Review: SCREAM PARK

Title: SCREAM PARK

Year: 2012

Director: Cary Hill

Writer: Cary Hill

Starring: Wendy Wygant, Steve Rudzinski, Doug Bradley

Have you ever gotten on a roller coaster with really high hopes? Then you get on and it starts really slow because it's making that crawl to the top? You keep telling yourself it's ok because once it reaches the peak there's going to be a really crazy drop. Turns out the drop isn't much of a drop and instead of having a quick ride full of loops and spins you just end up with a few banked turns but nothing to really make you throw your hands up and scream. 

This sort of describes how I felt about SCREAM PARK, the debut film from writer/director Cary Hill. The first 25 minutes or so are really slow and bumpy, almost like a wooden coaster. Eventually things pick up and we have a little fun but not enough to make the wait in line worth it. It's a real shame too because Hill has a good plot and some fun things to work with.

Frightland is a struggling amusement park. Ticket sales are down and so are the profits. In an attempt to save the park the park's owner, played by Doug Bradley in a nice cameo, decide to hire a couple of guys to kill off the park's staff. The idea of course is that people will be so intrigued to see where these murders took place that business will soon be booming.

Cool. I buy this plot. To make matters better, the film has actually takes place in a pretty cool amusement park. There's even a pretty solid score that is at times reminiscent of Carpenter. Unfortunately, that's were the good stuff ends.

The acting is bad. Really bad.  I can overlook this typically, there's plenty of 80's slasher with bad acting that I love, but the film has to give me something more. I don't think a single performance stood out as good.

The cool amusement park? Mostly wasted. A few cool moments with a roller coaster but not much else. Would've loved to seen this great setting used more.

The effects were all practical which was nice but none are particularly good. Nothing stood out. I admire the filmmakers going the practical route, it was all basically a little blood here and there.

SCREAM PARK had the right blueprint but lacked in execution. If you're looking for a new thrill ride to give you a little excitement, this is one ticket I sadly cannot recommend you buying.

Rating: 2/5

SCREAM PARK will be available from Wild Eye Releasing on DVD and VOD April 22nd.

Pre-order your copy today: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HHYGGBE/ref=redir_mdp_mobile