Diversão Macabra

AMUSEMENT tells the story of three women who are stalked by a psychopathic friend from their childhood who has a murderous sense of humor.

The movie was actually shot well, and at least in outline the story could intrigue because of its unusual structure. So there was potential here, but black hole-sized plotholes ruined the movie.

Let's forget about how a mental case released from psychiatric hospital can gather the financial resources to pull off all the outlandish things shown in the movie. Or how he can apparently carry out tasks that would take some time literally in seconds. Or how he can fall of a down a long shaft and survive without major injuries.

No, this movie takes stupid character syndrome to heights unseen, like past the event horizon of those aforementioned black plotholes.

Guy notices two people in the backseat, covered in fabric and bound up, but moving and making noises, only after he finishes his car trip? Check!

Girl has a phone on her while looking for her disappeared housemate and her lover inside a super creepy house, but never bothers to call the police? Check!

Girl manages to subdue the villain momentarily but then runs away instead of finishing him off? Check!

The movie ends with one of the cringiest voice over narrations I have ever heard, which includes this diamond: "He was a joke that crossed the line".

The garbage quality screenplay is by far the worst aspect of this movie. If you still want to watch it for the visuals, make sure to shut off your brain first.

After languishing for so long in 2008, Amusement is finally making its debut on DVD. I had high hopes for the movie after watching the trailer but it is nowhere near what I had expected it to be.

The movie can be summarized as a series of vignettes.Each vignette tells the tale of three women and their encounter with a psychotic killer, out to get them for they had done to him in the past. The plot is similar to Valentine (2001) but the movie was weighed, measured and found wanting.

For starters the editing could have been a lot better. The movie starts off with the Shelby story when it could have been much better placed when the psychiatrist questions Tabitha about Shelby. Another scene in which Lisa tries to enter the hotel and accidentally breaks a bottle, when the psycho steps out the bottle is still on the steps untouched and in one piece.

The story was not impressive at all. The whole Tabitha portion of the story of her babysitting her cousins and being attacked by the clown was very similar to Halloween (1978). The back-story which told why the psycho had such an animosity towards the girls in the first place should have been well explained.

The characters where not plausible at all. For instance, when Lisa sends her boyfriend to check on her friend at the hotel and when he doesn't come out, she doesn't call the cops, she goes in herself. I mean how stupid can you get. The movie is nothing more than a compilation of several slasher movies made in the past all jumbled up into one movie. No wonder why this movie never made it to the big screen.

If you want to watch a good horror movie rent out Halloween(1978), Psycho(1960) or The Changeling(1980)because this movie is nothing more than another futile attempt by Hollywood to create a decent, original horror movie.

This movie started off decently, then slowly after about five minutes it just goes down hill. The film has terrible acting and the characters make the most idiotic choices. The plot, which no one can even comprehend by the end of the movie, is just awful. Nothing makes sense and you will be left scratching your head. The only scary part about this movie is the clown. The clown is creepy and looks very original and cool. If they would have focused on the clown, had a more defined plot structure, and better acting...well it wouldn't have gone straight to video. The whole film is just completely ruined, and with their budget and scenery it could have actually been scary and cool. This is a complete waste of your time, so please don't spend any money on this garbage.

I wasn't amused with "Amusement".The laughable synopsis on the cover goes like that: Tabitha,Shelby and Lisa.They're longtime friends on separate life paths.But they share a horrific destination when a seemingly innocent incident from their school days comes back to terrify them.Someone wants payback:warped vengeance...mind-games vengeance...taunting,shredding,slashing vengeance.Inside a stone-walled chamber of prison cells and mechanisms of doom,the three women and other victims face a fierce fight to survive."Amusement" is terrible.With dumb plot and zero scares it offers nothing even remotely interesting even for seasoned horror fan.The killer is an underdeveloped cliché with truly annoying laugh.There is only one effectively creepy scene in which the emerging female lead is confronted with a room stuffed with dolls and clowns.The violence is tame so gorehounds and slasher fans will be disappointed.4 out of 10.

I get that this was released more than 10 years ago and maybe the actresses were not "big" back then, but in 2019 Katheryn Winnick is a pretty well known name and Jessica Lucas altough less known has grown a fanbase for her portrayal of Tabatha in Gotham.

I was interested to see a slasher flick with these ladies. So thats why i chose this movie in my 2019 Halloween program. Turn out the movie is really not good, i am being generous with a 4 to be honest. First its one of those movies with "substories", as you follow one character for a while then another, it can work at times but in this movie i think it didn't and it could had been better presented. The gore/violence is also pretty low. Some things are just not explained and make little sense.

If you want a better indy slasher flick with creepy environements in an unsettling fashion, give a look at Terrifier.