American Gothic

The theme of religious fanatics who live in complete isolation and consider any contact with the outside world "contamination" has been done to death in the horror genre, but here they give it another go. Apparently they decided that wasn't enough, so they also threw in the "adults-behaving-as-kids" theme, which also has been done before (check out the REALLY twisted 1973 film "The Baby"). The result is a campy, silly, demented and thoroughly unpleasant horror film, but the production is fairly polished, the direction is competent and Rod Steiger gives a deliciously embarrassing performance as "Pa" (what the hell was he thinking when he decided to sign on for such a movie?) (**)

American Gothic is a horror movie that is truly horrible and scary: Because what it portrays is a completely psychotic and homicidal family living on an isolated island in the Pacific Northwest who become the only beacon of help for several young people who become temporarily stranded on the island. The lighting in the film is almost nonexistent; it seems as though it were filmed in a basement, which adds to the creepiness. Even though there are some extremely cheezy elements in the film, there's a constant suspicion that something not just bad, but terrible and downright terrifying is going to happen. Rod Steiger and Yvonne de Carlo are absolutely brilliant in this film as "Pa" and "Ma" and are so extreme in their character portrayals that they almost become parodies of themselves and are therefore on the threshold of being humorous. But the 'kids' (who are actually 3 deranged siblings in their 40's and seemingly quite comfortable in their maritime never never land) are so creepy that they make not only your skin but lining of your bones crawl. On a scale of 1--10, I'd give this an 8.5.

Yvonne DeCarlo's death a few days ago brings to mind her varied career. She may be best known for playing Lily on the comic-horror TV series "The Munsters", but in the movie "American Gothic", she went for straight horror. The movie portrays some young people flying out over the Puget Sound - on either a sunny or overcast day; the setting kept changing - and having to land on an island when their plane conks out. The island turns out to be inhabited by a family. Ma (DeCarlo) and Pa (Rod Steiger) are practically Amish, their daughter Fanny looks only a little younger, and sons Woody (Michael J. Pollard) and Teddy don't do much. But this family isn't what they seem. Every member seems like s/he has some nasty plans, and the outsiders had better not trespass.

There were some pretty gross scenes here, but I liked how they played everything out. Especially what Cynthia did at the end. I couldn't have predicted that even if I'd tried! So, it's mostly your average slasher flick, but still quite enjoyable. I wonder what Grant Wood would have thought had he known that the name of his famous painting would one day get used for this sort of movie.

A group of twentysomethings are stranded on an island off the coast of Washington and find refuge with an odd couple named Ma and Pa (Yvonne De Carlo and Rod Steiger). Things get odd quickly as the family introduces a trio of infantile adult offspring (Janet Wright, Michael J. Pollard and William Hootkins) that like to play and kill. With a cover riffing on the famous Grant Wood painting, you can pretty much expect this one to be tongue-in-cheek. And while the story isn't anything beyond cliché, it is worth seeing for the performances of Steiger and his demented family. I mean, how can you not appreciate a film that casts Michael J. Pollard and William Hootkins as retarded brothers? Or features Steiger whipping Hootkins with a switch; not because he killed a girl but because he killed her and then had sex with her. Wright is the stand out as the creepy Fanny, who is in her forties but thinks she is Shirley Temple and dresses accordingly. Gross. Director John Hough gets good use out of the forest (British Columbia) location. Like I said, worth seeing for all of the actors as the villains.

When a group of friends land their plane on a presumably deserted island they stay with couple Ma and Pa and their over grown children until; they can get their plane fixed. Just too bad the while family is insane and our victims start dying off one by one. A lock of gore allows the viewers to concentrate on more important things like atmosphere and character developement. Although all the performances in this often chilling and sometimes amusing chiller are sound it is Rod Steiger who gives an goulishy creepy performace as Pa. Although it is often predictable and a lot of what happenes goes unexplained you'll be to entertained to care.