Every now and then, a film comes along that you can’t believe exists, but are absolutely glad that it does. The Amusement Park is the kind of film, with a story that seems too bizarre to be real, and if not for the collective efforts of dedicated film preservationists, nobody might have ever seen it. The film was originally made in 1973 by a Lutheran organization which wanted to make an educational film on the subject of elder abuse and ageism. It was to be a feature-length PSA to be shown in community centers, churches, and anywhere else there would likely be an audience who would take the film’s message to heart. To direct the project, the group picked a work-for-hire filmmaker who had completed his first feature a few years earlier.
The debut feature in question was Night of the Living Dead, and the director's name was George A. Romero.
After a few days, the film was completed and screened for the organization, which rejected the film and shelved it. Apparently, Romero went a tad too far with the film’s theme. According to a taped discussion played after the screening I attended, Romero moved on and, given the project’s nature as an educational film, never thought much of it. Now, a few years after his death, The Amusement Park has finally been rescued and restored from battered, faded prints to be released beyond its initial intentions, as a theatrical and streaming release. Yes, folks. This isn’t just any long-lost film by one of horror’s great directors. Take a seat, turn off the lights, and get ready to take notes and think about what you’ve learned afterwards, because George A. Romero made an educational scare film.
At the outset of The Amusement Park, an elderly man (Lincoln Maazel) enters an all-white room where a bandaged, bloodied elderly man looking exactly like him is seated. The other man seems in no mood to talk, get up, or do anything for that matter. The first old man decides to go outside. His injured doppelganger says that there’s nothing out there for him, but the man doesn’t listen. The old man finds himself at an amusement park and decides to have himself a fun day at the fair. At first, things are exciting, but the more he explores the park, the more he realizes he is descending into a hellish nightmare from which there is no escape.
Make no mistake, this really is a full-on educational PSA. It begins with Maazel introducing the film as himself, discussing the kinds of issues we should be thinking about during the movie. The amusement park includes a roller-coaster where the requirements include not just health but basic income (and that the riders must not fear the unknown). Pony rides are described on a sign as public transportation. A traffic cop harasses a senior at the bumper cars.
It’s almost kind of amusing thinking about what would’ve happened had this film been released, and how its intended audience would’ve reacted to it.
Here’s the thing about The Amusement Park: I actually found it terrifying to watch.
The film is frantically edited, and mainly shot in handheld wide-angle lenses, resulting in a work that’s fittingly disorienting and unnerving. Yet, the scariest thing about The Amusement Park is honestly the educational elements. Romero isn’t out to sugarcoat the issues at hand here. This is an extremely effective piece.
Since the film is only 52 minutes, I don’t want to give too much away in terms of the film’s set pieces. Perhaps the most memorable segment involves a young couple going into a fortune teller’s booth to see their future. They want to know what life will be like when they grow old together. The fortune teller’s condition is that they must watch the crystal ball’s prediction all the way through. Oh, they’re together all right. The young woman sees herself in a decrepit apartment with an uncaring landlord, trying desperately to get help for her increasingly unresponsive husband. Her plight is rendered with garishly wide-angle point of view shots. I felt a tinge of dread every time the woman went up the stairs, for the landlord didn’t seem to mind the fact they were in disrepair.
The most remarkable aspect of The Amusement Park is that, while it uses a lot of anxiety-inducing visuals, the horror is real. The pre-taped discussion afterwards said that many of the issues at play in the film still haven’t been resolved.
The best horror, in my opinion, gets past the speculative, grotesque, and supernatural, and plays to the things that truly terrify the audience. This was truly one of the most surprising cinematic experiences I’ve had in recent memory, and it’s a must-see for fans of horror or weird cinema in general. In true educational film fashion, Maazel closes the film with a lecture telling the audience to think about what they have just watched in relation to their own lives, because at the end of the day, we all get old eventually. “I’ll see you at the park...someday,” he says. You know that gimmick horror films have where they tell you to keep reminding yourself, “It’s only a movie?” Well, in this case, it isn’t, because literally nobody is safe from the horrors of real life, otherwise known as The Amusement Park.
The Amusement Park will be available to stream on Shudder starting in June.
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