American Carnage by Diego Hallivis takes its name from the worst phrase spoken in 2017 by Donald Trump and it is in this very phrase where all the evil entities that do not conform to the ideal Trump America of rich white ladies who keep out ‘foreigners’, practice vile hatred of women and promote the ideal of white supremacy established by the ancestors live – the phrase ‘American Carnage’ President Trump in his 16 minute inauguration speech. I make this remark in order to set a certain ambiance contained in the manuscript of Diego and Julio Hallivis, which has a kinetic extension from Jordan Peele’s Get Out to issues of FEMA raids and fear of the other. The protagonist decorates his room with pictures of Us by Peele and Attack the Block by Joe Cornish to hint the ideas of the picture right from the start. 攻撃対立/撃る – this rage against rusted American ideal machines powers this scrappy-with-attitude horror flick that surrounds the rather overclocked senses of lunatics over that sadness where the lives of people are ruled by a corrupt political establishment.
Maybe it goes without saying, but one must incorporate their neuroticism style to maintain coherence with Swirl Get Out along with The Forever Purge. It gets very close to what American Carnage is at it’s basest structure. Their characters are immigrant children: JP (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), Camila (Jenna Ortega) and Big Mac (Allen Maldonado) caged up and then presented with a choice – be sent abroad or enroll for some months into the E.A.T.U. (Elderly American Tolerance Understanding) program created by Eddie (Eric Dane) which is about taking care of old people. They all opt for reading to people with Alzheimer’s as a cover to help their families out, and yet there is more to it than that. The Hallivis brothers seem to behave as other this world and other this time filmmakers as JP more and more witnesses the systemic corruption at the Owl Cove elderly facility. Something as pink and saffron but with more fantastical gross racism directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero red, white and bruised Culture shock about.
It may come as a surprise to some people that one might describe American Carnage with the word ‘fun,’ because it really is, at its core, about one of the more depressing themes of America – its anti-immigration sentiment (perhaps that’s why there are so many ‘underdog’ snatches about it). All of that has this spunky protestor’s flavour. Diego and Julio are angry, but at the same time they know that these very strong political statements can be made even more effective by using humour. Allen Maldonado is funny in the role of “Big Mac”, nickname due to his affection to big women, based on his character a wise cracker of the group who keeps pedestrian woe-ing the place with an angry voice over never ending jail images. Jenna Ortega does not constrain herself as a very ‘Fuck You’ punkish rebel, who gets her punches out almost effortlessly, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. is more of a straight-man whose “doubt” is funnier than six punchlines in a row. The worlds of their characters seem to be going up in tomato soup like that of Pompeii, but even then why does it allow- and for us to laugh, all the danger is still there.
American Carnage is a horror film that explores its narrative ambitions rather selectively. The layers of secrets in Owl Cove are as thick as the facade this place harbors connections to antigay activist politician Harper Finn (Brett Cullen). It does not take long for the members of JP’s crew to discern community service from imprisonment. Without getting into details, there are certain elements, like the makeup, which are quite inconsistent, distracting and primitive plot devices, as well as figurative language that is not always well aimed and does not quite pin down the evil plans of the bad guys with great accuracy. American Carnage goes berserk, and that is awesome, but sometimes it is at the expense of too much emphasis on the wildness of exploitation cinema while rather than screwing all the story telling tight screws.
That is the most we can say about a touching and very action-packed film on horror, which is a pleasure to make extravagant as one is able to be because one time the polish is missing anyway. American Carnage does quite well when it shifts to bleak and horrific dystopias which do not shy away from the drama of an ICE raid but does not more often succeed to a similar degree with the fantasy-terror angle — even when it scares. We have to commend monster actor “Twisty” Troy James’s contortionary work under elderly make-up whenever possession induced scenes are required because American Carnage enjoys being a pastiche of horror genres. It is unbalanced yes but you will still get your gooey squishy body parts depres and deep state conjectures pertaining to this unfortunate epoch in american politics (still hanging like a dirty cough) that sorts of solid proposals and crazy ideas what goes in the back and forth and down quite ironically but not at all polarizing.
Verdict
American Carnage is not one to shy away from controversy, however, this British film becomes poorly balanced in its Mazowsze like expanding and reaching out for entertainment of the genre fans and instigating dread of the ruling political entities. It is oriented more to the midnight showings where the viewers are not so concerned about the visible stitches, or rather do not disdain over-the-top thematic imageries. The Hallivis brothers take the pieces of American’s industries and the rhetoric of MAGA and blend them together in a rough cut that I can say tastes good but presented without a proper finish. As a B-Movie snob who loves taking big chances rather than being risk adverse, I can say I enjoyed the experience but such sentiments from other people about the film will rightfully be everything negative. At the same time, the problem is that although American Carnage is not for everyone, it can be said that this is both a plus and a minus.
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