{"id":22840,"date":"2021-06-02T16:41:46","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T23:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=22840"},"modified":"2021-06-02T16:41:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T23:41:46","slug":"the-amusement-park-unsettles-and-disturbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=22840","title":{"rendered":"THE AMUSEMENT PARK Unsettles and Disturbs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This film will be available exclusively on Shudder on\nJune 8th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\/director George A. Romero is a legend among horror fans, having created genre classics like Night of the Living Dead<\/em>, Dawn of the Dead<\/em>, Creepshow <\/em>and Day of the Dead<\/em>, as well as many other compelling features. He passed away in 2017, but his fan base remains as strong and as passionate as ever. That\u2019s why it is remarkable that a little \u201clost\u201d title from the filmmaker has recently surfaced and is now being made available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After wowing audiences with the 1968 zombie classic Night of the Living Dead<\/em>, Romero acquired funding for more personal independent movies like There\u2019s Always Vanilla<\/em> and Season of the Witch<\/em>. While the end results were interesting, they were not profitable follow-ups. As a result, the filmmaker continued making documentaries and taking on smaller assignments at his production company. In 1973, he was given funding by the Lutheran Society to create a short detailing the trials of aging. The results were The Amusement Park<\/em>, a 52-minute tale packed with surreal and haunting imagery. In the end, the finished product disturbed its financiers, who didn\u2019t end up releasing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thankfully, a copy was discovered a few years ago and the picture\nhas now been digitally restored for posterity. While this is an educational film\nmade on a shoestring budget, it doesn\u2019t play like one of those unintentionally\nfunny yarns you might have seen in a high school classroom. This is a surprisingly\ncreative effort that is also very recognizable as an early Romero work. It\npresents a very dark and unsettling picture of the end of a life that makes a\nlasting impression and delivers its points effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie opens with lead actor Lincoln Maazel giving something\nof an explanation of what will follow and some of the ideas being presented. It\nbegins with a beaten and bruised figure sitting alone in an eerie \u201cwhite room\u201d.\nWhen the white-suited figure played by Maazel approaches to begin a\nconversation with the confused individual, the troubled person refuses to go\nout. The man in the suit then walks through a door alone into an amusement park.\nUnfortunately, this isn\u2019t a Disneyesque place, as the well-dressed figure quickly\nfinds himself mistreated and misunderstood by those around him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Instead of taking a conservative approach to the material\nand presenting actual situations that a senior endures on a daily basis, Romero\nuses the park itself to deliver the film\u2019s message. Seniors stumbling through the\ncrowd are all injured to some degree and younger attendees seem uninterested in\nthe plights of their elders. In fact, in one scene the man in the white suit is\nunjustly accused of being a pervert after conversing briefly with a youngster. And\nsignage around the park isn\u2019t really about the actual rides, instead posting high-end\nprices for important health services that most of the elders featured can\u2019t\nafford. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cleverest touch is what is done with the attractions themselves.\nWhile they may initially seem like happy backdrops, each serves as a metaphor\nfor actual problems seniors must contend with. A bumper car ride turns into an\naccident scene involving an older couple. They are treated with disdain and prejudice\nnot only by the younger man who caused the crash, but the cop reporting on it\nas well (Romero himself makes a cameo in this episode). Food stands become an\nexample of how the wealthy are doted upon, leaving the protagonist and others to\nscramble for remaining scraps of food. Medical care, or the lack thereof is\nalso addressed. As these injustices continue, we witness the initially positive\nlead being beaten down and becoming more disoriented as time passes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Each scenario is eerie, surreal and harrowing, doing an excellent\njob of depicting how the elderly are forgotten and mistreated. There\u2019s even an\ninteresting moment in which the lead tries to get assistance from members of a local\nchurch at a park booth, who decide to close for the day as he approaches and\nleave him unassisted (one wonders if this bit may have contributed to the Lutheran\ninvestors rejecting the finished product).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While the budget is limited, the park itself and the\nattraction lend production value to the proceedings. Romero has always been a\nmaster at editing and he uses quick cuts and odd angles to discombobulate viewers,\njust as the main character is. And just in case youngsters watching don\u2019t get\nthe point, one of the striking scenarios presents a young couple seeing their\nfuture from a fortune teller. The movie cleverly asserts that we should all strive\nto do more for seniors and keep their minds and lives active\u2026 not only for\ntheir benefit, but for ours as well (as we all will be in a similar situation\nin the future).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romero isn\u2019t always subtle here and the subject matter is relentlessly\ngrim and downbeat, but he uses a creative approach to this educational film\nthat ends up adding a novel element. We experience all the confusion along with\nthe protagonist, as this approach packs an unexpected emotional wallop by the\nclose. The Amusement Park<\/em> is a kaleidoscopic nightmare one can certainly\nsee how technical elements would be further developed in titles like Martin<\/em>.\nDespite the limited funding, it\u2019s clear that a skilled individual was working behind\nthe camera and the film makes its point with great style and efficiency.\n\nIt also wonderful to see a 4K restoration given\nto this forgotten feature. While there\u2019s only so much that can be done with a\n16mm image, the filmic look has been retained and the image quality is equal to\nthat seen on Arrow Video\u2019s recent releases of There\u2019s Always Vanilla<\/em> and\nSeason of the Witch<\/em>. As such, this unexpected and intriguing \u201clost\u201d effort\nfrom Romero is wholeheartedly recommended to any fan of the filmmaker and is a\ngreat addition to the Shudder streaming platform. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This film will be available exclusively on Shudder on June 8th. Writer\/director George A. Romero is a legend among horror fans, having created genre classics like Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow and Day of the Dead, as well as many other compelling features. He passed away in 2017, but his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[104,299,1282,1951,6751,6785,8181,8184,8201,9319,12434,12814,13729,16906,17045,17942,18349,19397,19753,19899],"class_list":["post-22840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-104","tag-4k","tag-amusement-park","tag-attraction","tag-eerie","tag-elderly","tag-george-a-romero","tag-george-a-romeros-the-amusement-park","tag-george-romero","tag-horror","tag-lincoln-maazel","tag-lutheran-society","tag-metaphor","tag-restoration","tag-rides","tag-seniors","tag-shudder","tag-surreal","tag-terror","tag-the-amusement-park"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}