Hell Fest **

 Piggybacking off of my review from last year: Hell Fest *

I watched this the first time on one of the Showtime channels, but I was watching a podcast on YouTube mentioning that the Blu Ray for Hell Fest (2018) only cost $5.00. I thought that was more than reasonable since this would probably be a Halloween season favorite I planned to eventually add to my library anyway. As cheap as the Blu was, I thought it was a steal considering how incredible it pops off the screen. I have yet to truly experience this film's amusement park aesthetic in all its eyepopping glory yet due to not purchasing an effective enough television. I hope to eventually because "Hell Fest" deserves to be seen in the proper format. I know that many complained about how Amy Forsyth, the lead star of "Hell Fest", was totally dissed when trailers/marketing for "We Summon the Darkness" (2019) were released to the public. I can see why those who loved her in "Hell Fest" would be a little pissed. Granted, Alexandra Daddario is in the film--with Forsyth one of three women supposed to kill some guys they pick up in dedication to Johnny Knoxville's religion--so marketing focused on her. Still, eventually some posters for the film got it right and actually featured Forsyth on the cover. When you watch "Hell Fest", Forsyth clearly has lots of star power and the film actually does right by her. She's smart (like when she noticed the laser triggers in the Hell ride and keeps her head as her friend (Reign Edwards) begins to to lose her shit) and keeps her cool. The film really does pull back the camera to give us an understanding of just how expansive the entire location is so that we realize how easy it would be for a serial killer to have some fun and move about without detection (and emerge/surface thanks to all the hiding places available). But even though the film takes us to the end where the killer gets away and goes home to his "normal life", Forsyth did slice his leg and stab him in the stomach. So the killer has serious injuries. Forsyth, with that trick of hiding under a white mask and black coat in the ride, surprising the killer was probably my favorite "gotcha" where the final girl cleverly one ups the psychopath. Until next year, the film would have us think he might have some more fun, but he was stabbed and sliced rather seriously...those weren't just flesh wounds. It really sucks that this wasn't a big enough hit slasher flick. I do hope Plotkin doesn't have to completely retreat back to editing Paranormal Activity films...he certainly has an eye for bringing out the Halloween in October. I hope to see Forsyth's star rise, too.

• That mallet to the head, causing it to burst like a melon, is still fucking wicked on second viewing
• How vulnerable you can be in the restroom at an amusement park where employees dressed as zombies, killers, and monsters is very much exemplified in this film
• Forsyth and Roby Attal are quite cute, especially their photobooth kiss, and the score, which I thought was damned effective, really turns the vice as the killer approaches the booth to swipe their pictures
• The guillotine gimmick and how Scream the Series' Taylor-Klaus is really caught in a compromising position is quite a suspense sequence.
• Tony Todd's voice is a constant throughout the film and his appearance with the guillotine "passing sentence" had me marking out.