An American Terror (2014) Reviews

• An American Flop

  sgtgunner-12015-02-02

  I really wanted to like this movie. Based on the initial stars (7.4 at the time) I was expecting a throw-back to the vintage slasher films. What I got was a mess of choppy sequences followed by a few minutes of actual dialogue, then some weird angle nonsense. It seems like they used every scene transition from every horror movie they could get there hands on and just couldn't decide on one. I also could have done without whatever filter they used to film this...some sort of a greenish hue was cast over everything. One review refers to Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc... as a benchmark for this movie. This is nothing like those movies. The 'lunatic' reminds me of one of the Spy vs Spy birds from the Mad Magazine. I'm convinced that the good reviews were given by people affiliated with the creation of this film. The acting is not horrible, but there is no character development so you don't really care what happens to any of them. I didn't even remember which character was which..though the Mohawk fellow seemed to be the best actor of the bunch. I've watched a lot of B horror movies and have seen quite a few decent ones and some I recommend to watch as a time waster...This does not fall into either of those categories. I gave it two stars because I have seen worse, but not by much. Also, there was mention of awards being won for this film in another review...I don't know how true that is, but I would hate to see the other movies this was up against if that is the case.

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• Terrorizing viewers with crap editing, camera-work, story..

  DBLurker2016-06-04

  First things first. See that poster? That guy is in the movie, except the guy in the movie is a fat hillbilly guy wearing the same gear. Right there, the movie fails. Hillbilly's are NOT scary, no matter how edgy you try to make them (in this movie's case, watching a cartoon and making love to a doll.. I think, I couldn't tell, whole scene was 99& darkness). Second, the protagonist is a emo dude who wants to do a school bombing/shooting with his friends. Right there? You stop sympathizing with him even till the end, when he changes his mind (and how is he not in custody over planning it all? they just let him get back to the school next day..) Third, the moment our "heroes" enter the lair of the guy on the poster, whole movie turns the contrast up 50% and increases the darkness level in all scenes. That means, good luck recognizing what is going on in 99.9% of the scenes. You won't be scared, you'll be just really REALLY annoyed. Fourth, the "big bad" guy on the poster is beaten up and defeated by two scrawny kids. Rest of the movie is a crappy school bombing plot, that never happens. In whole movie, only two people get killed and that includes a cop and the kid who bombs that cop. Yeah, that's the real terror, school shooting/bombing. So basically, this movie is trying to make a statement on school shootings, telling all of the nerds who get beaten up that "Don't shoot up the place, it isn't worth it.. just take the beatings and humiliation." There, I saved you the trouble of watching the movie. That was the message all along. Go watch some good horror movie. TIP: How to watch this movie for free? Turn off your monitor/TV. See that dark screen? That's the movie. Enjoy.

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• Way better than I expected

  Kiri_Jolith982015-05-10

  While this isn't the best horror/slasher movie in history, it is a very pleasant surprise. The "Evil" in this movie is more than just some demented freak in a junk yard, it's the evil that we do to each other to make ourselves feel better. The underlying themes of bullying and kids struggling just to make it through high school are pretty effectively presented and you find yourself understanding where the frustration and anger comes from, even if you don't agree with their extreme methods. In addition, the film even tackles complex ideas like redemption and equality, not something you routinely see in a slasher flick. I was very pleasantly surprised, the movie had a creepy villain and some characters you can root for in earnest. Not the best movie out there, but there are way worse movies to watch on something like Amazon instant video or netflix.

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• An American Failure...

  Krackoon2015-03-25

  'A group of friends hatch a plan to get revenge on the bullies who have been tormenting them. In doing so, they stumble upon an underground torture chamber filled with unspeakable horrors. ...' While the director may be attempting something old school, like 'Halloween,' or 'Friday The 13th,' he pretty much fails at every aspect. The acting is fairly bad all around, and I'm not talking in a humorous way either. What really drives these types of films - is the villain. If you don't have a good villain, you really don't have anything to fall back on, and that goes for the old school 'classics,' as well. The villain here, or seen on the cover - end up being two different killers. The guy on the cover looks passable for a straight to DVD flick - Unfortunately, the guy on the cover didn't make it into the final release (Maybe the guy in the actual film ate him?) Instead, we get a 400 pound hillbilly who spends his time getting his inspiration from Woody Woodpecker reruns, kidnapping attractive cheerleaders, and having intercourse with his toy doll. Now, most real life serial killers are known for their sexual acts before or after killing their victims - but not this guy. I'm not sure why horror films avoid this detail, but I haven't heard of many serial killers who would choose a toy doll over an actual victim. Random Ramblings of a Madman: One of the reviewers of this film has been a member of IMDb for 15 years, and has 1 total review, which just happens to be of 'An American Terror,' which he makes a case for best film of the year. As you can probably tell, we're not in agreement.

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• What is this supposed to be?

  calebheiland-884662019-05-09

  The editing in this movie is terrible. At first we have these kids who want to shoot up a school. Now I'm getting some thriller vibes. Then, they go to underground and a friend is killed by a fat man in where this film becomes a slasher horror. Then a drama when he stops his friend from destroying the school. Then a cheesy high school romance movie where he stands up to the jock and gets the girl. All of this (acted terribly with bad editing) in the span of 84 minutes.

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