Exclusive: Donald Sutherland is on trial in new trailer for American Hangman

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

In a society where everything is judged on social media – including our own self-worth – it doesn’t seem too farfetched that people would flock to the internet to judge and determine the fate of a man’s literal survival. In the new movie AMERICAN HANGMAN cinema vet Donald Sutherland plays a judge who is taken prisoner and forced to defend himself in a makeshift criminal trial superseded by a madman (Vincent Kartheiser, MAD MEN) looking for revenge. Broadcast onto the internet, the world gets to decide if he lives or dies. We here at JoBlo have the exclusive trailer debut for the movie, which is set to premiere in select theaters and on VOD January 4, 2019.

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Written and directed by Wilson Coneybeare, the movie plays on the reality of social media users acting as judge, jury and even executioner when it comes to determining a person's guilt or innocence regarding anything they're caught doing. We see this happen (looking at you, Twitter) any time someone's past is brought up, whether it be something negative they said or did, only for everyone else to swarm and bicker. It's an interesting concept to turn into a hostage thriller, and both Sutherland and Kartheiser are talented enough to give the story some heft. 

Here’s the plot synopsis:

American Hangman is a thriller built around a relentlessly ticking clock and a rapidly approaching deadline and verdict. A kidnapping, broadcast live on social media, turns into the trial of a judge who presided over a botched criminal case. This time, however, the audience gets to play judge and jury, deciding if the judge himself gets to live or die.

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AMERICAN HANGMAN is in theaters and on VOD January 4, 2019.