Hellfest - Movie Review

I have never been a huge fan of the horror genre. Particularly the ones that are parodied in the Geico commercial that plays in theaters before the trailers this time of year. The trailer depicts a group of teens running from a killer. One girl ominously asks "why can't we just get into the running car?" Another teen responds "are you crazy?" Instead, they hid in a shed filled with chainsaws before relocating to the cemetery. It is a fun parody of every teen slasher ever made. The latest installment, Hellfest has the same generic qualities as the commercial, albeit it, with a subtle twist.

Natalie (Amy Forsyth) is home from college to spend Halloween with her BFF, Brooke (Reign Edwards). Brooke has a new roommate, Taylor (Bex Taylor-Klaus), who Natalie doesn't care for. Natalie is invited to a local theme park that is celebrating Halloween with a Hellfest. Rides, mazes and creepy characters that create a more adult Halloween experience. Their mutual friend, Gavin (Roby Attal) has purchased VIP tickets for the girls and their boyfriends, Asher (Matt Mercurio) and Quinn (Christian James). I should mention that Gavin also has a crush on Natalie. The teens explore the park, splitting up at times to visit different attractions. Natalie has a run-in with a masked killer, witnessing a homicide in one of the mazes. The killer stalks the teens, taking them off, one-by-one. Natalie must take matters into her own hands if she wants to leave the park alive.

Hellfest doesn't tread any new ground. Except maybe for a mild twist at the end of the film that reaches back to commentary at the beginning of the film to add an "it could happen anywhere" touch to the story. The characters were typically one-dimensional and the story fairly predictable. The film adds some contrived tongue-in-cheek killing to add a bit of "did they really just do that?" to the story. There is a carnival-level killing that almost feels like it is meant to elicit laughs. That is followed by a gruesome, extended, needle-in-the-eye killing that might just make you turn away from the screen. Overall, the story doesn't rely on too many "boo" moments, opting for building suspense and using close up shots to set up the inevitable surprise. The film meanders along, even during the arc of the story, but the pacing is fairly steady. The story also incorporates a bit of technology which almost feels obligatory in movies today.

Bex Taylor Klaus is a bit more well known than her counterparts in this film. She has done a bit of television, some shorts and some films. She has won some minor awards and has several film projects in production. We will see more of her. She has a Mary Lou Retton vibe, but with an edge. Amy Forsyth has also done a decent amount of work in television and film, minus the critical acclaim. I haven't seen anything else she has been in, but she was decent enough for my taste. Reign Edwards has received some nominations for her work on The Bold and the Beautiful, which I have never seen. I know it is a long-running soap, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. She was decent as well. The cast was okay. This is a film with strong female characters. The boyfriends seemed cast more for their role as killer-fodder. But they were decent as well. No one really stood out, but the girls were solid enough to carry a "badass chick" slasher.

The MPAA rated Hellfest with a well-deserved R Rating. The rating is for thematic elements, murder, gore and violence. There is also strong language, drinking and sexual references. The film does not have any sex, nudity, or drug use. The rating is centered on the contextual brutality of a slasher film. The film seems geared toward teen audiences. The rating is high, but the content not that bad. Just gruesome. I would suggest teen audiences or better.

Hellfest is a typical slasher. Teenagers head to a theme park for some scares and fun, only to be stalked by a killer. The teens inevitably split up, to make it easier for the killer to pick them off. The story was a bit vanilla, with a relatively unknown cast. The acting was decent, typical thriller fare. The pacing was steady, but didn't really build like some thrillers do. Instead, the film opted for a mild twist at the ending, which was foreshadowed at the beginning of the film. It is a decent film for this season, but not one I would recommend paying for. Watch it next Halloween streaming for free. 6/10.

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