A_Different_Drummer Review of American Gothic

American Gothic (1995–1998)

Last of the Subtle Horror Shows ... and that's a serious pity

[9/10 · 19 November 2013]

This show was great. Really great. This was Gary Cole's best performance in his career. No disrespect to Gary, but nothing ahead is likely to match the subtlety and grace and sheer raw menace of his character here. It was also Lucas Black's best role, but for different reasons. In this show, Black literally delivers dialogue with facial expression. Not a figure of speech. He actually does it. Problem is, he was a "child star" here and when the series was deep-sixed he had to try to reboot his career first as a teenager (and now an adult) and so far the results are not especially promising. He deserved better. Ditto for Brenda Blake. Playing the major vamp in the show, she was able to walk across a gymnasium floor in heels, and get more pizazz from that simple move than most current actresses can get from an entire scene. But the real crime is the way evil in this show was suggested not demonstrated. To this reviewer the real horror is that a show like this could manage only one year whereas a show like American Horror Story, which leaves so little to the imagination, just keeps on going. I am not sure what this says about the world we live in. But that scares me more than any show could possibly manage.