Tony Todd Welcomes You To HELL FEST
Without fail, every time I go to a Halloween maze or attraction, I start wondering if one of the masked characters who jump out at me and my fellow punters is an actual killer who snuck in - might we see a murder and think it was just part of the show? That's the concept behind Hell Fest, a slasher film (!!!) from Lions Gate and CBS Films that will be hitting theaters at the end of September, a few weeks before that OTHER masked slasher movie comes along - good timing, fellas. The trailer just hit, let's take a look, shall we?
Straight up: I think this looks great. The mask is creepy but simple, and I like that our guy is fond of just standing around instead of constantly thrashing and running around like an asshole. Also, everything's happening when the park is still open, which I love. I've seen other funhouse/fun park driven slashers: The Funhouse, Dark Ride, etc. and they all take place after hours, stretching logic to find ways to keep our body count victims stuck in the park while also drastically reducing the potential for carnage. This gets around that (I love the "I can't arrest people for doing their job" line), which will add a bit of excitement to the proceedings, presumably. And it seems they will make use of those things that make sparks when the "killers" scrape them across the ground, which freak me the hell out for some reason.
Also, I love that Tony Todd is in it! Final Destination fans will recall that he did not actually appear in the series' amusement park entry (the 3rd one), only providing a voice for the roller coaster instead of showing up as Bludworth, so this kind of makes up for it, and I hope the role amounts to more than a cameo. Bex Taylor-Klaus from the Scream TV series is also on board to lend it some slasher pedigree, and director Gregory Plotkin was the editor on Happy Death Day, so the man knows something about how to make an effective slasher movie. Unless the trailer is showing off all the good stuff, I suspect I'll have a lot of fun with this one - my wish is coming true!
