One of the delights of subscribing to various streaming services is the plethora of indie/low budget films that make up their catalogs and being able to find new filmmakers you haven't heard of before. Yeah, there is a lot of chaff mixed in with the wheat, but sometimes you find a film that is okay. Such is the case with "Scare Zone". Never heard of Jon Binkowski, but I was much impressed with this little flick. While no one in their right mind would view this and think it was a masterpiece, it does its job admirably. While the topic (a killer running amuck in a Halloween walk-through scare attraction) is hardly new, Binkowski does an above average job. People expecting a "so bad it's good" experience will walk away disappointed; all the technical glitches just simply aren't here or aren't here to the degree that takes away attention from the movie. The actors are, for the most part, competent professionals; this goes a long way towards making them sympathetic. The few that aren't up to speed generally have few lines or get offed early on. Characterization and exposition are present and put to use here, primarily in the budding friendship/romance between Daryl and Claire, but also in the details of various other characters, such as Summer's desire to elope and marry her boyfriend to get out of her parents' house, Spider's in-passing reveal to another character that he's on parole, the nail-accident guy's desire to live at home as long as he can (complete with a childhood bedroom he apparently has no desire to change), etc. The scare attraction itself looks surprisingly good; the budget must have adequate to cover this, or maybe the whole thing was filmed at a real attraction. The end reveal of the killer is a little hackneyed and stretches credibility, but hey, you can't win 'em all. On the whole, "Scare Zone" is a well-made film with good actors and a script that has no right to be as good as it is. I look forward to seeing other efforts by Mr. Jon Binkowski.
