Undescribable Perfection

Absolutely the worst movie.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen... and i was in it! Most of it was filmed on the campus at Oklahoma State University, where i was attending college at the time. I'm in a few scenes, which for me personally, was the only cool thing about the movie. I'm one of the students that runs up and finds the burning body on campus, and I'm in a couple of other scenes.It does have a decent entrance by Walken... very Walkenesque, and entertaining. He's really one of the only things that lifts this train wreck from the complete utter depths of horrible.Other than that it was good to get to hang out with Mr Walken briefly, and Richard Kind was very cool and hung out with us all quit a bit, and even played golf with some of us one day. Josie Bissett...well let's just say she really didn't say two words to any of us, and leave it at that.Got a sympathy 3 from me merely because Walken and Kind were in it, and provided some cheesy, campy, wth moments. Incredibly horrible directing... so much so, the director should have played it off as 'I meant for it to have this surreal sucking, b movie thriller quality. huh, huh.. i meant to do that.' Yeah right.

This is one of the most unconvincing, most terribly directed movies I've watched in a long time. It's so unprofessionally done, it's almost like a student movie. The story has some potential, I admit it's not the most predictable plot line, and some actors are quite good in their roles (Walken & Schlatter have some good chemistry), but scenes which are supposed to be scary are so badly done they come across as hilarious. Some scenes are so out of place and so unconvincing you find yourself thinking it's going to be a dream scene and the character will wake up, but no, it's for real. Then you just can't believe it. Background music is terrible. Character motivation is dubious. Many people's actions simply don't make any sense. It's basically C-production.

An excellent whodunit that keeps you alert from beginning to end. The only serious weakness is the occasionally too-artificially "smart" (or smart-alecky) dialogue, but the film offers a gripping, involving story AND a subtle message about (this could be considered a minor SPOILER) the consequences of perfectionism. Not many people saw it (or liked it), but I think most fans of mysteries would enjoy it immensely. (***)

All American Murder(1992) is an interesting murder mystery not because its a very good film but because it is one of the rare American film that uses many ideas from the Italian Giallo. The writer, Barry Sandler seemed to have a touch of Argentoitis when he did the screenplay. Reminds me in many ways of Four Flies on Grey Velvet(1971) in the sense that someone is playing a game of cat and mouse with the main hero. Combines the giallo with the slasher film, the rebel picture, the detective story, and the love story. Christopher Walken lifts the film from being lousy to being entertaining. Uses elements from Agatha Christie and Ed McBain novels. Its obvious that All American Murder was influenced by the films of Dario Argento and Mario Bava especially in the use of a well deguised murderer as well as the motif of the deception of human nature that Bava showed in his films. The scene where Artie thinks he witnesses the murder of Tally reminds me of similar scenes from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage(1969) and Deep Red(1975). Josie Bissett was good in the role of Tally Fuller but I wished that he played in a duel role similar to that of Marisa Mell in One on Top of the Other(1969). Another film that seems to influenced this is Brian De Palma's Body Double(1984). Has small portions of the sleeze, sex, and violence that the Italian Giallo is known for. Unfortunately, the film does not have any of the flamboyant camera movement, the explosive soundtrack, the surreal images nor the artful and stylize violence that makes Dario Argento a genius of horror pictures.