Scream Park

Scream Park: Written and directed by Cary Hill

Oh Scream Park. I feel a little bad for you. It's clear from this viewing experience that you tried. You wanted to have an old school slasher movie that had all the necessary elements and worked. You wanted it so badly right from the pit of your very core. It was a mission statement that you simply could not reach.

This was a rough sit. It lacked some filmmaking 101 bits. The color kept changing scene to scene. It was distracting. The light outside kept changing. One minute it was dead of night, the next it was early morning and then it was day for night. This happened during several of the same scenes. Was no one paying attention on set or during the editing process? I found it very difficult to pay attention to the story.

I also had a hard time figuring out what time period this is in. They have a punk rocker character in the film straight out of the early 80s who has a muscle car and a tape playing boom box. No one has cell phones and everything looks so old. I think they were trying to go for an 80s vibe but it was fuddled in the execution.

Now they're building to a shocking twist. The problem with this twist is it is spoiled in the description for the movie. The amusement park owner hires these sick yokels to murder his employees. The movie is clearly trying to have this be shocking and blind siding you. It doesn't because you already knew about this before the movie even started. Who's job was it and how quick should they be fired?

This was just a cheap and lame hack job of a slasher flick. I know some people like to grade super low budget movies on a curve but I can't do that. I don't view this film on a different plane just because it lacked money. There are a ton of great films that were made with little money that weren't this blatant in their ability to be lame. There are also a ton of awful movies with serious cash behind them. So forget about this one. I give it an F.

I picked up this movie at Best Buy on a lark...

It was obviously made by non-Hollywood types who really love 80s horror movies.

I think they nailed just about every trope of the 80s slasher spot-on (prepare your checklist). They even had an awesome cameo by Doug Bradley in there! (how did they score that?!?!)

The production values are definitely not top notch and the acting ran from non-existent to totally over-the-top. But that's what made this movie fun!

Have some beers, bring your film-school friends and have fun imagining that it was you and your friends making a movie in really scary-looking run-down amusement park. I enjoyed the occasional glimmers of awesome amid the not-great sound (but great sound track!) and the sometimes slow pacing gave me time to make wise cracks.

Just don't sit down and seriously expect that this $9 DVD (made for $40K total according to IMDb) is the next Citizen Kane. It's just fun. :-)

Bonus fun: Do a shot every time someone asks about Blake. :-) You won't be disappointed!

This movie pays homage to horror movies from the past. Though it's not entirely sure which decade it really is looking up to (70s or 80s, which is something the trailer also mixes up when it compares it to some of the films back then). But being slithery to a point one can not pin you down to something specific, does not mean it's something bad. But if you copy something from the past, try to distill the best from it.

Budget wasn't that high I reckon (I saw 40.000 as a number somewhere, not sure if that's true), but the movie has a lot of issues. The location isn't one of them. The framing and the cinematography on the other hand combined with the lack (or absence) of acting ... That's something you feel. The effects are decent ... by 70s standards. Same tricks from back then are being used, maybe even the 60s. Not a selling point either. And the ending is rather predictable ... or if you're nice, is being pointed out throughout the whole film. And how many times can one mask be used for jump scares? Way more than one too many in this one ...

If you can believe it. This movie was filmed on a budget of $40,000 raised through kickstarter. Donations were mostly made by friends and family members in the same way you buy a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies from your friend's daughter. With kickstarter, this sense of "social guilt" was somehow thick enough to raise quite a bite of money--too bad it was all squandered.

This movie isn't worth reviewing. The other IMDb review, although overwhelmingly negative, was much too long and almost gives the film legitimacy. It makes the mistake of giving this hastily put together "film school thing" credit as a film.

It's not a movie; it barely has a plot, the acting is terrible, it's not scary, it's not gory, the special effects are almost nonexistent, the sound and lighting are not even intentionally managed, and there is no cinematography. Most of all, and to summarize, there's simply no point. Cary wasted 40,000 dollars on...something? I can't tell where it went.

An old amusement park in western Pennsylvania is shutting down soon, so several of the employees decide to have an after-hours party. Unfortunately they start getting slain one by one, but who's doing it and why? Will anyone survive to see the morrow?

"Scream Park" is a micro-budget slasher that debuted for a special screening on Halloween, 2012, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, with a 'world release' in Pittsburgh on January 6, 2013. The singer of Skinny Puppy, Nivek Ogre (aka Kevin Graham Ogilvie), has a pretty significant role while Doug Bradley, who played Pinhead in nine "Hellraiser" films, has a minor part.

It was the debut work of writer/director Cary Hill who got his training from the University of Pennsylvania, which is where the Doug Bradley cameo was shot. The movie was otherwise filmed at the old Conneaut Lake Park in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Despite the low-budget vibe with some questionable sound here and there, the movie honors slasher traditions established in the early 80's craze, starting with "Friday the 13th" (1980). The no-name actors do a fine job and the story pulled me in. The score and soundtrack are also decent.

Wendy Wygant is likable as the main protagonist and Steve Rudzinski does well as the young, somewhat nerdy manager of the doomed park. Winsome petite blonde Alicia Marie Marcucci stands out as Allison on the feminine front and the director doesn't fail to tastefully highlight her beauty. Nicole Beattie is also notable as the glum Goth chick, Missi. Another actress has a top nude scene, but I found her more scary than alluring, although I'm sure she's a wonderful person and I give her credit for her chutzpah (just a heads up).

The film runs 1 hour, 24 minutes.

GRADE: B-/C+