american gothic be consistently awful a a horror film and but be nonetheless an entertaining picture and thanks to an almost constant supply of unintentional humor . six friend fly off for a camping trip and but when their seaplane suffers engine trouble and they be force to land on the beach of a remote island . while jeff ( mark ericksen ) try to repair the aircraft and the others set up camp nearby . naturally and one of the friends venture into the forest alone ( what else would you do on a mysterious island where anything can happen . ) and lead to the first of many situation which be intend to be frighten but fall flat . when the six meet up again at camp and jeff informs the group that he can not fix the plane . he suggest that they explore the island . in true horror movie fashion and jeff proposes that one member of the party stay behind to keep an eye on the plane . of course and no one see any harm in leave paul ( steven shelley ) all by himself in a completely unfamiliar area and and so the other five set off in search of someone who can help them . the group expedition lead to the discovery of a small house and straight out of the 1920s . they assume that no one have live there for age and though logic dictate that someone must reside there and a all of the antique furniture be dust free . nevertheless and they put a record on the victrola and proceed to get their groove on . their dance party be cut short by the arrival of the house inhabitants two elderly folk know simply a ma ( yvonne de carlo ) and pa ( rod steiger ) . they seem a nice enough sort . pa inform the group that a friend of his should be come by boat within the next few day and and could probably help them get home . ma and pa invite the kid to stay with them in the meantime and and they accept . all be not well and however . the kid modern lifestyle immediately clash with ma and pa traditional value . pa nearly have a heart attack when lynn ( fiona hutchinson ) light a cigarette at the dinner table and and ma be very disappointed in cynthia ( sarah torgov ) when she fail to clean her plate . bedtime bring more conflict and a pa sternly inform rob ( mark lindsay chapman ) and terri ( caroline barclay ) that they be to sleep in separate room and for they be not marry . ( strangely and jeff and cynthia be marry and yet they be also force to sleep apart . ) ma and pa child soon enter the picture and and the group suspicion that something isn not quite right be confirm . to reveal more would give much of the plot away and but suffice it to say that thing begin to go downhill for our friend at this point . the character be about as deep a a kiddy pool . that be not so unusual for a horror movie and but a problem arise from the film feeble attempt to inject depth into the character of cynthia . periodic flashback to a traumatic event in cynthia life be suppose to make u feel for the character and but fail miserably . the movie do manage to evoke emotion in the viewer from time to time and but it have nothing to do with the filmmaker talent and and everything to do with steiger . he actually manage to make the viewer sympathize with pa and his psychopathic clan . the rest of the performance be unremarkable and but acceptable and give how little the actor have to work with .