Hell Fest, 2018.
Directed by Gregory Plotkin.
Starring Amy Forsyth, Cynthea Mercado, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Tony Todd, Christian James, Roby Attal, and Reign Edwards.
SYNOPSIS:
A group of teenagers are stalked through a horror-themed carnival by a masked silent killer.
Take a look at the synopsis above and have a think about how many movies that same (or extremely similar) plot applies to – quite a few if you really try. Hell Fest doesn’t really deviate from the standard slasher template or bring anything new to the table but what it does do is dress its story up with a neon-drenched Halloween festival vibe that looks back further than Scream for its inspiration and, thankfully, doesn’t feel the need to batter us over the head with so-called genre ‘rules’ which, if nothing else, makes it quite refreshing.
Refreshing for what is essentially an old school slasher anyway, and lord knows there are plenty of those doing the rounds as the fetishism of the ‘80s continues unabated, but the set design of Hell Fest is almost a character within the movie, glowing green, red and pink as smoke swirls and lights flash, allowing jump scares and creating distractions as our Scooby Gang of teenagers wander around the Hell Fest carnival, a touring haunted house show where the masked workers interact with the punters as they walk about. However, on this particular night one masked individual who doesn’t work at the show has entered the park with the intention to kill, which he does right in front of Natalie (Amy Forsyth – A Christmas Horror Story) who at first thinks it is part of the show but as the evening goes on and the killer – credited as The Other – keeps appearing it soon becomes obvious that he has taken a liking to Natalie and her friends, and begins to pick them off.
Simple as that and, in the nicest possible way, Hell Fest is a simple horror movie. The carnival setting is something that has been done numerous times, and one cannot help but compare the film to Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse with a dash of Rob Zombie’s psychedelic funfair aesthetic in there for good measure, but what the movie does better than most is give us a group of teenage characters (not sure about the age of the actors, if truth be told, as some of them look a lot older but still…) that we actually give more than two hoots about. Natalie is obviously set up not to be the first to go and Amy Forsyth gives a very measured performance as the one of the group to have bettered herself against her best friend Brooke (Reign Edwards – The Bold and the Beautiful) and the antagonistic but fun Taylor (Bex Taylor-Klaus – Scream: The TV Series), which gives us a believable dynamic between the three women. The male characters don’t fare quite so well and are a bit more forgettable but Natalie does forge a sweet relationship with Gavin (Roby Attal – Red 11) and their scenes together add a lot more heart to Hell Fest than what we would normally get from the disposable teens shoved into these retro-slashers as fodder.
If Hell Fest is missing something then it is a big centrepiece to make the best use of those gorgeous visuals. The kills that we get are well executed and quite brutal but you can’t help feeling the filmmakers could have pushed it a little further when it came to the editing and let some of the gore shots linger a little longer. Nevertheless, we do get eyes being stabbed and a beating to the head with a huge mallet which serve as kill highlights, and also a brief appearance from Tony Todd (Candyman) channelling his Reverend Zombie character from Hatchet and playing the carnival barker. It really is the briefest of appearances, although his voice is heard over speakers throughout the film, and maybe the film could have done with him being involved in the plot in some way, just to add a bit of weight, but it is always a pleasure to see him show up in these roles and his presence is felt despite not being on-screen very much.
Overall, Hell Fest is a hugely enjoyable slasher with decent characters, an unnerving atmosphere that uses jump scares to its advantage, a few gruesome kills and some of the most gorgeous sets and lighting you will see in a movie of this style. The pacing is a little off in places, with most of the kills crammed into the last 25 minutes after a saggy mid-section, and the solid performances overcome some of the flaws in the writing, which tends to feel like ‘teenage dialogue by committee’ at times, but otherwise Hell Fest uses what it has very well and could well become a future Halloween night treat, perfect to get party goers in the right mood for some spooky fun.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
