''The American Scream'' is a 2012 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

profiling three families in

Fairhaven, Massachusetts Fairhaven (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor wit ...

, who transform their homes into extravagant haunted attractions for

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

. Produced and directed by Michael Stephenson, the film premiered on the Chiller network October 28, 2012. The recent growth of the "home haunter" phenomenon is linked to the influence of the Internet as well as the Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow and Convention (HAuNTcon).

Reception

''The American Scream'' received positive reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a 100% approval rating, based on nine reviews. According to Fred Topel of CraveOnline, the film "is really well done and has a lot of heart." The film effortlessly toes the line between observational and compassionate, whilst Bobby Tahouri's score is at once jovial and joyously creepy, succeeding in drawing the audience into the foray of Halloween excitement. Katie-Jane Hall of Critics Associated said, "The real heart of this feature is the families; they sacrifice and support each other through thick and thin, allowing their lives and their homes to be enveloped by a mass of pumpkins, zombies, skeletons and fake blood all for the joy of others. Their passion is contagious and I would be surprised if it does not inspire some more amateur haunters to spring up out of the woodwork."

Release

''The American Scream'' premiered on September 23, 2012 at the Fantastic Fest at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. On October 10, 2012, ''The American Scream'' premiered for a limited audience at the Walter Silveira Auditorium in Fairhaven, MA.

Television

On October 31, 2012, ''The American Scream'' was broadcast nationally on Chiller TV.

Box office

In November 2012, ''The American Scream'' was released to theaters nationwide.

Home media

In December 2012, ''The American Scream'' was released on DVD. It is also available on Netflix, YouTube, and I-Tunes.

References

External links

* 2012 films Films directed by Michael Stephenson American films about Halloween 2010s English-language films {{2010s-documentary-film-stub