Nightmares in Red, White and Blue charts the history of American horror movies from the perspective of some of the leading creative minds in the industry today. Contributions from John Carpenter the director of many classic horror flicks of the 1980's, Roger Corman, Joe Dante director of The Howling, Tom McLoughlin, Brian Yuzna, plus many others, all combine to create a stimulating and thoroughly informative documentary.

Nightmares investigates much of the cultural influences that have inspired the films we know and love, looking at a lot of their political and sociological dimensions. It features interviews with George Romero the creator of the Dead series, arguably the strongest zombie movies ever created. Most of the reasoning for Dead's popularity is due to the fact that it attacks societies ill's.. consumerism, militarism and down right pig headedness. A lot of these factors are addressed and we get to see some insight from the man himself with regards to how horror movies can isolate and address these things.

The psychological dimension of horror movies is looked at also and it's interesting to see how many of the directors in particular perceive the root, the origin of our fascination with horror. I thought John Carpenter's take on the whole issue to be very insightful. The whole internal or external thing seems to ring true a lot. 

Real life is in a lot of ways more shocking than anything that a horror movie can show. However, society will often look down on the horror genre as some kind of perverse, sick and twisted form of entertainment. Yet a lot of the same types of individuals who would have in the past advocated things like war, segregation and a lot of other evil things that, well, make the world a more miserable place. Perhaps horror movies are just an easy target... Or perhaps it's easier to criticise others than to put your own house in order. Who knows. One thing is for sure, Nightmares will have you wondering about these things after you've finished watching.

Narrated by the great Lance Henriksen, Nightmares in Red, White and Blue is a deeply insightful documentary that no self respecting horror fan should miss. If your interested in what makes the horror industry tick, this has a lot of the answers. Definitely not one to be missed!

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