Scare Zone

One of the delights of subscribing to various streaming services is the plethora of indie/low budget films that make up their catalogs and being able to find new filmmakers you haven't heard of before. Yeah, there is a lot of chaff mixed in with the wheat, but sometimes you find a film that is okay. Such is the case with "Scare Zone". Never heard of Jon Binkowski, but I was much impressed with this little flick. While no one in their right mind would view this and think it was a masterpiece, it does its job admirably. While the topic (a killer running amuck in a Halloween walk-through scare attraction) is hardly new, Binkowski does an above average job. People expecting a "so bad it's good" experience will walk away disappointed; all the technical glitches just simply aren't here or aren't here to the degree that takes away attention from the movie. The actors are, for the most part, competent professionals; this goes a long way towards making them sympathetic. The few that aren't up to speed generally have few lines or get offed early on. Characterization and exposition are present and put to use here, primarily in the budding friendship/romance between Daryl and Claire, but also in the details of various other characters, such as Summer's desire to elope and marry her boyfriend to get out of her parents' house, Spider's in-passing reveal to another character that he's on parole, the nail-accident guy's desire to live at home as long as he can (complete with a childhood bedroom he apparently has no desire to change), etc. The scare attraction itself looks surprisingly good; the budget must have adequate to cover this, or maybe the whole thing was filmed at a real attraction. The end reveal of the killer is a little hackneyed and stretches credibility, but hey, you can't win 'em all. On the whole, "Scare Zone" is a well-made film with good actors and a script that has no right to be as good as it is. I look forward to seeing other efforts by Mr. Jon Binkowski.

Running a special haunted carnival attraction, a group of workers prepares for the annual Halloween crowds by setting up and running a successful show, but as they continue on they realize that the staff disappearing one by one is the cause of a deranged stalker targeting one of the group.

This was a decent enough if somewhat flawed genre effort. One of the more likable features here is the general setup that gets to show the group preparing the celebrations with the behind-the-scenes setup of the operation. With the detailed run-down showing off how they're going through the various stages of production for one of these attractions, from the costuming to prop-work and the role-play within the rooms, this part of the film works incredibly well to get things going. That it plays off just as nicely with the going performing for the enthusiastic, sold-out crowds that make the preparations come off as completely worthwhile. This all manages to give the stalking scenes within the attraction a greater shock than expected. With the killer striking unexpectedly as the victims are far more unimpressed and distracted believing everything to be part of the attraction, that they're allowed to get close enough to strike where they can providing some fun sequences including the couple that's killed in front of unfazed patrons, the massacre of the disgruntled patrons who got kicked out earlier in the night after they break-in and the rampage through the staff that takes place with some rather impressive and brutal kill scenes. Taking place with the final confrontation in the bowels of the facility and offering up enough twists and turns in the story to be worthwhile, there's enough to like about this one. There isn't much to bring this down but it does have some minor issues. The biggest detriment here is the films' rather unbelievable and unrealistic means of waiting several days to carry out the various murders. The fact that they go missing as they do without much notice or even care towards finding them, especially the one killed in front of the crowd which meant witnesses to the ordeal actually happened in front of others. Not realizing the deaths and disappearances is a rather confusing take on this kind of setup, which goes along with the idea of the relationship that develops throughout the film. This is also rather unrealistic and doesn't really develop into anything all that memorable beyond offering an energy-draining diversion to a cemetery that eats up the running time more than anything. These factors are what brings it down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.

How do you take a film seriosly that starts off looking like they're filming on the set of Seseme Street then looking like a Halloween episode from an early 90s version of Days of Our Lives? You dont... lol

The film looks really bad, like the actual film it's shot on. I'm doubting it's digital. It mightve worked on made-for-tv midday movies, but the horror and swearing here just make this attempt at horror cringeworthy bad and laughable. Then there is the score.... lol, seems way out of place, like it belongs in a John Hughes comedy.

Nothing positive can be said about any part of this film. Avoid it.

Do you like clichés? Oh boy, has this movie got them!

From the "fun" montage of characters acting wacky while some generic wuss rock song plays, to the typical horror movie non-ending, this one has it all!

Don't worry, no one who made this movie put any thought into it, ideas are hard! I'll give it this...it was shot well enough and the actors were fine. But man, what audience is there for this junk anymore? It seems like the only people making slashers are out of touch old dudes making something they liked as a kid, but a worse version of it. At least I saw it for free on Youtube.

I found this on Tubi and I thought, oh it's probably a cheapie with bad acting and worse effects. Boy was I wrong. This movie is great, it has sly tongue-in-cheek humour and some real scares. The cast is likable and the effects are very good. I found myself really enjoying it. It's always a nice surprise to get a better than average movie on a site like Tubi. Not That I am knocking Tubi, it's great but there are a lot of really cheap movies on there. Scare Zone is better than many of these.