Simply A Masterpiece

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

"American Gothic" features a group of three couples who venture to an island in the Pacific Northwest after one of the women has tragically lost her infant in an accident. The getaway is supposed to be a time of healing, but becomes one of insanity when they are confronted by a backwoods elderly couple and their demented adult children.I've mentioned it in reviews of his other films, but I truly find John Hough to be a criminally underrated director, especially for his contributions to the horror genre. "The Legend of Hell House," "The Incubus," and "The Watcher in the Woods" are all extremely moody, atmospheric films that don't get nearly as much attention as they should. I had heard of this film before, but had no idea Hough was behind it—and honestly, I would have never guessed it had I not paid attention to the opening credits."American Gothic" is an all-out "backwoods crazies" horror movie that is heavy on the hysterics and light on just about everything else. The film boasts campy performances from veterans Yvonne De Carlo and Rod Steiger, both genre fixtures in their own rights, and lend the film some credibility, although they seem to be self-aware of what they're participating in. The script and pacing are amicable, but what I found the film to be truly lacking was a sense of atmosphere— something that Hough has, in my mind at least, been a master at achieving. In spite of the film's less-than-serious demeanor, opportunities to sap from the gloomy and remote setting are more or less left untapped; relatively flat cinematography leaves the film feeling even more muted.On a positive note, there really never is a dull moment to be had here, and that may be the film's most worthwhile element. It is admittedly fun—wacky, demented, and ultimately silly, but fun. The gory conclusion is also a bit of a surprise. All in all, I found the film amusing, but simultaneously lacking in atmosphere and tension, both of which I'd seen him achieve brilliantly in his previous films. On that level, I was disappointed, but for a late-eighties afterthought/retread on "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," this is fairly well done. 6/10.

The plot = Six young friends fly off on a weekend's camping trip, but when engine trouble forces them down on a remote island in the middle of nowhere, they explore and find a strange house occupied by an even stranger family, and that's when the troubles begin.Okay this isn't a total train wreak of a movie, the setting of the island is a great place for a movie of this type, but of course it's not really used to it's full advantage, but the house though is a perfect setting, and for the first half this movie does keep you interested, like when we're introduced to the strange family, Ma and Pa who are both stuck living in the 1920's backwoods America, and then we meet the kids who are all middle aged but act like children, which was really unsettling.But it's when the action kicks in is when it's kinda disappointing, there is obviously no effort made on the special effects like the death scenes are tame and dull, not a shred of imagination put into any of them and the acting is flawed at best especially from the six young friends, none of them are very interesting, they were all just dull, apart from Sarah Torgov who plays the main character Cynthia who ranges from fragile minded then finally snapping as the movie progresses, although flawed at times and didn't always seemed believable. It's the cast who plays the family who are the real winners here, Rod Stegier and Yvonne De Carlo who play Ma and Pa play they're parts really well without going over the top and the middle aged children each do they're parts well.All in all not a terrible movie, but could have been better with this kind of story line.

We have seen the storyline a million times before. So it had to have something special, but it failed. okay, it's old school horror but you can tell that it was made at the end of the slashers era. horror wasn't the thing anymore and the glory days were over. Here they tried to make a kind of early Wrong Turn or those other don't go there movies. The acting is okay but somehow the story failed to give you the creeps. The best thing is the flashbacks of one of the victims. The effects are cheap and the blood flows but not enough. Some parts are way too long, and sometimes you can see it coming from miles away that the victim will die. Over here in Europe the movie isn't available that easy so you will have to catch it in Germany or the US. It's watchable on a Saturday afternoon just before the family arrives. Could have been better...

For reasons they took to their graves, Rod Steiger and Yvonne De Carlo star as Bible-thumping, apple pie-eating, guest-killing inhabitants of a remote island. When some young Seattle adventurers crash their plane en route to a camping trip, they stumble upon Ma and Pa and their strange family of middle-aged "children." The family doesn't take kindly to swearing, fornicating or smoking, and many of the guests meet unfortunate ends when they don't follow the family's rules. But one guest has a tragic past that she turns to her advantage."American Gothic" is interesting strictly for its big-name stars plumbing the depths of their careers. As a B-movie, it rates a C. I was never bored, but I was never captivated, either. "American Gothic" is so bad it's ... well, just very average.