Hell Fest

The synopsis for 'Hell Fest' is one of the best I've read in a long time. "A masked serial killer turns a horror-themed amusement park into his own personal playground, terrorizing a group of friends while the rest of the patrons believe that it is all part of the show." If that doesn't sound like a fun horror movie to you then I don't know what will. Sadly though, the actual film can't live up to the expectations. The actual product is a rather dull, "seen it all before", snoozefest if I'm perfectly honest.

The entire film takes place in a horror amusement park where characters jump out at people constantly. At first this is mildly amusing, however very quickly it becomes tedious and annoying. It is simply an easy cop-out for the director to find a jump-scare every couple of minutes. None of which are in any way effective. Then there's the actual masked killer. He really didn't do a lot for me. The mask wasn't that intimidating and I didn't like any of the characters enough to care about their fate.

What could have a been a claustrophobic, clever and original horror movie turned out to be quite the opposite on all three fronts sadly. You won't find anything in 'Hell Fest' you haven't seen a thousand times before. It's not an unwatchable movie by any means. It tries its best from start to finish, but it just never really finds its niche. Look elsewhere for a better horror film.

I felt like this film should have came out in October but close enough I guess. I actually really liked the trailer for this. Amusement park themed horrors have a lot of potential. They don't happen that often but they can be so much fun. Look at The Funhouse, that's a solid horror film. Anyways, I wanted to satisfy the horror itch with this slasher. Overall, its not the greatest thing ever but it was a fun flick. It shows off the horror themed park very well and has enough action to keep it afloat for an hour an a half.

The film is about a group of friends who get VIP tickets to a traveling amusement park named Hell Fest. The horror theme park has levels of madness where the scares increase if the visitor dares to go there. Unbeknownst to the group a deranged masked killer sneaks into the park and starts stalking the group namely the lead character, Natalie. Its hard for the group to decipher what is real and what isn't as everything in the park is filled with scares and attacks.

I thought the visuals of the park were nice. You feel like you are actually vicariously living through the park and the scares. There are bright lights, creative monsters, and rides, its all very atmospheric. The character's are terrible. Some are underdeveloped and others are just super annoying. You root for the killer in all honesty. The film has a lot of cheap expected scares and at times skimps on the gore. I was okay with that because slasher's of the past sometimes feel that way.

This is not going to be a super memorable slasher film but I do appreciate the theme of the film and was satisfied enough with the end product. The Hell Fest slasher killer doesn't exactly have a great presence and he falls into regular horror killer tropes but I was entertained with this mindless flick. Its what was needed. A decent enough intro into this upcoming month of horror.

6.5/10

Pro - -> Liked the premise in a theme/scare park -> The villain has a frightening presence, great mask -> Filled with action from the beginning

Con - -> Didn't care about any of the characters/potential victims -> Very little clarity about the killer and his motivations -> Was too predictable

I think it is worth a watch for horror fans, better as a rental than seeing it in the cinema.

Honestly enjoyable. The premise isn't wholly unique, and eventually you just want the killer to hurry up and start piling up the bodies, but it was fun watching the main characters go through the theme park and at many time you may feel that you're actually going through a haunted house/maze as well.

But the movie is almost exclusively just jump scares, with little tense or suspenseful moments, and towards the end it falls into the pitfalls/tropes of the genre (he killed our friends so let's just give him a quick tap on the head and keep on running!) You can't help but shake your head and reminisce about the first Scary Movie while watching this.

Overall, it did surpass expectations and was entertaining.

This movie was entertaining enough for what it is... a slasher flick. I'm not sure slasher type movies would ever earn 10 stars because there's usually not much acting, just a lot of screaming and running. LOL.

HellFest was a good flick to see in the theater. The misleads were fun, the graphics and style reminded me of 80's horror. You don't expect to see an Academy Award winning movie, you expect to have fun. And this was a fun ride.

I would recommend seeing this movie if you like campy, fun, slasher-horror movies. Not sure why it would only get 1-2 stars,...you saw the trailer and knew what to expect for the most part.