American Gothic

'American Gothic' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing and quite creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws are here present in those films, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'American Gothic' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is very little to recommend, but still a couple of qualities in 'American Gothic'.

Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky, despite the rather direct to video schlocky way it's generally shot (apart from the odd nice one) and edited, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm.

First ten minutes at least doesn't make one want to turn off.

Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less unsettled and never gaining momentum. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and all of the acting is lacking mostly.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace and film drags on forever, never recovering until finally getting slightly intriguing to the ending when something finally happens. Even the ending however is botched, due to being so incomplete-feeling, illogical and rushed. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense.

A lot of 'American Gothic' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or unsetling

There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, while the psychological elements are unimaginative and are more odd than scary, completely failing to show any sense of horror. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, got the sense their heart was not in it, and the music doesn't really fit.

Concluding, terrible. 2/10 Bethany Cox

OK. Let us begin: the camera work will be the first thing you'll notice. It's weak and amateurish.Then the actors and their supposed job: by indie standards, both hit the floor. Plot: started obvious, has a better change to it towards the finale, a little of this and a little of that.

Is it recommendable? Far from it. Does it have any horror to provide? Again, no! Just a lot of nonsense overall. Sorry to say so but you won't find anything entertaining here. Plot holes, bad acting, bad kill shot and horrible fake deaths.

American Gothic translates into American NoNo. Try instead: Intruders (2015), Hush (2016) or even Don't Breathe (2016).

Cheers!

Don't waste your time at this spell it is a complete stinker. The acting was very poor and the Cinematography was fair at best. I am going to compare it to the film of 1989. Actually the complete cast was just very amateurish and hard to get into the character role . Sometimes there are films that need to be left alone and not duplicated on Jun over. This was definitely one of those films. Every once in a while I run across the film that it's lousy and this was the one. I'm not sure why I'm BD wants 600 characters to give a review of a film the average viewer attention is bad it's not that long.

I'll be brief, because no one wants to lose more time than needed here, right?

American Gothic has it all. It starts with a coma-inducing opening sequence. Seriously, you better be well rested while watching it or you'll fall asleep in no time. It's long, confusing, tedious and very boring. OMG! I've just realized it's like the perfect prelude to this movie. Because that basically sums up the whole thing.

Nick & Guy are 2 inmates that just had a break: the van transporting them back to the prison just had an accident and now they're on the run. A short time after they found themselves at the door of a secluded farm house run by an ordinary looking couple. Things quickly go to hell and suddenly they get more than they bargained for.

Everything in this movie is bad. And I mean EVERYTHING. The script is an insult to the viewer's IQ. Editing is a joke. The acting is awful. Seriously, it's very very very bad. I've never seen a movie before where no one can act even if their lives depended on it. Believe me, I can handle bad acting but this movie is something else. It has main actors giving some of the most lifeless performances I have ever seen. It's sad! Photography? Bad. FX? Bad. Music? Bad. And the camera? Jesus! Amateurish doesn't even begin to describe it.

The worst part is that the movie tries to "be smart" by introducing a lot of plot twists here & there...but it miserably fails in that too as a result of how many plot holes it manages to create while doing so.

And one final (pathetic) note: since they have zero reasons to attract an audience by its own merits, the makers of this atrocity decided to lure in unsuspecting victims by saying that it's "based on true events". Well I did my research. Surprise, surprise: it is not. Best case scenario, there's no evidence to back their claims. Worst case, they're outright cheating & lying.

So take my humble advice and stay away from this. It's not even worth a watch for free.

This is an unbelievable waste of air time. The plot starts off slowly and confusingly. Only to develop into a predictable mess. Filled with poor acting and a story line that has faults all over. Like bolt cutters appearing by accident, just at the right moment and injured people able to run away, at speed with life threatening wounds. The law officers in this county were looking for two escaped convicts? More like they were looking for a tin of custard in a supermarket and did not bother to look in the tinned custard section of Walmart. I have tried not to include spoilers, I dare you to watch this and then give IMDb an honest opinion in reviews for yourself. It really is that bad, that it needs to be proved as such by viewers worldwide.