It’s become common for movies once trapped on VHS to make that great leap to Blu-ray. And thanks to boutiques like Culture Shock Releasing, hidden gems like The American Scream are available again after being nearly lost to time. Those uninitiated viewers could be hesitant as they try making sense of this 1988 movie’s poster. Is this a slasher? A holiday travelogue? A teen comedy? The simple answer is “yes to all of the above.” The American Scream is indeed a mélange of familiar beats and elements, but everything is put together so strangely that the final product comes across as unique.
Made with a budget of around $200,000 and shot in just ten days in Camp Nelson, California, The American Scream turned out better than expected. Especially since director and co-writer Mitchell Linden threw the script together in a hurry; he was set to go on his honeymoon when he received the last-minute request to make a new horror movie. That fast turnaround isn’t evident on screen, but not everyone agrees. As critic Brian Orndorf said in his own review back in 2022, the movie “barely comes together as a complete idea” and it lacks coherence. These shortcomings and others notwithstanding, there is still something quite charming about Linden and Phil Hopper’s weird and delirious story.
The American Scream is what National Lampoon’s Vacation might have looked like as a horror movie. However, this movie focuses on its younger characters rather than a bumbling father. That’s not to say the heads of the Benziger family are neither clumsy nor overlooked; Pons Maar and his character’s equally awkward spouse (played by Jennifer Darling) take a backseat as their son and daughter uncover the goings-on in Wilson Creek. The parents could be defined by their fantastic ability to ignore red flags, yet it becomes clear that their ignorance serves more of a purpose than originally suggested.
Image: Ed Simpson lies dead in the snow with his stuffed dog nearby.
While considered a horror movie, The American Scream deals far more in bizarreness than in scariness. There is, however, a decent amount of gore and mayhem to go with all the tourist shenanigans and misunderstandings, especially for a comedy as goofy as this. The carnage promptly begins with the one set-piece fans still talk about to this day; they vividly remember how the teenage characters watched in disbelief as a father murdered his own baby. But like all the other deaths shown in this movie, the little one’s execution is absurd and over the top. It’s not the least bit frightening. The best Linden can do is take the audience by surprise, which he does on multiple occasions.
As a whole, the eighties enjoyed its horror comedies. So The American Scream was certainly not the first of its kind. Movies like Student Bodies, Saturday the 14th and Wacko were all different by design, though. They were made to be irreverent stabs at the genre as opposed to fairly straightforward horror stories with moments of levity stitched in. Linden’s work, on the other hand, sits between stations. The parody quality of those aforementioned movies is unmistakable, whereas The American Scream exercises some semblance of restraint. The threat at hand is taken seriously even as preventive measures become increasingly ridiculous.
A horror comedy tends to single out a subgenre. Slashers, vampires, haunted houses — every hoary setup or situation has been mocked and dissected over the years. The American Scream pokes fun at those unsuspecting characters who leave behind the comfort and safety of cities, then develop a life-threatening case of culture shock. True to form, realization is a piecemeal effort; the hazards of being young in Wilson Creek don’t immediately dawn on siblings Matt and Bridgett Benziger (Matt Borlenghi, Riley Weston) and their best friends (Kevin Kaye, Jeanne Sapienza). Yet like most teens in horror, they perceive something is amiss before the adults do. The audience also has a good guess of what lies ahead for the four characters, although the story still manages to squeeze in one last curveball at the end.
Image: The Benziger family has breakfast at the diner when officer Sam shows up.
The American Scream introduces its sense of unreality with no explanations. Viewers will either sink or swim as the inanity grows with every passing minute. The director’s preference for wacky and inscrutable humor isn’t for everyone, but there’s no denying it adds to the movie’s overall uneasiness. And so often this story relies on a character’s capacity to distinguish between normal and abnormal. Everything always appears ordinary enough until the eye catches an anomaly of some kind. While Linden doesn’t ever come close to achieving sheer terror — fright wasn’t his main objective — he did a hell of a job of making the characters question their sanity at every turn.
This movie keeps everyone on their toes. This includes viewers whose expectations are rarely met. Urbanites becoming entangled in the freaky local culture of the backwaters they visit isn’t a novel concept, yet for the most part, The American Scream is unpredictable. Of course that random nature stems from the abstract and patchy ideas hastily assembled into a story with no firm grip on itself. In addition to the rampant vagueness are those brainsick set-pieces that lead to even more unanswered questions. From an inserted snuff film detailing the murders of George “Buck” Flower‘s character’s family to a sudden scene of baby cannibalism, the script is prone to erratic, not to mention disturbed moments.
The American Scream requires its audience to fill in the gaps when the movie can’t decipher its own story or provide a logical ending. Even before that puzzling conclusion rolls in, the movie presents a parade of offbeat thoughts and images. The plot dots don’t easily connect, but the line they form is marked with dark delights and amusing nonsense. This cozy winter oddity still has a long way to go before it becomes more recognized; most folks don’t know it exists in the first place. However, those who decide to travel with the Benzigers will undoubtedly have a lot to think about upon returning from this hellish odyssey.
You can grab The American Scream on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.
Image: Someone’s decapitated head is mounted on a rake.
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