Director: Mickey Keating
Writer: Mickey Keating (Screenplay)
Starring: Ashley Bell, Pat Healy, James Landry Hebert, Michael Villar, Bob Bancroft, Larry Fessenden
Plot: Part crime caper gone awry, part survival horror film, this 1970s set thriller depicts a harrowing fight for survival after a pair of wannabe crooks botch a bank heist and flee into the desert, where they inexplicably stumble upon Carnage Park, a remote stretch of wilderness occupied by a psychotic ex-military sniper.
Tagline – Out here, God don’t pick no favorites
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Basic Cat-n-Mouse
Story: Carnage Park starts as two criminals Scorpion Joe Clay (Hebert) and Lenny (Villar) are fleeing from a bank robbery when they find themselves on the land of Wyatt Moss (Healy), Wyatt has been waiting for more victims of his twisted sniper gangs in his open desert land, using the men as his latest, along with their kidnap victim Vivian (Bell).
What follows is an extra cat-n-mouse battle between the sniper and the victims, who will show the survival skills to make it out alive.
Thoughts on Carnage Park
Characters – Vivian is the innocent victim, first about to lose her land, then abducted and then forced to play along with a psychotic sniper’s game, she must use her knowledge of the land to try and outwit the killer, knowing it is life or death, putting up the fight he requires. Wyatt is the psychotic sniper that traps people on his land to play his games, where he looks to hunt them down for his own blood sport pleasure. Scorpion Joe Clay and Lenny are the two criminals on the run, they have always looked for quick scores and this has given them their chance for quick money.
Performances – Ashley Bell is strong in the leading role, she shows the determination required for the role, which does she her needing to balance someone who wants to stay alive with somebody who has been fighting her whole life. Pat Healy does a great job too, though it would have been nice to see more of his character or introduce us to him later. The rest of the cast don’t have much to do, but don’t do anything wrong.
Story – The story here follows a woman that finds herself thrown into a twisted game of cat-n-mouse with a sniper in the desert, that has been waiting for more victims on his killing spree. This does feel like it should be an intense story to watch, the story does seem simply enough, though it does miss a lot of positive points, with time jumps and losing the idea of everything being about a sniper, very early, it turns more into a ground chase, rather than trying to allude a sniper, which does seem to be how the story is advertised.
Action/Horror – The action in the film does follow the chase sequence between the sniper wanting to use military action happening, while this could have been a lot more horrific, it does seem to hold back at times.
Settings – The film does use the desert location to help create the area in which the sniper hunts, it makes complete sense that he would use his own environment to his advantage.
Special Effects – The effects do get to see blood splatter on the screen for bullet wounds, only we do a couple of these for shock value, rather than to create anything more in the world.
Scene of the Movie – From hostage to victim.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t get enough sniper side of the world.
Final Thoughts – This is an easy to watch action horror that does show us just how the world could be unfolding, only to give up on the sniper angle too early on.
Overall: Easy to watch.
