Review of The Amusement Park (2021) by Thequietgamer — 28 Oct 2021

A feature-length PSA on elderly abuse from the guy who gave us the Night of the Living Dead series. Shot with a dreamlike quality, the film puts a nightmarish spin on what should have been one aging man's otherwise pleasant day out by subjecting him to the horrors of the myriad number of ways society fails those who have gotten on up in the years, all staged against the backdrop of cotton candy and rollercoasters. No matter how surreal the events get given the setting, they can't escape the harsh reality that this what our senior citizens experience every day. An element that allows the movie to still retain a sense of relevance and poignance even after having spent so much time drifting in the void.

It's hard to believe that the work of such a prominent director was left sitting fully completed on a shelf for upwards of 40 years. Yet, the story is that the Lutheran church who commissioned George "Godfather of the Dead" Romero to make the project ended up being so horrified by its content they quickly decided against ever showing it to anyone. I question though if they were legitimately concerned about the picture's violence given how tame it is compared to some of its creator's prior releases, such as The Crazies or his widely controversial for the period directorial debut, or were instead more afraid of the potential blowback they could have received given the blunt, matter-of-fact manner it shined light on some uncomfortable truths of the era.

Whatever the case, a print of The Amusement Park was discovered far after its attempted burial at a film festival in Italy and has since undergone restoration in 4K before ultimately finding a home on the streaming service Shudder for all (with a subscription) to see. Let me tell you, it's genuinely worth seeking out as it stands as one of the late Romero's greatest. The creative, clever method in which it tackles its subject matter has allowed it to remain fresh feeling and original in a way his efforts with zombies just can't anymore due to how much they've been copied. It also packs the same socially conscious vibes that helped define his career and made works like Monkey Shines so special, while adding in an extra layer of humanitarianism that almost counteracts his usual pessimism. The sole flaw being that given the budget and date of original creation, it can be a bit flat and dull in some spots. All in all though, we're truly lucky that this has finally been made available for we, the masses.