During President Donald Trump’s inaugural address he made a speech pledging an end to what he termed as American Carnage; a reference to guiding the United States out of a crumbling society, ravaged by crime and a broken economic system. This is directly referenced in the opening credits of the film and the impetus to draw the narrative from.

In this dystopian world Director Diego Hallivis and his writing partner Julio Hallivis, craft a tale where an American Governor leverages this viewpoint to issue an executive order to arrest the children of undocumented immigrants. The plan is about serving the wider American public and have these youths sent to provide care to the elderly, but unbeknownst to them, there is a darker plot at play that involves an ageing process, and cannibalism. 

There are a number of clicks that the youths go through before the really unsettling stuff starts to happen, essentially a lot of exposition to go from deeper levels of disturbing and vile human behaviour. 

The central plotline is told from the perspective of JP (Jorge Lendeborg Jr), a wise-cracking teen who is happy to drift through life with a care-free attitude. That is until his sister announced that she has been accepted into a University far from home town. Now, he can no longer rely upon her to help him out of scrapes. He must step up and prove his worth, menial stuff that gets real when the Government busts down their house during a house raid and deports them to the detention centre. 

It is here that he is then escorted with other “immigrants” including Big Mac (Allen Maldonado) and Camilla (Jenny Ortega in what would be another horror feature for her following Scream (2022), X, Studio 666, and The Babysitter: Killer Queen, surely marking her as this generations scream queen). Whilst at the elderly facility, they soon learn the true intent of the horrors that await them.

The Prognosis:

There is plenty of promise behind American Carnage to draw from some real life horrors. The issues arise from its delivery with a lot of weight behind a worthy subject. With such a convoluted storyline, it takes an age to get to the true horror as it unfolds. Ironic considering the outcome of our protagonists, by which time we’ve lost connection with the storyline and the care factor

• Saul Muerte

American Carnage is currently available via Defiant Screen Entertainment across home entertainment outlets* listed below:

DIGITAL PLATFORMS – Apple TV App, Foxtel Store, Fetch,
Google TV, Prime Video, Telstra TV Box Office, YouTube Movies
DISC RETAILERS – JB Hi-Fi, Sanity, Big W, Amazon.com.au

*Title availability may vary.