The American Scream, presented by Chiller, is a documentary that focuses on three different men and their families who live in Fairhaven, Ma. These men are part of a growing population of “Home Haunters”. Home haunters are people who, at Halloween, decorate their homes in a scary fashion. The three focused on take it 4 or 5 steps further by creating haunted attractions in their backyard, home and garages. Each one takes the home haunt very serious. One man, who grew up a Branch Davidian, is trying to recapture a lost youth. The second man is trying to build a legacy. and the last, a father and son team, enjoy the holiday but are also Shriner clowns. Each participant has their own level of obsession, I use the word obsession because this seems to go beyond doing it for fun or as a hobby. The levels of anxiety that is created as the haunted holiday approaches is shown in how the participants interact with their families and friends.
The first haunter is a married man with two children. One child is very into the haunt and the other, and wife, not so much. The wife seemed to understand the husbands need for his activity but seemed almost apologetic for his actions. There was a lot of footage of her speaking, and her husband working but not the two together. His angle on the haunt was an attention to detail and getting everything perfect.
The second was a city worker who used the haunt to have fun and to be able to interact with the community. He did seem to have the most fun and enjoyment from the haunting creations. He did take the haunt serious but was not necessarily concerned with exact details but wanted a certain look and feel. He stated he was trying to build a legacy to be remembered by.
The third team was an odd pair of a father and son. I am not sure either had a full time job. There was mention of the father being an engineer, but the son seemed to be off a little bit (I am not a doctor but if I had to guess it would be some kind of autism or asperger’s). The two were clowns with the Shriner’s and have a talent for entertaining. The two were both a little off but appeared to be a great team. The son was very into the home haunt and the father was not into the haunt but was into helping his son anyway he could.
The American Scream is a heartfelt look into the three groups of home haunters. The show did speak about the haunts but the story was about the participants and the different reasons for the activity and the interactions they have with others. In the end all of the haunts seemed to be packed with people having a good time being scared. In the dark the haunts appeared the same.
I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary. I could see this as a series or at least a yearly program. My hopes would be that they would change locations and not focus on the same three haunters.
What are you watching?
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