Waste of time

How sad is this?

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Back before the dire imitators, genuinely superb horror films used to be made - horror films that represented the nation's feelings. One of the best examples is "Night of the Living Dead" and the Civil Rights movement metaphors.Adam Simon's documentary is amazing in the fact that it manages to interview some of the greatest horror directors (George A. Romero, John Landis, Tom Savini, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, et al) and examine what their films REALLY meant.Admittedly I'm not a huge fan of the horror genre, but I love the horror masterpieces. This documentary covers every film I can imagine that represents greatness - it's definitely worth a look, especially if you're a fan of the films it encompasses (check out IMDb's references page for more info).

I caught this on IFC and it's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. This is not only for the huge horror fan, but it's also for fans of movies period. American Nightmare goes deep and discovers what helped these classic directors create their films. Interviews with legends like George Romero, Tom Savini, David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper,and John Carpenter. Some really interesting facts are mentioned, like Hooper's idea for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Savini's Vietnam days, etc. The overall theme of the documentary is how the horrors of real life effected the directors. Things like the Vietnam war, Kennedy's assassination, the Cold War were all things that helped inspire some of the greatest films in cinematic history. Another great thing about this documentary is it takes you back to a time of when people knew how to make horror movies. I am only 18 (as of this review, 2004) and was not around during these eras. It's really nice to see what it was like back then. I would recommend this for anyone who is a movie fan. I'd especially recommend this to kids who flock to see the latest butchered remake of classics or CGI-running-zombie-crapfests that come out these days. 10/10

The American Nightmare is a very interesting ( and even educational ) documentary that explains us a bit more the more "politically incorrect" milestones in horror such as Last House on the Left, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead. For those who already worship these movies, the documentary is a nice way to discover a large amount of trivia elements and the sequences shown are terrific eye-candy. But...to those who always considered these movies to be perverted and unethical, this documentary is a real eye-opener! Adam Simon lets the masters of American horror explain themselves about their motivations and inspiration to shoot these movies. And so we learn that these motion pictures often are a direct consequence of real-life horror and social trauma's. For example, we see George A. Romero explain what influence the assassination Martin Luther King had on his movie, how it was the Vietnam war that influenced Tom Savini to scare people with his photography and how the violent student riots shocked Wes Craven. A real pleasure to observe is also Tobe Hooper explaining how the complete script of Texas Chainsaw Massacre developed in his mind. The American Nightmare is a mixture of some of the best footage, interviews with legendary directors and an overload of psychological explanations by University professors. Some points of view of these profs are rather interesting, but most theories they're trying to sell are just way over the top and far-fetched. The directors all are cooler than cool when they get interviewed. Especially George Romero makes a big impression and John Landis is fun to watch, since he's so enthusiastic about what he does and worships.Surely recommended to everyone who's interested about the origin of groundbreaking horror and milestones. The American Nightmare can for example be found on the double-disc special edition DVD of The Hills Have Eyes.

Tom Savini, John Landis, George Romero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven. Tobe Hooper and David Cronenberg talk about their horror films (and others) and explain what they mean and where their ideas came from. Film shows how the times they grew up in (lates 60s, early 70s) influenced them greatly. The film includes very graphic images from the Vietnam war, Kent State, race riots, assassinations--you can see why these filmmakers make such gory, violent films! As a horror fan, I loved this documentary. It also gave me some insight into two horror films I hate-- "Last House on the Left" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". I still despise them but I understand where the films came from. A rare chance to see all these directors talking about the films. A must-see for anyone interested in movies.