American Zoo (2026) Tribeca 2026

A look at the now closed and once legendary Catskill Game Farm  which was operated by the Lindermann  family from 1933 until 2006. It was place where people could get up close to the animals. It was also a place where there were odd experiments being attempted to bring back extinct animals and stuff.

AMERICAN ZOO was high on my must see list for this year's Tribeca. When I finally saw it I was rather disappointed since the film was less interested in the history of the zoo, then in the questionable science that was being done by the man running the zoo who was named Heck and he came out of Germany in the 1930's. This wasn't what was promised in the write up. 

The problem is that the experiments are kind of the least interesting part of the story. I was more interested in the running of the farm more since the experiements were only part of the story of the zoo. Additionally other than connecting to Nazi Germany they weren't as ominous as we are lead to believe. I mean nothing bad was really ever said about the place. interesting up to a point but are not as ominous as the write up for the film suggests.

Is the film bad? No,  but it's nt as compelling as it thinks it is.

(The grounds are currently open to tourists and is being turned into a resort with themes tied to the game farm)