Best movie of this year hands down!

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Blistering performances.

it is not so bad and far to be credible. a common horror, old story about young people in strange/dangerous place, bizarre/unrealistic situations, madness and silly situations. and, more important, an inspired poster. short, one of films who becomes decent for the presence in cast of a good actor. in this case - the "victim" is Rod Steiger who must save the appearances. his performance is meritorious but enough. the cause - the movie represents a ball of noble possibilities who are not more than parts of a sketch, silly/ridiculous moments, the spirit of 1980's and basic solutions of genre. a sort of run without finish because the presence of Yvonne De Carlo, William Hootkins or Michael J. Pollard is only symbolic and the performance of Janet Wright is only who reminds the purpose to create fear .

Backwoods horror with a twist, well "American Gothic" won't win any awards for originality but there's no knocking back that it's truly demented, often ludicrous and eventually goes down a path (in regards to the heroine's character development) that simply fits right at home with this darkly nightmarish comic shocker. At times some instances or choice actions were grating and I was getting a little annoyed by the performances, but you could say this was meant to be. It's well-acted with Rod Steiger and Yvonne De Carlo playing Pa (a god fearing man) and Ma with stinging commitment and also showing up is character actor Michael J Pollard as one of their children.Some young adults find themselves stranded on an island when their plane comes on. On the secluded island they begin looking for help and the come across a very old-fashion house where they would meet Pa and Ma. They invite them to stay, until help arrives. However this is one strange family, who stick to their old conservative family values, the kids are a lot older than one would think and they seem to have horrifying plans for their guests.Director John Hough ("The Legend of Hell House" and "Twins of Evil") does a commendable job pacing it, drumming up suspense and capturing some lasting atmospheric visuals. There's something unsettling beneath it, but it's broken up by its operatic ham. Janet Wright's performance is a nice fit to that. Disappointedly some of the deaths happen off screen, but there are one or two ghastly inclusions. What it does set-up is routine, but where it really does come into its own is within the last half-hour, as things might not play out as you might think. Sarah Torgov's performance is the standout in the young adults, as she portrays someone with a little more depth which is important to the story's progression. Also gotta love the trademark image for the poster artwork.Typical, but decently macabre. Would make for a good companion piece with "Girly" (1971).

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.

In a way it is sad to see a talent like Rod Steiger relegated to playing these psycho-eccentrics, as he does here and also in the absolutely amazing "Guilty as Charged". "American Gothic" lacks the fully developed script of "Guilty as Charged", although it is not your standard slasher in the woods. Other films have been "borrowed" from, but somehow there is enough originality to maintain interest. The character development is scatter shot, and the acting ranges from embarrassing (pick any of the stranded friends), to stereotyped (Steiger and Michael J. Pollard). Nevertheless, "American Gothic" rises above mediocrity, because of the presence of Steiger and Pollard, some intriguing, though underdeveloped ideas, and a smattering of dark comedy. - MERK