First time director, Andrew Monument‘s documentary Nightmares in Red, White and Blue plays like a Cliffnoted history on the American horror film. Starting in the earliest 20th century and ending in 2007, the film runs through the past 100 years in decade segmented chapters telling the history of American horror films and how they relate to the worldly events that were taken place within that time.
The film is narrated by Lance Henriksen (you know, the human looking cyborg from Aliens) and stars a whose who of horror directors, John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing), George A. Romero (Night of The Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead), Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins), Roger Corman (The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder), Larry Cohen (The Stuff, It’s Alive), Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, Riding the Bullet), Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II,III,IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera), and Brian Yuzna (Society, Bride of Re-Animator), each of whom chime in on the cultural significance the times had on their genre of specialty.
I am sure that taking on the task of having such a comprehensive topic covered in just 96 minutes and have it be informative couldn’t have been easy. Surprisingly though, the film breezes through the decades without ever feeling rushed. It makes a pretty convincing argument as to why horror films – no matter how ridiculous some of them are - should not just be written off as a lower class of genre movie making.
Weather intentional or not, the horror genre has always – and will undoubtedly continue to be – societies mirror into our darkest fears and Nightmares in Red, White and Blue reflects that sentiment perhaps better than most fictionalized horror films ever could.
Showtimes for Nightmares In Red, White And Blue
7/11/10 Sunday 5:00PM – Roxie Cinema (3117 16th Street)
7/12/10 Monday 9:00PM – Roxie Cinema (3117 16th Street)
7/14/10 Wednesday 5:00PM – Roxie Cinema (3117 16th Street)
