70s had a feeling of fundamental uncertainty that was taken up by young film makers and transformed into angry visions full of nightmares - American nightmares. Against that foil we learn about the connections between the Civil Rights Movement and "Night of the Living Dead", we see Tom Savini talking about turning his experiences in Vietnam into his landmark splatter effects, David Cronenberg referring to the sexual liberation with "The Parasite Murders" or Wes Craven saying that on seeing Napalm attacks in Vietnam he learned that also Americans could commit atrocities. - The documentation allows some very interesting insights into the immediate historical context of American horror movies of the 60s and 70s. Especially in the middle of the documentation it might be challenging to ask oneself whether is is actually the fictional horror that horrifies us most. … Yet, the documentary also wants to be a creepy and entertaining movie itself. There is too much atmospheric gewgaw (Stockhausen's score, for example). Altogether you get too little concrete information about what you see. Whereas the film makers' commentaries are very interesting the critics are sometimes not convincing often digressing into their own individual movie watching nostalgia ("It was like - wow!"). Furthermore, the German DVD bonus materials mostly consist of text barely readable. So, all in all, highly interesting and enlightening, but I could have done with some more minutes of interviews and some more film clips.

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.