It's been almost four years since horror director George Romero died, but, suitably, he's found a way to scare his audience one last time from beyond the grave. He's known for his iconic zombie films that mesh violence and social commentary, and this resurfaced film still honors that legacy, just minus the flesh-eating monsters.
The Amusement Park had been stored away for forty-eight years now and has finally made its debut this week on the horror streaming site Shudder. The short film centers around a frightening day at an amusement park for a senior citizen and was originally a commissioned project for the Lutheran Society. It was intended to shed enlightenment on ageism and society's negative treatment of the elderly. Romero did his job so well that the Lutheran Society decided it was too disturbing to show to an audience and the movie was then shelved and forgotten.
The film stars Lincoln Maazel, who also acted in Romero's 1977 vampire movie Martin. Maazel plays a senior citizen experiencing and witnessing agist discrimination as well as hallucinations while he wanders through an amusement park. Various scenes of senior citizens experiencing mistreatment and judgment play out and they are intercut with bizarre and disturbing imagery, including a walking death figure. Romero's signature ability to make an audience feel the same growing panic as his characters can be felt throughout the fifty-three-minute film.
The Amusement Park may have continued to exist in obscurity had a 16 mm print not been found in 2017, shortly before Romero died. The film was then shown at the Torino Film Festival as part of a tribute to the director after his passing. It wasn't until his widow, Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, launched the George A. Romero nonprofit foundation that the film was restored as the foundation's first project.
Romero first came to fame after he directed Night of the Living Dead, which found fame over time and is known for having influenced and changed the zombie movie genre forever. It's also known for being iconically violent, horrifying, and gory. His later popular works include The Crazies, Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow, and Day of the Dead.
Though it doesn't feature any of the zombies that made Romero a household name, fans will still notice his tried and true filming tactics in The Amusement Park. It features handheld camera shots, powerful music overlays that heighten at the right moments, and a sense of gritty dread around every corner. It's a chance for fans to have one last look at the director's work within the context of critiquing an important subject that is still relevant today.
The Amusement Park is now streaming on Shudder.
Source: Den of Geek