American Scream King (2010)

Studio: Midnight Releasing

DVD Release: January 3, 2012
Not Rated

Review by Raymond Velez

American Scream King is not a bad story by any means. Just poorly executed. But still interesting nonetheless. Two friends get their hands on an expensive camera and decide to make a movie. Hold on. The plot thickens. These jerks (in some well written dialogue) debate how easy it is to make a horror film. They agree that the genre is so shitty that it shouldn’t be too hard to pull off another shitty film that will profit millions anyway.

These idiots confirm that horror is all blood, breasts and beasts. I, for one, can see where they are coming from. The best part of the plot but also the weakest is when they decide that it’s easier to kill in the film for real than to actually pay for special effects. This concept works for the film because it’s interesting and somewhat witty. But it ends up falling flat because you don’t believe that these guys are fucked up enough to go with this plan so easily. Somehow these knuckleheads convince attractive women that they are actually filmmakers only to torture and have them torture one another on tape.

See? It sounds like a great plot. I wish it could have been done on a bigger budget. Joel Paul Reisig writes, stars and directs this very ambitious film. The kid has talent. He has the imagination and directorial chops to get better and make even better films. As much I didn’t care for some of the plot or the characters, I didn’t hate the film as a whole.  It was actually original and had a lot to offer in terms of laughs and creativity. Some of the flashback sequences are done quite impressively. I also took a liking to the dialogue. It was more entertaining than forced and that’s not easy stuff to write. I can only imagine what this guy can accomplish on a big budget that Hollywood directors take for granted.