American Gothic (1987)

Director:

John Hough

Writers:

Burt Wetanson (screenplay) and
Michael Vines (screenplay)

Release Date:

May 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

The family that slays together stays together.

Plot:

On a lonely island in the Pacific Northwest, a group of travelers find themselves targeted by a crazed, homicidal family.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Eccentric | Cult Favorite | Necrophilia | Skipping Rope

Awards:

1 win

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Rod Steiger	...	Pa
Yvonne De Carlo	...	Ma
Sarah Torgov	...	Cynthia
Janet Wright	...	Fanny
Michael J. Pollard	...	Woody
William Hootkins	...	Teddy
Mark Ericksen	...	Jeff
Caroline Barclay	...	Terri
Mark Lindsay Chapman	...	Rob
Fiona Hutchison	...	Lynn
Stephen Shellen	...	Paul
Terry Kelly	...	Psychiatrist

Also Known As:

Hide and Shriek

Runtime:

USA:90 min | Canada:85 min (Ontario) | Argentina:89 min

Country:

UK | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:R (Ontario) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Brent Walker PLC

Trivia:

The poster art, and all related media were based on the famous painting by Grant Wood.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Teddy and Woody douse Paul's body with gasoline, you can see him blink as this is happening.

Quotes:

Ma: Don't you want to join the clean plate club?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Touch of Satan (#10.8)" (1998)

Not as bad as I thought it would be.

The theme of religious fanatics who live in complete isolation and consider any contact with the outside world "contamination" has been done to death in the horror genre, but here they give it another go. Apparently they decided that wasn't enough, so they also threw in the "adults-behaving-as-kids" theme, which also has been done before (check out the REALLY twisted 1973 film "The Baby"). The result is a campy, silly, demented and thoroughly unpleasant horror film, but the production is fairly polished, the direction is competent and Rod Steiger gives a deliciously embarrassing performance as "Pa" (what the hell was he thinking when he decided to sign on for such a movie?) (**)