THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE (2000)
Directed by Adam Simon
Starring George Romero and John Carpenter
In 2000, the Independent Film Channel decided to throw a festival of ‘70s horror, presenting the best of American fear films from the Vietnam era. They produced this excellent documentary as part of the fest, debuting it around Halloween.
“American Nightmare” is probably the best horror documentary of its kind, explaining why the R-rated “exploitation” horror films of the ‘70s were about a lot more than just sex and violence. Profiling films such as “Last House on the Left,” “Night of the Living Dead,” “The Crazies” and many more, the film explores links between the chaos of the late 1960s and early ‘70s and the horror people were witnessing onscreen at the time. George Romero, Tom Savini and Wes Craven are among the luminaries who are interviewed.
A terrific and very serious documentary, “American Nightmare” is definitely one to look out for. Unlike cheeseball fear “documentaries” like “Boogey Men,” this is a scholarly look at a much-maligned and little understood film genre, that saw its best work produced in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
While some critics might deride the ‘70s and ‘80s as an era of exploitation for the horror genre, the truth is, this period is when fear films really came into their own as an art form that made statements about society. “Last House on the Left,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Dawn of the Dead” and even “Friday the 13th” are films that confront some of the worst fears Americans had during the Nixon era and its aftermath. The fact that they were independent films only added to their grittiness and realism. The ‘70s and ‘80s were a golden era for horror and the genre today only rarely attains the heights it achieved back when Romero, Carpenter, Cronenberg and the rest were churning out their best work.
“American Nightmare” captures the spirit of this incredible period in American filmmaking and is a must for any true film lover - especially if he or she likes horror