Director: Gregory Plotkin
Writer: Seth M Sherwood, Blair Butler, Akela Cooper (Screenplay) William Penick, Christopher Sey, Stephen Susco (Story)
Starring: Cynthea Mercado, Stephen Conroy, Amy Forsyth, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Reign Edwards, Christian James, Matt Mercuio, Roby Attal, Tony Todd
Plot: 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.
Tagline – Fun Getting In. Hell Getting Out.
Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Amusement Horror 101
Story: Hell Fest starts when Natalie (Forsyth) returns home for Halloween to see her best friend Brooke (Edwards) and Taylor (Taylor-Klaus) which sees them going to a travelling horror show known as Hell Fest. When the girls are joined by their partners and in Natalie’s case love interest Gavin (Attal) they prepare for a drink filled horror experience, looking for the scariest parts to enjoy.
The night takes a terrorising turn when the girls become the latest targets of the masked serial killer known as The Other (Conroy) that has been using the festival to count up the body count.
Thoughts on Hell Fest
Characters – Natalie is the college student that has returned home for Halloween and to see the guy she has a crush on, she is the most reluctant to be a wild party animal and spends most of the film wondering where Gavin is. Brooke is the best friend and the one that will push Natalie into the night out. Taylor isn’t one of the closest old friends of Natalie, in fact they don’t get on that well, she is made out to be the sluttier of the three. The three are not made to be interesting in anyway and the less we say about the boyfriends and love interests the better. The Other is the masked man running around the park looking for his latest victims.
Performances – When it comes to the performances it is hard to see any positives or negatives, mostly because the characters are written so blandly, it gives the performers nothing to work with, it would be fair to say the girls do have strong chemistry, though we don’t feel the tension that is meant to be there between Natalie and Taylor.
Story – The story follows six generic teenage/young adults that go to a horror amusement park for Halloween only to find themselves being hunted down by a serial killer using the event as a cover for his actions. The problems with the story start up early, first it is the complete lack of character development, whom have no personalities, the fact they fall into the idea that young people just want drinks to have fun and that people get scared at these horror amusements, I guess this could just be an American thing which Halloween seems to be the primary market for. The one interesting part of the film comes in the final scene even if certain part of it doesn’t make sense.
Horror – The horror in the film does get lost because we have people acting like they are part of the park and actors which do mean that the events of the horror are often false scares, when we get any real moments it does involve slasher ideas.
Settings – The film is set in one location, a horror amusement park, one where people can be whoever they want and act along with the horror.
Special Effects – When it comes to the effects, not much goes wrong here, we have strong wound injuries, including an eye moment which is one that can make you look away.
Scene of the Movie – The final shot of the film.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Do they really have dryers that high up in toilets?
Final Thoughts – This is a horror film that has zero character development, too many fake scares even if they fit the settings and becomes a largely forgettable slasher film.
Overall: Basic Slasher.
