Hell Fest

Pro - -> Liked the premise in a theme/scare park -> The villain has a frightening presence, great mask -> Filled with action from the beginning

Con - -> Didn't care about any of the characters/potential victims -> Very little clarity about the killer and his motivations -> Was too predictable

I think it is worth a watch for horror fans, better as a rental than seeing it in the cinema.

The eponymous Hell Fest setting is certainly the most impressive part of this film. We are treated to a number of fascinating backdrops, costumes, and effects as our characters travel the seemingly massive horror park. Some of the kills are done quite impressively with practical effects. Finally, the villain has a very nice understated design, and their "reveal" or lack there of I quite liked.

Unfortunately, there's quite a few parts that left me and other viewers frustrated. We have usual cliches of our victims acting painfully stupid. We have oddities such as when the park begins to evacuate, they don't think to turn on any of the lights or shut down the rides.

Very close to a great Halloween flick, but a few eye rolling cliches really hold it back.

First let me start off, the set design and costumes were amazing. Some of the horror mazes in Hell Fest were extremely creepy. Unfortunately, the plot is a typical generic slasher movie, full of cliches. Nothing really original about this movie. I found two of the characters to be obnoxious and I was waiting for them to be dispatched by the killer. This is the kind of movie where you just turn off your brain and just go with it.

Honestly enjoyable. The premise isn't wholly unique, and eventually you just want the killer to hurry up and start piling up the bodies, but it was fun watching the main characters go through the theme park and at many time you may feel that you're actually going through a haunted house/maze as well.

But the movie is almost exclusively just jump scares, with little tense or suspenseful moments, and towards the end it falls into the pitfalls/tropes of the genre (he killed our friends so let's just give him a quick tap on the head and keep on running!) You can't help but shake your head and reminisce about the first Scary Movie while watching this.

Overall, it did surpass expectations and was entertaining.

When I saw the trailer it immediately reminded me of a throwback to the 70s 80s slasher films of before with a new age twist and my impressions were correct.

The story revolves around a group friends attending a huge event called hellfest on Halloween. A serial killer who has killed before at hellfest returns and targets them slowly stalking and killing his way towards his prey.

Its not super original but again its more of a simplistic throwback like Halloween (1978)

By far the best actor in the movie is Bex Taylor Klaus she carries this movie with her energy and solid acting chops. Tony Todd is reliable as always. I thought Christian James did a good job as well. The cast has some qwerky dialogue which is a nice touch helps the characters feel more realistic but they re under developed and more simple like again in friday the 13th or halloween.

The film starts a bit rough after the intro but gets its bearings and becomes stronger as it intensifies and by the end its on point. The color palette is very Argentoesque and the environment is great. While it does have pop up scares its expected with the haunted rides and houses.

The very end of the film is ok. It should have stopped 2 mins before it did and it would ve been better but I understand what they were going for.

While other critics may crap on this movie like Chris Stuckmann did I think its misplaced or they came in with expectations that were far too high for this horror film. Im a huge film buff and horror fan and I think overall this film knew what it was and didnt try to be anything different.

Its a solid film and for those expecting a fun ride enjoy hellfest. For those expecting a citizen kane or exorcist level horror film probably skip this one