I’ve watched and reviewed several horror anthologies for this series over the past several years, and… this was definitely one of them.
I find my patience with horror movies far outpaces my patience with other genres. I have no reservations about pulling the ripcord on nearly any drama or comedy if it’s bad enough, regardless of how much or little time I’ve invested. Yet, with something like American Nightmares, a recent low-budget horror anthology, I tend to be more committed. Make no mistake, this is a terrible movie. It features bad acting, stilted writing and zero capacity to frighten. Such was apparent from very early on in the proceedings, but I never really entertained the idea of shutting it off early. Partly that’s because of the anthology format. Hey, I would think, this first segment may be bargain basement Black Mirror with the style of a late night Skinemax flick, but at least it will be over soon enough. And truthfully, the stories did get slightly less terrible as the film went on, or at least introduced enough batshit crazy to make them engaging. On paper, there is some wild stuff in this movie. The Wikipedia entry is probably interesting enough to entice your normal horror junkie to take a chance, and several C-list celebrities were convinced to join the cast. Unfortunately, the actual results are bound to disappoint.
The creative forces behind American Nightmares clearly fancy their work as social commentary, and the eye-rolling political subtext is as rampant as the plot holes. That’s not to say that I disagree with their views – they generally pick targets so easy that there is no ambivalence about the “right side”. And really, there’s nothing wrong with taking on white nationalists, amoral lawyers or abusive ex-boyfriends, but it doesn’t exactly challenge the audience to examine their preconceptions. It also makes the formula so transparent that there is never any suspense about how the vignettes will end. Introduce a creep, introduce the horror or sci-fi concept that will be their undoing, punish them with a horrible death. Rinse, repeat. Stories like this are all about style and execution, and that’s where the filmmakers drop the ball. It’s almost a feat unto itself that a movie can be so dull with all of the outrageous elements that American Nightmares has on parade. The film features a baby in a sack getting repeatedly slammed into a wall, a clown sexual predator with a sword phallus, and a misogynistic radio shock jock stumbling out into the road holding his detached penis after transforming into a woman. You can imagine that some of these stories have the basic elements of an impactful or even horrifying experience, such as the final tale which involves a woman being kidnapped prior to having an abortion and forced to carry through the pregnancy, despite her belief that her child is destined to be evil. At first blush, this has cult hit written all over it, but it’s just too flat to generate any kind of subversive excitement or even “wtf” exasperation. Ultimately, it illustrates the wide gap between having an interesting idea and a crafting a compelling film.
Comentários