Spookers

Would certainly have been good if it won the Berlinale because I can see it having a good affect on Germans but I think it will work its magic now on however it needs to. There's something special going on in New Zealand. An imaginative and thought provoking film about mental health and scaring. Australasia's largest scare park 'Spookers', is housed in an ex-psychiatric hospital and run by an eccentric farming family. Spookers has become a magnet for talented misfits who scare people for a living.

During the first part of the doco I thought of the potential harm from people getting together and allowing themselves to do freaky things like how cults can breed accumulative contagious collective hysteria. But then throughout the doco I learned that this was not the case with these particular horror performers because they get together and share their fears and dark secrets in a place where their is love (acceptance and trust). They have let the light shine in to bring an awareness, as this film has done.

The walls of Spookers are like the relics of the Berlin Wall which serve to remind us of our progression from basically a prison institution to an educational institution. From a torture chamber to a therapy practice. How can that be disrespectful? It used to be a place of many sick people which was created and put there by sick people, and now it is a place of healing and a humorous celebration of positive change. There's a very similar place in Vienna which is well worth documenting called the Arena which used to be a huge slaughter house and now a place for music + culture. They have big acts there. Was Leonard Cohen's favorite place in Europe.

The director has a talent of making people feel comfortable to strip off in front of the camera...was incredible how brave and honest they all were. They were all so comfortable to be so naked and raw. "My husband looks past my faults and see's me for who I really am". That scene best summed up my Spookers experience. How my initial scared goose bumps were then rubbed away with a funny love lotion. There were so many moments that made my heart smile. Not what I expected from 'a horror.'

Sebastian

I watched this off hand this morning. I'm injured so not much else I can do with my days at the moment.

I sat there expecting, well I dont know what I expected to be honest but what I got was nothing that I would have prepared myself for.

I thought I'd watch a film about a scare attraction, what I was drawn into was a film about a massive, very close knit family who work for a scare attraction.

I had more attachment and interest in the people in this film than any film I've ever watched. I laughed, I really laughed, I cried, (I'm not normally a cry person at films) I genuinely wanted to meet and spend time with these people.

The history of the business was great, the history of the location and those who both served and were held there was gripping.

This is a film about peoples hopes, dreams, their troubles, strengths and weaknesses.

I wholeheartedly recommend this film.

A documentary movie about New Zealand family running a successful scare park in Rangitikei, in a large originally abandoned psychiatric hospital.

The former hospital housed more than 800 patients, and this history is now used as round material for a spooky place with lots of fun as well. Being open to people this is quite a unique place with lot of fun scares.

We get to meet the"inhabitants" which lay a lot of work in their scare park, either they are madmen, spooks, zombies or mad serial killers. They even use this acting as therapy.

A good watch about an interesting establishment.