All-American Murder (1991) Online

All-American Murder seems to be your average college slasher/thriller, but it actually is quite entertaining. Sure, the plot is maze like, but that is what mysteries are. This managed to be dark without being suffocated, and sinister without being nasty. As I first watched this, the questions started. Why was the poor girl burned, instead of a quieter, less attention attracting death? Who hated the kid enough to frame him? How did all the blackmail, adultery, and depravity occur at a "good" college? All these were answered if not amazingly, at least well. Rather than leave us hanging, the suspense actually ramps to the climax. Which leads to my final point. The motivation of the killer actually makes sense, in a twisted way. Too many films like this seem to have someone kill for the thrill of it, and since this one doesn't, I give it serious applause. Also, the protagonist actually has some heart, always a plus. See this if you want a good, modern whodunit with a eighties- early nineties feel.

I saw this one because I am a big fan of Josie Bissett(Jane from Melrose Place) and I wanted to see her in a movie role so I went to the video store and was suprised that they had this. All-American Murder is pretty good. It's not fantastic but worth a look if your in the mood for a thriller.

Listen, I've seen this movie a hundred times, showing it to friends and family as a lark. It's a hilarious buddy-movie/murder-mystery with witty, punny-yet-intelligent dialog ala Clue. No, there's nothing groundbreaking here, and the production values are what you would expect from something that, I believe, went straight to video. But why should that matter? This film is completely unpredictable, and has such classic lines as "The dean has knocked off more undergraduates than Kent State." (Hilarious, if you know some basic American history and get the double-ententre.) Most movies these days require that even simple verisimilitude fly out the window, so suspend disbelief, enter with no expectation, and enjoy. It'll keep you guessing, and laughing, until the very end.

An excellent whodunit that keeps you alert from beginning to end. The only serious weakness is the occasionally too-artificially "smart" (or smart-alecky) dialogue, but the film offers a gripping, involving story AND a subtle message about (this could be considered a minor SPOILER) the consequences of perfectionism. Not many people saw it (or liked it), but I think most fans of mysteries would enjoy it immensely. (***)

All American Murder(1992) is an interesting murder mystery not because its a very good film but because it is one of the rare American film that uses many ideas from the Italian Giallo. The writer, Barry Sandler seemed to have a touch of Argentoitis when he did the screenplay. Reminds me in many ways of Four Flies on Grey Velvet(1971) in the sense that someone is playing a game of cat and mouse with the main hero. Combines the giallo with the slasher film, the rebel picture, the detective story, and the love story.

Christopher Walken lifts the film from being lousy to being entertaining. Uses elements from Agatha Christie and Ed McBain novels. Its obvious that All American Murder was influenced by the films of Dario Argento and Mario Bava especially in the use of a well deguised murderer as well as the motif of the deception of human nature that Bava showed in his films. The scene where Artie thinks he witnesses the murder of Tally reminds me of similar scenes from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage(1969) and Deep Red(1975).

Josie Bissett was good in the role of Tally Fuller but I wished that he played in a duel role similar to that of Marisa Mell in One on Top of the Other(1969). Another film that seems to influenced this is Brian De Palma's Body Double(1984). Has small portions of the sleeze, sex, and violence that the Italian Giallo is known for. Unfortunately, the film does not have any of the flamboyant camera movement, the explosive soundtrack, the surreal images nor the artful and stylize violence that makes Dario Argento a genius of horror pictures.

This movie is your typical, cheesey, college murder flick, but it's not THAT bad. It is a little predictable, still it was fun to watch in a humorous way. As an huge fan of Charlie Schlatter, it was great to see his early work and to see how he has grown as an actor. I give the movie as a whole a "C," but if you watch it for a laugh, or to see Schlatter, it could easily rate a "B+."

This is one of the most unconvincing, most terribly directed movies I've watched in a long time. It's so unprofessionally done, it's almost like a student movie. The story has some potential, I admit it's not the most predictable plot line, and some actors are quite good in their roles (Walken & Schlatter have some good chemistry), but scenes which are supposed to be scary are so badly done they come across as hilarious. Some scenes are so out of place and so unconvincing you find yourself thinking it's going to be a dream scene and the character will wake up, but no, it's for real. Then you just can't believe it. Background music is terrible. Character motivation is dubious. Many people's actions simply don't make any sense. It's basically C-production.

This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen... and i was in it! Most of it was filmed on the campus at Oklahoma State University, where i was attending college at the time. I'm in a few scenes, which for me personally, was the only cool thing about the movie. I'm one of the students that runs up and finds the burning body on campus, and I'm in a couple of other scenes.

It does have a decent entrance by Walken... very Walkenesque, and entertaining. He's really one of the only things that lifts this train wreck from the complete utter depths of horrible.

Other than that it was good to get to hang out with Mr Walken briefly, and Richard Kind was very cool and hung out with us all quit a bit, and even played golf with some of us one day. Josie Bissett...well let's just say she really didn't say two words to any of us, and leave it at that.

Got a sympathy 3 from me merely because Walken and Kind were in it, and provided some cheesy, campy, wth moments. Incredibly horrible directing... so much so, the director should have played it off as 'I meant for it to have this surreal sucking, b movie thriller quality. huh, huh.. i meant to do that.' Yeah right.

Christopher Walken: what was he doing in this movie? What was he saying? The only thing this movie succeeded in, besides making me lose faith in Anson "Potsie" Williams filmmaking career, was making me feel sleazy. Everybody in this movie looked too cleancut to be involved with all that sex and I don't think there was a "Blue Velvet" double meaning of looking beneath the surface either.

Another movie with Christopher "There's a clause in my contract that says I have to be in at least one scene of every movie" Walken where he wastes his talent.

All-American Murder is a pretty pathetic movie, especially the ridiculous ending. I would compare it to 'Blue City,' the Alley Sheedy/Judd Nelson "thriller" about some fast talking cocky kid who wants to avenge his father's death. But, he never stops with his cocky, mouthing off, even in the face of a mafia and corrupt government officials. And his adversaries only react with stupid, empty threats. Where's the action? Where's the suspense?

Like it was in 'Blue City', the main character (Schlatter) and many of those around him react too unbelievably, given the situation they're in, making it one laughable, ridiculous movie.

The story centers on Schlatter, who plays a similar fast-talking, cocky kid, but a well-meaning one. A student a college, he tries to sweet talk one of the sorority girls into going out with him. But, unfortunately, he should've just settled for 'no,' because when he shows up one night, she bombs out of the building and burns to death. And since he was the only one around, he must be the culprit. Well, surely a misunderstanding such as this calls for ample chase scenes, as Schlatter tries to prove his innocence, especially with a cold cop breathing down his neck and giving him a deadline, basically, before he hauls him into jail, his patience wearing thin.

But, neither the killer's identity, nor the motives, nor the finale, are all that interesting, and the end is just plain stupid. At least if the rest of the movie were just simply mediocre (it is actually worse than that), than a strong ending might've saved it. But it didn't. Not at all.

I can see why Schlatter was in this movie. This is basically his schtick--the happy-go-lucky charming guy who tries to get the girl (see 18 Again!), and he's good at it, except this kind of story doesn't call for that kind of character throughout the whole movie. Everybody seems to be too passive in situations that require emergency, making the whole thing seem pretty stupid. Schlatter's good nature humor may've worked if there was anything really going on in the story. But there isn't. And of course, just because Christopher Walken is in a movie, doesn't make it a good movie. Here, he is a good actor in a bad movie.

If it's thrillers you're in the mood for, even cheap ones, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.

"All American Murder" is a fairly pleasant diversion in case you're looking for a light-headed horror/thriller and keep your expectations to an absolute minimum. I honestly don't see the point of harshly criticizing this modest little straight-to-video flick, since the makers themselves clearly never intended to deliver a groundbreaking masterpiece. The film has a good pacing, fresh faces, a couple of inventive murder sequences and – most importantly – another straight- faced performance from the tremendously awesome Christopher Walken who's still way cooler than any other major actor even if the script is inferior. Also, with a little bit of goodwill and imagination, you could state that "All American Murder" is some sort of tribute to the Italian Giallo of the late 60's and 70's. Most of the Giallo-essentials are well represented: luscious babes in peril, red herrings and far-fetched plot twists, sleazy supportive characters, black gloves and a grotesque denouement. Thanks to daddy's influence, the rebellious teenager Artie Logan is accepted at the respectable Fairfield campus for his absolute last chance at a proper education. He meets the impeccably perfect all- American girl Tally and really intends to make an effort, but then the poor girl is brutally killed when someone sets her entire body on fire. Due to his past and questionable reputation, Artie naturally becomes prime suspect #1, but the witty and seasoned police detective PJ Decker somewhat believes in his innocence and gives him 24 hours to prove it. During his search for the real culprit, Artie quickly discovers that behind Fairfield's prestigious reputation lies a network of perversion, blackmail and corruption. The first half hour of "All American Murder" can only be described as … very, very WRONG! Wrong 90's music, wrong teenage & adult stereotypes (the dominant father and his rebel son? Please!), wrong depiction of college differentiation and extremely wrong attempts at dry humor (Walken's hostage negotiation). The film gets better and even fairly compelling after that, with various murders and interesting enough plot twists. Some of the initial defaults remain throughout the movie, however. For some reason all characters, including the insignificant supportive ones, also insist on narrating jokes and anecdotes that are completely irrelevant to the plot. The acts of violence and sex also remain too brief and decent, but that's probably linked to the fact this is a low-budgeted video production. And Walken is too cool, period!

Starts out promising. Decent character development, and Walken's presence helps, but logic flies out the window early on and never returns. The two cops who believe Artie did it are extremely annoying. Pretty soon the predictable plot spins out of control with bodies piling up for no other reason than to twist the story and shamelessly manipulate the viewer. The ending will leave you with an empty feeling like you have been cheated. Nevertheless, like a pending train wreck, it is difficult to look away. I watched it to the end, but have seen many superior twist and turn exploitation movies. In summary, watchable but very average. - MERK