The American Scream

i had a hard time following this movie. i rented it b/c i really like pons maar. parts of it were really funny, the baby exploding, for instance, and the cannibal couple eating the baby, but mostly it was just muddled and weird.

Mitchell Linden, the director is only known for this weird flick. Up to this review it's only available on VHS in the US on the "An Innovid Home Video Release". The cover of the VHS doesn't attract you but still it's classified under horror. The acting was really convincing but what a weird storyline it is. It reminded me a bit of 2000 maniacs but then without the blood. Here we also have a town who can't stand youth and are killing them. But they are doing it in a strange way. This flick never becomes really bloody even as it has a decapitation. There is also a bit of black comedy in it and for this kind of flick there is a good amount of nudity. But as I said, it's so weird, the killing of a baby in a car, man, you just must see it. Or the scene in the toilet. So weird. And when someone is talking about how his family was killed, you see it happen but in slo-mo. Or the strip part...you must see it to believe it. Further on, most of the actors are so far you can think unknown but watch out for the town's reverend, it's played by Antony Kiedis' (yes, singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers)father. But the most famous is Jennifer Darling. She's nowadays performs mostly off screen doing voice-overs. I kept watching mouth wide open from WTF to OMG. Strange flick.

This is easily one of the very worst movies made. It is confusing, unintentionally funny, not funny when it wants to be, and strangely sleazy. Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! Troll 2 is a masterpiece compared to this trash!

Yes, this movie is bad. Badly directed, acted and produced, but it is bad like Troll 2 bad. A movie that should be on the top 25 worst movies of all time, but in some odd way is is a great movie.

The movie lacks a plot, except the fact that Wilson Creek is a town that families bring their kids to when they no longer want them. The town folk kill them off, and then the parents leave. The movie really doesn't revolve around this concept except that the town people are trying to kill the 4 main teens.

The movie has some really bad, but funny moments, and some really funny moments. The blood and gore aren't existent, and there's really nobody dying aside from an infant, a teen girl, and some of the elder townspeople. Pons Maar (Ben Benziger) added a lot of comedy with his natural ability to be goofy. His character teamed up with Jennifer Darling (Barbara Benziger) make a great and entertaining duo.

The teens played by Matt Borlenghi (Brent), Kevin Kay (Larry), Bridgett (Riley weston) and Roseanne (Jeanne Sapienza) add their own little bit of interest to the mix. Their acting is bad, but for some odd reason it I excused it. The scenes with these actors were so abnormally bad, and some of the camera shots were completely unnecessary, that it added a loot of nostalgic humor to the movie.

The ending of the movie made no sense at all, well it made sense, but it wan't a plausible ending at all. It's like nothing at all happened. One bright spot, however, was the character played by George "Buck" Flower, who always nails his roles. By far one of the best character actors of all time.

I would recommend this movie for lovers of cheesy 80's horror. Some day hopefully it will be released on DVD with extras. In my opinion, it's a forgotten gem- much like Don't Go In The Woods... Alone, Evil laugh, The Forest, and Woodchipper Massacre, which all recently got a DVD SE release.

A family wins a free vacation to a mountain resort,where the town is strange and its residents downright odd.The kids soon find themselves in deep trouble and have to do a bit of literal growing up in order to survive.The family consists of Father Ben(Pons Maar),his wife Barbara(Jennifer Darling),son Brent(Matthew Borlenghi),daughter Bridgette (Riley Weston)and their two friends Larry and Roxanne((Kevin Kaye and Jeanne Sapienza)."The American Scream" is a frustrating film to watch.It's actually one of the oddest and dullest horror comedies of 80's.The characters are obnoxious and stupid and there are some hokey jokes.I can easily compare "The American Scream" to equally as bad "Troll 2".The character of preacher played by John Kiedis looks like Carl McCoy of Fields of the Nephilim fame.5 stuffed dogs out of 10.A great place to bring your kids indeed!