American Satan (2017)

A young rock band, half of its members from England and half from the U.S., drops out of college and moves to the Sunset Strip to chase their dreams.

Director:

Ash Avildsen

Writers:

Ash Avildsen, Matty Beckerman

Stars:

Andy Biersack, Booboo Stewart, Ben Bruce

11 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andy Biersack	...	Johnny Faust
Booboo Stewart	...	Vic Lakota
Ben Bruce	...	Leo Donovan
John Bradley	...	Ricky Rollins
Jesse Sullivan	...	Lily Mayflower
Sebastian Gregory	...	Dylan James
Mark Boone Junior	...	Elias
Denise Richards	...	Kat Faust
Malcolm McDowell	...	Mr. Capricorn
Bill Goldberg	...	Hawk
Olivia Culpo	...	Gretchen
Bill Duke	...	Gabriel
Drake Bell	...	Damien
Ramesh Pandey	...	Gurudev (as Ramesh Pandy)
Lily Berlina	...	The Virgin

Storyline

A young rock band, half from England and half from the US, drop out of college and move to the Sunset Strip to chase their dreams. Living in a van, their passion and talent exceed their means to survive. An enigmatic stranger sees their true potential and emotionally manipulates them during a time of weakness. Caught in the middle of a Faustian deal, their music and controversial altercations end up influencing society beyond anything this century has seen, but can they take back control of their destiny before it's too late?

---

Plot Keywords:

rock 'n' roll | satanic cult | deal with the devil | sex club | price of fame | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Music | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, drug use throughout, pervasive language, and some violence.

Did You Know?

Trivia

The album cover seen at Mr. Capricorn's favorite table in the Rainbow Bar and Grill is Rising, by the band Rainbow, released in 1976. The artwork of a fist gripping a rainbow was done by Ken Kelly, best known for designing album covers for the band KISS. It is widely reported that the band got the name Rainbow from the iconic Hollywood landmark featured prominently in this film. As of 2017, the only surviving members of the band that played on this record are guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (formerly of Deep Purple) and keyboardist Tony Carey; the late Ronnie James Dio and Jimmy Bain are actually buried not far away at the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills cemetery. The other member of the band, Cozy Powell, died in a car crash in 1998.

---

Goofs

When boarding the bus to LA from Columbus, OH, mountains can be seen in the background. There are no mountains in or near central Ohio.

---

Quotes

Ricky Rollins: Okay, okay, fine. So, what else do you do?
Hawk: Shit hits the fan, I'm the fan.
Ricky Rollins: Oh, good.

---

Crazy Credits

The opening and closing credits include quotes from musicians, including Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, and Neil Young, about the Devil and the occult, and their place in rock and roll and their lives.

---

Connections

Spin-off Paradise City

---

Soundtracks

I Got Bones
Written and performed by Danny Worsnop
Courtesy Of Earache Records, Danny Worsnop appears Courtesy Of Sumerian Records

User Reviews

Not what I hoped for...

I have been looking forward to this movie since I saw the IMDb page and watched the trailer. I was hoping that it would be THE movie for fans of metalcore. But it wasn't just my overly high hopes for this movie that made me incredibly disappointed. I am usually very good at seeing the good parts of bad movies, as in, "Well, the acting wasn't very good, but the story was great!" While parts of this movie were alright, maybe even good at parts, not one aspect of this film was good all the way through.

Writing: 3/10 The basic story of American Satan might have been good if it was handled better. However, the script, if indeed there was a script, was awful, and many, many times it was hard to tell if the bad product on screen was because of bad writing or bad acting. The production quality didn't turn out to be good enough to convincingly carry the scope of the film, which could have been better handled if the writer/director knew his own limitations.

Directing: 4/10 When I saw the movie, I didn't know that the writer/director, Ash Avildsen, is the CEO and founder of Sumerian Record, the label that produces Asking Alexandria, (a great band, for the record). If I had known this I might have had a slight inclination that this movie was made with no better prospects than to reel in Andy Biersack fangirls, and metalcore fans, myself included, and not delivered with passion for or love for the music, or even quality movies. What was caught on camera and put on screen, at times, was so chaotic and incoherent, as my friend and I were watching the movie, at a pivotal part of the film, my friend looked over at me and asked, "Wait, what happened?" and I had to explain what I was pretty sure had happened but was not clearly shown. Also, what the trailers showed of the band playing in the movie looked great and I was really looking forward to it, however what was shown in the movie looked like it was ripped straight from a concert tape of your average rock band. I couldn't get into it, even as a huge fan of the kind of music they play. All in all, it just wasn't good, and I believe the person most at fault for this entire catastrophe is the writer and director himself.

Acting: 5/10 The acting in this movie is very spotty. Sometimes it seems like the newcomers to acting and stars of the movie, Andy Biersack and Ben Bruce are doing very well with their acting debut, and other times its painful to watch. This goes for the experienced actors of the film to, finger pointed straight at Malcolm McDowell. But, as said before, it's often hard to tell if the poor product on screen is the fault of an actor doing their job poorly, or if the script they were given was just god-awful.

Overall: 4.5/10 There's not a lot to like here unless you're a die-hard Andy Biersack, Black Veil Brides fangirl, or boy, and consider everything he touches to be descended straight from heaven. Anyone who considers himself a fan of quality films, or at least have one thing, one good aspect of a movie to praise after devoting almost two hours to it, should probably go look somewhere else.

Details

Official Sites:

film website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

American Satan

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$135,378, 15 October 2017

Gross USA:

$237,708

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$237,708

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sumerian Films, Jeff Rice Films, Intrinsic Value Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1