Review: I am a man who loves horror movies, so it was almost a given that I was going to enjoy or despise this documentary.  Remembering back to my days in film school, it was hard sometimes to listen when a classmate would attempt to give meaning to a random film's subtext or cultural significance, but this documentary's well researched analysis of some heavy hitters of the horror genre brought on no memories of painful film classes.   Right from the start, when scenes from famous horror films like Night of the Living Dead are cross cut with news footage from various Civil Rights riots, the film sets up the agreement that it will not just be 70 minutes of fun campfire stories and gory money shots.  The film's interviews with famous horror icons like Wes Craven, John Carpenter and George A. Romero are right on, and the director's choice to add in a few academic voices, as well, strengthened the film enormously.   The documentary moves well through most of its discussions of featured films and from George Romero's goals of connecting his films to the Civil Rights movement in the 60's and the consumer culture of the 70's to Tom Savini's and Wes Craven's attempts at coping with the Vietnam War, the documentary explains a lot without going too deep into subjects it should not explore.   It's not without flaws though and this is highlighted by Tobe Hooper's discussion of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre film.  The segment is interesting but it has so little of the punch that comes with the other films' reflections of the turbulent times that this section runs the risk at times of turning the documentary into the gore fest that the film should not be. David Cronenberg's Shivers was also among the films featured in the documentary, and aside from inciting a notably interesting section of the film, Shivers also has the honor of being the only main film discussed in The American Nightmare to never have been remade as of April 2009.  When viewed in comparison to His Name Was Jason (a fun, scrapbook type look back at a films held together by a common title) this film shows a solid, and well crafted exploration of films that defined a genre and mimicked a particular age.  That's not to say HNWJ is bad, but The American Nightmare is a movie that can be appreciated by horror film enthusiasts, cultural historians, and others alike (as long as they're not squeamish since it does show some gruesome scenes, including Leatherface's first on-camera appearance- which, regardless of who is talking over it, is shocking).   Review by Ryan Pollyea Informative: 4- the few sources are used extremely well and help the viewer connect the pieces between art and history Entertaining: 4- the mix of classic, trendsetting horror films with artistic and critical analysis works very well Technical: 3.5- aside from one bad interview and a few random transitions it's pretty good Overall: 4- it's a nicely developed analysis of a small group of films and their interactions with hectic moments in recent history
 
Format: DVD Year: 2000 Run Time: 73 minutes Distributor: Independent Film Channel Producers: Paula Jalfor, Colin MacCabe and Jonathon Sehring Director: Adam Simon Date Reviewed: 4/13/09   Story: Film historians and creators of some of the most famous horror films of the 60's and 70's talk about the films and their oddly poignant connections with the era in which they were created.