American Satan

I have been looking forward to this movie since I saw the IMDb page and watched the trailer. I was hoping that it would be THE movie for fans of metalcore. But it wasn't just my overly high hopes for this movie that made me incredibly disappointed. I am usually very good at seeing the good parts of bad movies, as in, "Well, the acting wasn't very good, but the story was great!" While parts of this movie were alright, maybe even good at parts, not one aspect of this film was good all the way through.

Writing: 3/10 The basic story of American Satan might have been good if it was handled better. However, the script, if indeed there was a script, was awful, and many, many times it was hard to tell if the bad product on screen was because of bad writing or bad acting. The production quality didn't turn out to be good enough to convincingly carry the scope of the film, which could have been better handled if the writer/director knew his own limitations.

Directing: 4/10 When I saw the movie, I didn't know that the writer/director, Ash Avildsen, is the CEO and founder of Sumerian Record, the label that produces Asking Alexandria, (a great band, for the record). If I had known this I might have had a slight inclination that this movie was made with no better prospects than to reel in Andy Biersack fangirls, and metalcore fans, myself included, and not delivered with passion for or love for the music, or even quality movies. What was caught on camera and put on screen, at times, was so chaotic and incoherent, as my friend and I were watching the movie, at a pivotal part of the film, my friend looked over at me and asked, "Wait, what happened?" and I had to explain what I was pretty sure had happened but was not clearly shown. Also, what the trailers showed of the band playing in the movie looked great and I was really looking forward to it, however what was shown in the movie looked like it was ripped straight from a concert tape of your average rock band. I couldn't get into it, even as a huge fan of the kind of music they play. All in all, it just wasn't good, and I believe the person most at fault for this entire catastrophe is the writer and director himself.

Acting: 5/10 The acting in this movie is very spotty. Sometimes it seems like the newcomers to acting and stars of the movie, Andy Biersack and Ben Bruce are doing very well with their acting debut, and other times its painful to watch. This goes for the experienced actors of the film to, finger pointed straight at Malcolm McDowell. But, as said before, it's often hard to tell if the poor product on screen is the fault of an actor doing their job poorly, or if the script they were given was just god-awful.

Overall: 4.5/10 There's not a lot to like here unless you're a die-hard Andy Biersack, Black Veil Brides fangirl, or boy, and consider everything he touches to be descended straight from heaven. Anyone who considers himself a fan of quality films, or at least have one thing, one good aspect of a movie to praise after devoting almost two hours to it, should probably go look somewhere else.

OK so this won't apply to everyone but if you grew up in a certain kind of Evangelical Christianity - the type where every once in a while a "cool" speaker with a casual outfit and an allegedly dark past would come tell you about how Satan lurks in all the things you love - then this movie will seem weirdly familiar. From watching the trailer I expected a rock 'n roll horror movie, what I got was... something else entirely...

Firstly, this is not a horror movie, not even a little bit (there is some decent to good rock in it though). It's basically a sermon about the perils of moral Rock 'n Roll decadence, although much like most of those sermons it does a way better job of making sex, drugs & rock 'n roll seem awesome than in warning you against it.

I'm not using allusions to sermons lightly here. The movie both starts and ends with the same kind of out of context, industry insider quotes to make it seem like the devil is real, runs music and everyone involved knows it. Furthermore the movie has continual infodumps on the illuminati and how Satan supposedly controls everything from rock to hip-hop to Apple Computers. But unlike a sermon, there's not actually a point to any of this. Despite heavy handed character names like "Johnny FAUST", there never seem to be real stakes. Selling out to Satan is... sorta bad maybe? But maybe also no big deal? And maybe nothing matters?

I would say this is like a Chick Tract with more graphic nudity and drug use but honestly a Chick tract has way more punch to it!

So well, i do not tend to write reviews on movies often. but i just figured i HAD TO for this one. not because it knocked me off my feet, but because after watching it i went on here and saw all these really bad reviews. i had been entertained well for nearly two hours, i got more than i expected, considering "drama, music, thriller" are the lead tags on it, yet i would rather like to see it as a dark comedy about the industry and thus all the cliches and stereotypes explain themselves. so, if you can make fun of yourself or take serious matters with a light heart, go ahead and watch. it got plenty of the "sex, drugs and rock n roll" woven into a story that is not half as bad as other reviewers try to make you think

I thought this was a horror movie, but it definitely was not. It leaned more on the thriller film side. The soundtrack was actually decent, the acting and actors were great, the story was weak, rough, and tried to go too many places. Take out all the brutal shots and this could have been a lifetime movie.

Also, I had no idea who Andy Biersack was, but he was the only reason I kept watching.

So as I am watching this movie I found my self asking what would I do if was in this situation. And honestly that is what I look for when I watch anything from Movies to TV Shows. I want to put myself in that situation. Was the movie so good that it should be put up for awards. No. The writing was weak in some areas and lacked in others. Some of the actors and actresses seemed to just be there for the check and not really into their roles. With all this bad why should you watch this movie? The sound track mostly honestly. If you are a metal head or rocker you are going to possibly enjoy this flick. It keeps this film going. The lows are when the music is not going and you are not dove straight into this environment that is their depiction of hard rocker life style. I give this a 5 because its not like I wouldn't watch this at all. It is average and this should be a straight to blueray/dvd movie.