Armand 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 .

pabald9480 This film is much clearer on DVD. Infamous director John Hough-of a few weird Disney movies from the late seventies, created this horror gem. Centered around Cynthia, who recently lost her infant child is now being released from a mental institution. Her husband decides to take her and a few friends on a trip to sooth her trauma. But the trip is cut short by plane troubles and they are forced to land on a remote island. Before long, they meet Ma and Pa(Yvonne DeCarlo and Rod Steiger)at the only house on the island who seem nice and hospitable, at first. Agreeing to spend the night, the friends soon start disappearing and inexplicably end up dead, some more brutally than others. I give this movie 8 out of 10 stars because the description on the back case reveals a little too much, making the film a little too easy to predict. Welcome to American Gothic, but no "Devil's Play" is allowed! John Hough is known for Escape to/Return from Witch Mountain and Watcher in the Woods, and took a big leap with this, it was a little unsettling at times too.

trashgang We have seen the storyline a million times before. So it had to have something special, but it failed. okay, it's old school horror but you can tell that it was made at the end of the slashers era. horror wasn't the thing anymore and the glory days were over. Here they tried to make a kind of early Wrong Turn or those other don't go there movies. The acting is okay but somehow the story failed to give you the creeps. The best thing is the flashbacks of one of the victims. The effects are cheap and the blood flows but not enough. Some parts are way too long, and sometimes you can see it coming from miles away that the victim will die. Over here in Europe the movie isn't available that easy so you will have to catch it in Germany or the US. It's watchable on a Saturday afternoon just before the family arrives. Could have been better...

slayrrr666 "American Gothic" is a decent if unspectacular slasher entry.**SPOILERS**After she's released from an insane asylum, Jeff, (Mark Ericksen) decides to take his wife Cynthia, (Sarah Torgov) along on a getaway to help her get used to company again. Bringing their friends Terri, (Caroline Barclay) Rob, (Mark Lindsay Chapman) Lynn, (Fiona Hutchison) and Paul, (Stephen Sheldon) they decide to camp out on a remote island like on their honeymoon. They realize that they're stranded when the plane breaks down and explore the island. They run across Pa, (Rod Steiger) and Ma, (Yvonne De Carlo) hermits who are barely into the 1920s and offer to take them in while they wait for help. The longer they stay, the more eccentric they seem, and it finally dawns on them that they're being slaughtered for not upholding their values, and try to escape the family.The Good News: This one has a couple of really nice points to it. The fact that the island location gives off a great atmosphere is really fun and quite nice. The woods are quite creepy and the fact that they're so isolated are mixed together in here to make the setting really creepy. The family of nut-jobs that they stumble upon do have a huge creep factor to them, especially the way that they're presented as being so cut off from modern conveyances that their sheer backwoods-ness simply makes them creepy. Their behavior and actions are more plain examples, as to have a basement filled with previously-dispatched victims that are referred to as giant dolls or keeping a mummified corpse and calling it a baby, as well as the fact that the people are clearly into their middle age yet act and are talked to as children under the age of ten is cause for concern. The last good point to it is the really high body count. This is split up into two main sections, as the majority of the stranded group as well as the family fall victim in here at different points. The massacre of the family at the end is the big one, since it's the goriest, the most creative and done in a spectacular way that there's plenty of excitement to be had since it never slows down and is just right after another. The wholesale body count includes an ax to the head, stabbed with the horn on a unicorn statue, a scythe to the neck, a metal tub bashed repeatedly and viciously against the head and falling off a cliff after the rope on a swing set is cut. These here are the film's real good points.The Bad News: This one doesn't really have a whole lot of flaws to it. The fact that the incessant religious banter and conditioning really manages to get on the nerves is something to get over. That doesn't make for a threatening characteristic when all they do is just warn of what they're doing rather than taking action later on because of it. This just leads to numerous scenes of them warning of what's going on rather than doing anything about it because of that, as the punishment meted out is for other reasons. They really should've brought up more of that if it was supposed to be brought up. The lack of kills in the first half is noticeable and makes it come off as rather slow-going in the process. There's only a few there to keep it going, but the majority of the time nothing of interest happens during these. The other factor is that the final rampage to knock off the remaining survivors is done with far more creative kills and zealousness than the main section with the majority of the kills. This has nothing much from those scenes, and as a result this one doesn't have a whole lot of things going on in the beginning. These here are what lower the film somewhat.The Final Verdict: Without a whole lot of really great points, but not a whole lot of bad ones either leaves this one just feeling somewhat bland and unspectacular. Give it a go if you're interested in that sort of thing, otherwise just leave it while there's plenty of others out there more deserving.Rated R: Violence and Language