FrightWorld

As low budget indies go, you will usually find that you get what you pay for, and let me just say, I didn't pay much for "Frightworld"...

Writer / Director: David R. Williams brings us the story of an abandoned amusement park, besieged by the vengeful spirit of a slain serial killer. Not a bad premise, but executed with a bevy of low budget mistakes. The camera work tries to be too cleaver for it's audience, by constantly using shaky quick-cuts to cover the fact that they really have nothing gory or scary to show us. This becomes evident right off the bat, as we are introduced to the would-be killer, and soon realize that the (acting) is the scariest thing happening... After a painfully long title sequence we are brought back to modern times, yet the acting remains the same. "Frightworld" does generate some rather unique cinematography when showing scenery from inside the fun-house, but with an extremely long running time, it can't save the film from it's below average indie hell.

There is some mediocre nudity, but not much for gore, which is usually the saving grace for these types of movies.

Fans of really bad B-Movies might find something of interest here, otherwise, don't spend a lot of cash.

Very bad. Very, very bad. As a fellow who aspires to make, be in or - at least - sniff the catering table at a movie set, I find it hard to criticize independents who actually got a movie of any sort made. However, this movie ... oh dear.

Realizing Frightworld doesn't aspire to anything more than crude exploitation (an honorable thing in itself) and to try to make it conform to more mainstream standards is a mistake. And to be fair, it is more entertaining than - say - Red Zone Cuba ... but not by much. So I won't try to critique, just let me ask throw out some observations.

1) If gore is the point of the movie, shouldn't you be able to see it?

2) If you have hire three sound men make sure at least one knows how to operate the equipment.

3) In a horror movie your lead maniac must be scarier than a smurf doll. Difficult I know but really...

4) There is a lot of talented videographers in the Buffalo/Rochester area, most you can hire really cheap. Get one who knows how to frame a scene.

5) Just because you have someone who knows how to use After Effects and other cool programs doesn't mean he should do so every two seconds.

6) Kudos for getting the girls to take off their tops but next time, get girls who's tops we want to see taken off.

7) Editing should help tell the story or set a mood. At the least in this sort of movie editing should sell the gore gags. A chainsaw suddenly appearing in a characters stomach is not scary, it's sloppy.

Some good things. Not all the acting was bad. Jack was pretty good and I liked Acid once she started fighting back. There was some neat imagery, unfortunately it was thrown up on the screen without rhyme or reason. "Acid Poptart" is a name that deserves a better movie. I like the moxie of Frightworld too. Next time, now that they have a movie of sorts under their belts, I hope all involve aspire to something better than Colman Francis. Upgrade at least Ed Wood.

This is a valiant effort that falls flat. The film is about 30 minutes too long as the pacing is horrible and the dialogue goes on FOREVER! The acting is about what you would expect for a Brain Damage film with a less than $10,000 budget. Not Bill Zebub bad, but nothing good either. The sound, oh my goodness, the sound... well I don't have much to say about the sound, since I couldn't actually hear the majority of the movie. The director obviously doesn't know that if you can only afford to pay one person, pay the sound person the majority of the movie the dialogue sounds distant and echos. When music is playing at the same time as the dialogue, the music is much louder than the dialogue, making it nearly impossible to hear! The lighting leaves a lot to be desired, mostly it's just red light. The gore is actually quite good for the budget.

The movie is really just a 100+ minute commercial for the Frightworld Screampark with splashes of gore, sex scenes, and girls wearing nothing but thongs.

This is certainly not the worst movie I've ever seen, but far from the best

Let me start by saying, if you have epilepsy, classic migraines or live in an apartment with thin walls and rules on noise, just pass this one by. Too many flashing lights and quick scene changes. Also, the dialogue is muddy and low and the music will blast you out of your chair. (Or off the couch. Or whatever.) The acting is ok, but everyone is wasted here. It takes nearly an hour to get going. While I liked the use of contrast, it made some scenes so dark it was hard to see what was going on. This movie looks and feels like it's trying to reclaim the downtown art scene of the 1980s. It doesn't do a good job. They should have done straight up horror. Take the advice of the one song that plays at the end. "STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY!"

With the exception of the sound none of the above are really criticisms for this type of no budget, (truly) independent horror film. Make up effects and gore are very good and the lead actor was effective, the lead actress although attractive needs some coaching as she was particularly poor.

The major problem with Frightworld is it's length, at 108 minutes its half an hour too long to be effective as a slasher movie, plot wise only about ten minute of the first fifty are relevant.

In places it is visually engaging and sometimes the lack of lighting works in the films favour. However when this is combined with the poor sound as is the case with most of the film large sections are difficult to watch.

This could certainly be an entertaining if unoriginal "serial killer back from the dead" movie with some judicious and ruthless editing, in its current form it plays like an unfinished rough cut.