AMERICAN NIGHTMARES (2018)

Studio:      Patriot Pictures
Director:    Darin Scott, Rusty Cundieff
Writer:      Darin Scott, Rusty Cundieff
Producer:  Michael Mendelsohn, Jim Steele
Stars:     James Duval, Vivica A. Fox, Noel G, Barry Shabaka Henley, Tamala Jones, Chris Kattan, Jared Kusnitz, Jay Mohr, Nichelle Nichols, Jason Olive, Brendan Sexton III, Jimmy Shubert, Danny Trejo, Clarence Williams III

Review Score:

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Summary:

Mr. Malevolent forces two computer hackers to watch seven terrifying tales of racism, murder, misogyny, and greed.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

RATTERS – Mr. Malevolent and Mystic Woman supernaturally take over the computer surveillance setup of webcam hackers Stuart and Jamal. As Mr. Malevolent broadcasts seven horror stories, Stuart learns that a woman he blackmailed with compromising photos killed herself. Eventually, three witches conjure a demon that decapitates Stuart in front of Jamal. Mr. Malevolent turns Mystic Woman into a younger version of herself as a reward for the stories she brought to him.

MATES – Shanicka Williams tells her friend Lucy that her abusive ex-boyfriend Reggie is still stalking her. A mail clerk delivers Shanicka a free trial to dating service ‘Perfect Mates.’ Shanicka signs up and has a terrific first date with Jaylon. During sex, Jaylon reveals he is a robot when he suddenly deactivates with an automated message explaining that Shanicka’s free trial expired.

Reggie arrives at Shanicka’s door. Reggie explains that he sent Shanicka the free trial to prove that a “perfect man” doesn’t exist. Reggie begins beating Shanicka. Shanicka runs to her laptop to purchase a Perfect Mates membership. Jaylon reactivates and confronts Reggie. Reggie shoots Jaylon, but the bullet ricochets off the robot and kills Reggie. Jaylon offers Shanicka a full refund, but she welcomes him as her ideal mate.

THE PROSECUTOR – Raymond Moreland successfully prosecutes Floyd Johnson for the murder of Floyd’s family. Four years later, a prison guard taunts Floyd by showing him newscaster Chris Fury’s interview with Raymond about Raymond’s run for governor.

On the eve of Floyd’s execution, Raymond threatens to blackmail key witness Jessica Owens when she insists another man actually committed Floyd’s crimes. During dinner with his wife Betty and their children John and Missy, Raymond receives a call informing him that Floyd escaped prison.

Floyd confronts Raymond in his home. The two men engage in a gunfight before Floyd knocks Raymond down a staircase. When he recovers, Raymond finds his family murdered. Raymond tries telling arresting officers that Floyd committed the crime, but Raymond is told that Floyd was already executed. Raymond later sees Floyd observing in the gallery when he is executed by lethal injection.

WHITE FLIGHT – Disgraced racist cop Tommy Deuchet takes delivery of a dimensional travel machine. Tommy uses the machine to transport his wife Molly, their teenage daughter, infant daughter Angel, and himself to the segregated desert community White Fork, which displays a billboard promising “no blacks allowed ever.”

Shortly after arriving, lawmen execute Tommy’s wife and daughter before putting Angel in a sack and beating her to death. Tommy learns that White Fork ostracizes people with black hair, not black skin. Tommy is imprisoned for the crime of marrying someone with black hair.

THE SAMARITAN – Cancer-stricken Mr. Preevy pays pimp Borris an exorbitant fee to have prostitute Angel dress like a clown. While Preevy dons his own clown costume and makeup, Angel discovers the dead body of a tortured girl in Preevy’s closet. Able to communicate when Angel holds a crucifix, the dead girl’s ghost explains that Preevy will try to kill Angel too.

Angel discovers Borris’ murdered body in another room. When Preevy pursues her, Angel rushes back to the closet where she uses the crucifix to resurrect the dead girl. Together, Angel and the dead girl use Preevy’s phallic blade to kill Preevy.

HATE RADIO – Regular listener Felix calls right-wing radio host Hugh Bluff’s show to praise new serial killer ‘The Chopper’ for keeping women in line by killing them. At home that night, Hugh inexplicably morphs into a woman. Revealed as The Chopper, Felix captures female Hugh and imprisons him in his lair. Despite Hugh’s assertion that he is actually Felix’s idol, Felix begins torturing Hugh.

THE HEALER – Roscoe kidnaps phony faith healer Bishop Love and takes him to a desert junkyard. Roscoe explains that his dying daughter lost all of her money on Love’s scams, including plain water sold as healing tears of Jesus. Roscoe forces Love to drink tears from his daughter’s decrepit body.

Police eventually arrive, free Love, and take Roscoe into custody. Love suddenly begins suffering from Roscoe’s arthritis. When his assistant Clyde touches him, Love’s eyesight becomes poor while Clyde no longer needs glasses. Love’s other assistant Janet puts a hand on Love, which transmutes her scarred eye onto Love’s body.

Roscoe explains that he turned Bishop Love into a true healer. Love grabs a police weapon and shoots Roscoe, but the bullet ends up in Love’s leg. Other lepers arrive and surround Love. Roscoe’s daughter gets up, touches Love, and transforms into a healthy person as Love’s body suddenly decays.

THY WILL BE DONE – Pro-lifers Leanne, William, and Saul kidnap pregnant Gina Mendez to prevent her from having an abortion. Gina futilely tries explaining that she was raped and what is inside her is not good.

After several months of captivity and a failed escape attempt, Gina dies after giving birth to a demon baby. The baby grows into a horned human and supernaturally impregnates all three kidnappers.

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Review:

Whoever holds or held proper rights sold or licensed the name “Creepshow” to an independent outfit called Taurus Entertainment Company in the mid-aughts. The unfortunate result was “Creepshow 3” (review here), a sequel in name only that virtually turned the top title in horror anthologies into mud. Without involvement from Stephen King, George A. Romero, or anyone else who made the first two films in the franchise, “Creepshow 3” looked like a cable access production thrown together by complete amateurs. The less said about this DTV disaster, the better.

The quality drop-off isn’t nearly as steep, but “American Nightmares” points “Tales from the Hood” masterminds Darin Scott and Rusty Cundieff toward similarly declining circumstances. Titled “Tales from the Crib” once upon a time, but possibly renamed due to a C&D or a desire to not unnecessarily taint the “Hood” brand through adjacency, “American Nightmares” essentially operates as “Tales from the Hood 3.” It has Scott and Cundieff’s same sense of current cultural awareness applied to EC Comics terror tales of vengeful comeuppance. What it doesn’t have is “Tales from the Hood’s” wry edge of wit or professionally sharpened appearance.

Mr. Simms gets downgraded to Mr. Malevolent in the movie’s bizarre wraparound. Hamming it up as the horror host, Danny Trejo torments two webcam hackers by taking over their monitors and forcing them to watch several stories for whatever reason.

“Star Trek’s” Nichelle Nichols sits across from Trejo as ‘Mystic Woman.’ Nichols does little more than mutter an incoherent word during every other interlude, yet we learn the stories come from her even though Mr. Malevolent introduces them. It makes about as much sense as having three seductive witches suddenly conjure a creature to decapitate one of the hackers. These bookends have “creative compromise” and “rushed production” stamped all over their impression of incompleteness.

The first full story tells the tale of a domestic abuser getting his due while his victim finds her ideal man in unusual form. “Mates” means well, and has one of the better setups of the eight segments. But Tamala Jones’ pancake-flat performance and some impatient editing inject herky-jerkiness indicative of the overall movie’s uneven elements.

Jay Mohr headlines “The Prosecutor.” Evidenced again when Chris Kattan appears later, the anthology’s star power never really rises higher than mid-tier SNL alumni. Vivica A. Fox might be the movie’s biggest name, but I timed it, and her face only appears onscreen for exactly seven seconds.

Regardless, “The Prosecutor” properly plays like a quick “Tales from the Crypt” episode, making it the most robust piece in “American Nightmares.” As fully-fleshed as it feels, “The Prosecutor” doesn’t come off as completely thought through since the “what goes around comes around” consequence for its titular villain requires an innocent wife and two children to be murdered. That’s a disturbing result to root for.

Brendan Sexton III lays racism on thick as a disgraced ex-cop in “White Flight.” Sexton’s character plays all the bigotry hits, equating a Polynesian man with Charlie Chan, a Mexican with beans, and a black man with malt liquor, welfare, and crack.

Misguidedly, Rusty Cundieff’s “White Flight” script also swipes at Ted Nugent and MAGA, ensuring that those who most need to hear this story’s message will have put fingers in their ears to thwart perceived “leftist Hollywood propaganda.” This segment’s “Twilight Zone” tone takes another pie in its face from awful wigs and other corniness. “White Flight” concocts several potentially chilling scenarios, but confusingly adds camp to prevent taking it seriously.

Chris Kattan surprises with an on point, albeit brief, role in “The Samaritan.” Then he changes into a clown costume with a balloon animal phallus and tone takes a sharp turn into absurdity. I’d be surprised to learn it took Cundieff longer than one lunch break to write this forgettable filler.

“Hate Radio” hits a number of hot button buzzwords like libtard, feminazi, manhater, and metrosexual in its story of a right-wing radio host who has to put a high heel on the other foot to face a serial killer. A paper-thin premise redundantly rings the same bell as “White Flight.” “Hate Radio” also makes the same mistake as that segment by directly including a Donald Trump reference, again guaranteeing that the theme only preaches to the choir or falls on deaf ears.

“American Nightmares” would be better off if its pieces were as strong as “The Healer.” This tale of tables turned on a phony faith healer is both formulaic and heavy-handed, but no more so than the four-color comics inspiring such stories in the first place. To the point and produced reasonably well, “The Healer” showcases “American Nightmares” at its relative best.

“Thy Will Be Done” goes in an opposite direction of quality. Hotspots blow out actors’ faces in exterior shots. A silly CGI creature and sillier makeup job on its human incarnation perpetuate cheapness. “Thy Will Be Done” isn’t just the last short in the anthology. It was likely the last segment shot as the pro-choice parable reeks of cut corners, carelessness, and having run out of money.

The dip in visible production value between “Tales from the Hood” (review here) and its official sequel (review here) thinned the ice underneath Darin Scott and Rusty Cundieff’s filmmaking feet. “American Nightmares” comes close to cracking it completely.

Coals of creativity exist inside several stories even though none are polished into diamonds. Ultimately, I acknowledge “American Nightmares” with a mid-range grade out of admiration for its sincere intent to edutain. I’m merely discouraged that its creators slid from one of the most relevant horror anthologies of all-time to a VOD cheapie below the standard for their established talent.

Without a doubt, Cundieff and Scott would be first to agree they need bigger budgets to incentivize ideas and properly shape their visions onscreen. They probably grew weary of waiting for phantom funding and simply rolled forward down whatever avenues were available. But if Cundieff and Scott continue lessening the appeal of their efforts with green screen sets, unexciting casts, and mediocre morality tales swinging at low-hanging fruit, their next anthology could give “Creepshow 3” a run for its nonexistent money.

Review Score: 50

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