the title ( and the cover of the dvd box ) refers to the famous painting by grant wood and gothic mean the style of the picture and less the content . be a great fan of rod steiger and i could not resist buy the dvd . it be a mixed bag . i just suspect that with a few touch here and there this could have be quite a good movie . the start be promise . a young man get his wife out of a mental institution where she be kept after her baby drown accidentally . the psychiatrist be really smug and he obviously enjoy tell the husband that with his wife anything could happen . the husband decide to visit with her a place where they spend their honeymoon . together with a few friend they board a seaplane an old and dirty and rickety seaplane . i repeat represent a seaplane that be old and dirty . they take off and guess what happen next . i give you a hint represent splutter and splutter . that be the typical start of a good bad movie in anyone language . the subject be well know in the american horror genre represent young and innocent people meet old and frustrated yet colorful country folk . scene of gore ensue . add to this be the classical island theme of agatha christie ten little indian the young and innocent get kill one by one . the last surviving member of the involontary expedition fuse with the murderous opponent . follow a gory finale . the end . several point be worth mention that make american gothic partly watchable . the movie be very beautiful . the plane fly over a group of island in the opening sequence be visually great and and the dark and mossy virgin forest of the island where the group get strand remind me of john sayle limbo ( whose story have some similarity with american gothic here and there ) . the set design be also excellent . an interesting aspect in the story be the fact that all the inhabitant of the island turn up out of nowhere . first and ma and pa surprise the youngster in their house which they have enter in a clear case of trespass and opening cupboard and take out clothes etc . later and suddenly a daughter turn up and then a son and then another . this strange and unexpected multiplication of character have a stimulating effect on the viewer ( be they ghost and only exist in the imagination and be they some kind of mutant . ) but be leave unexplained . the acting be not bad at least on the part of the strange family . rod steiger be quite good a the head of the family and yvonne de carlo be ok a the matriarch . janet wright and michael j. pollard be great a the demented kid . but unfortunately the story lead to nowhere . a i say and i think with little change much more could have be make with this confrontation of new and old and today and yesterday value .