Review of The American Nightmare

This interesting documentary sets out to investigate the "Golden Age" of the horror genre. The helps to contextualize the great horror films of the late 60s and 70s within historical events happening in the United States and in the world. There is a lot of conversation about what horror actually is and what it means to the various directors, writers, and other key persons in the film. Tom Savini, a famous horror make-up artist talks extensively about where he learned the reality of his craft, Vietnam. He defines a line of difference between reality and representations that we are exposed to in films. This information that he is providing is coupled with harsh but important images from the Vietnam War where he was a soldier. I found this to be a particularly interesting part of the film because I think that the Vietnam War was not only important to Savini but also to many of the other horror directors and writers of that time period even if they had not experienced the front lines themselves. The group dissects Night of the Living Dead in many of the ways that can be seen in my previous post as well as the posts from fellow classmates of Communication 497AJ. The cast talks about the cannibalism in the film and the sheer brilliance of turning the nuclear family inside out. I particularly enjoyed the comments offered about human instinct to say things like "you're so cute, I could eat you up!" and how that related to the slaying of Harry and Helen Cooper by their daughter Karen. The cast also talk extensively about the significance of the ending scene in Night of the Living Dead. The brutal murder of Ben at the end of the film had revolutionary mimetic tendency to the heinous civil rights struggles of the late 60s and the death of Martin Luther King Jr. I think that hearing the cast, being that they are knowledgeable not only about the horror film under analysis but also about the historical context of the events represented in the film, allowed me to have a different kind of respect for the film and its message.

This is another film that shows us the importance of historical context. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would never have been as interesting and relevant had it not come out at a time of "No Gas". Also, it is important to note (which I did not know before watching The American Nightmare) that the family of psychopaths who take Sally and the others actually used to be slaughterhouse workers/owners however they had been run out of business. This little detail relates to the changing economy in those times and the fear that if someone loses their job they could in turn lose their mind and end up becoming like Leatherface.

I kept finding myself shielding my eyes from the screen even knowing full well that the things I was seeing were only snippets of the film, and I had no idea of the narrative but I was still scared. I couldn't help but start wondering what this was which led me back to the film. I believe it was Romero who said in the film that he wasn't scared of much but what did scare him was people. I think that I have found that this is true for myself also, however, much like any other average American I am not scared of the right people. I don't shield my eyes when I watch Obama saying that he is approving the Keystone XL pipeline or John McCain saying that we should really start serious air strikes on Syria but I do cover my eyes when I watch a the brutal snippets of killing in The Last House on the Left or Halloween...

IT'S ONLY A MOVIE, ONLY A MOVIE, ONLY A MOVIE, ONLY A MOVIE

The one question that I was left with at the end of the film is what is next. The "Golden Age" seems to have passed on and as we have learned we are in a kind of new horror genre, the slasher film. I feel as though with more knowledge of the horror genre itself, I am very curious to see what films have come, are coming, or will come out as a result of the history of today. I am wondering where the horror film commentary on society is...am I missing it? Has it come? Will it come?