Shudder
When a horror fan hears that there’s a long lost George A. Romero film being restored, and that said restored film has been picked up by the Shudder streaming outlet, the place for all things horror, one would get pretty damned excited to see this film that falls between The Crazies (1973) and Martin (1977) in Romero’s oeuvre. But in this case it really pays to closely read just what exactly this film is because you are bound to be sorely disappointed, maybe even having the feeling of being taken advantage of … but that’s on you for not reading the full description. The cool artwork and Romero’s name was all you needed to see.
And that leads us to the recently restored 1973 George A. Romero ‘film’ (in quotes for a reason) The Amusement Park. It’s a film in the loosest sense of the word. Yes, it was shot on film, but it’s not a feature film that would have been released in theaters as it runs just 52 minutes. It’s more like something you’d see if you were attending some kind of seminar. It’s not an instructional or industrial film because it does have a dramatic narrative structure, but it’s also obviously designed to hit you over the head with a message that getting old sucks, and the way we deal with the elderly in this country needs to be overhauled dramatically. And, sadly enough, that still holds true 46 years later, if not more so!
The Amusement Park stars Lincoln Maazel (who would go on to appear in Martin two years later) in the film’s only speaking role — and most of that is done at the beginning and end, with a lot of voice over in between. The bulk of the film was probably shot silent with the main audio added in post-production. The film opens with Maazel alone in a white room, dressed in white, but pretty beat up and distraught. Entering the room is another Maazel fit as a fiddle. He can see his other self — although he doesn’t seem to realize it’s him — is in distress but all he wants to know is what’s outside. The beat up Maazel just moans ‘nothing’ but answer is ignored and the new Maazel exits, finding himself smack dab in the middle of an old-fashioned amusement park somewhere in Pennsylvania.
As the film progresses and Maazel is ignored or treated poorly by the employees of the park, as are the rest of the elderly park attendees, it becomes clear that the park is a metaphor for American society, one that leaves our elders to fend for themselves or dumps them in a home to be taken care of — or abused — by the system. It’s all rather bleak and by the time Maazel finds his way back to the white room, he is now the beat up man we saw at the beginning … and the cycle starts again when another Maazel enters the room to ask what’s outside, not heeding any of the red flags in front of him.
Romero was actually commissioned by the Lutheran Society in Pittsburgh to create this film, but where it was shown in 1973 is unknown. The restoration is quite amazing though considering the film’s vintage and the fact that it was considered ‘lost’, so it couldn’t have been in the best condition when the restoration process began. Maazel does a fine job in what is basically a pantomime role, or that of a silent film actor but never theatrically over-the-top. There is one scene of a young couple visiting a fortune teller who basically reveals to them the shit their lives will become when they get old that does have the feel of a Romero horror, and the scene does include dialogue. For Romero completists, it is certainly something worth checking out to see how assured his directorial skills were. By avoiding a lot of dialogue and just letting Maazel impart the message through expressions and body language, we certainly understand completely what’s going on. It is humorous though to see the same group of extras walking back and forth through a shot as if they are different crowds of people. The one thing that was really jarring for me was the low angle shots that people walked through so that we could only see their lower legs and feet. Those shots made me a little dizzy, so be warned if fast motion affects you.
I’m not sure how people tuning in to Shudder will feel about this film after they sit through it, especially if they aren’t aware of what it really is and what it isn’t. Is it a horror film? It could be construed this way if you feel that getting older is going to be a nightmare. But it’s not a horror film in the sense that Romero’s feature films are. There are no zombies (well, the rambling park horde could been seen as an allegory of a zombie horde), no vampires, no crazies, no creeps, so I can see that some viewers may have feel they’ve been taken for a ride, especially after watching the very masterfully cut trailer. As for the hardcore Romero fans, it’s definitely a curiosity worth checking out. Just understand in advance what you’re in for.
The Amusement Park has a running time of 52 minutes and is not rated.
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