Brilliant, Original, Scary. Great Acting From A Great Cast.

Rating: 7/10 (26 June 2019)

It's cool to see an original idea in the horror genre. Carnivals and old amusement parks are scary. When you are a little kid, the lights and the smells and the sounds are overwhelming and intoxicating. As a teen, they represent freedom from supervision; and since we are still kids, we ignore a lot of things that are just below the surface.
As an adult, I broke into an old amusement park from the 1930s a couple of years ago. It was daytime in the "off season". The park was closed, but it opened every year, seasonally, with no definite schedule. I went to take pictures. I checked the website and it hadn't been updated in years. So, I parked out front, sneaked through a fence, and began exploring. During the day, you notice the age and the dirt. Most people wouldn't ride the rides or eat the food if they saw what I saw. Everything looked like it had been painted over 100 times, yet it all looked like it still needed more paint. Still, there was a beauty to it - an old abandoned Merry-Go-Round kinda seems like the horses are all sleeping, finally being left to rest from 90 years of demanding children. But, as I wandered deeper, lost in my photos, I began to notice that I wasn't alone in the park. There were make-shift shanty towns of plastic tarps on clotheslines and old trailers with busted windows, hiding behind rides and buildings. Someone was living there, and I wasn't sure if they were watching me. I started to wonder... How many people were living there? Where were they right now? How long would it take me to make it back to the entrance I came in, if I had to run? I made it to a lake in the center of the park. I was way nervous at this point and had already decided to leave. As I was taking my last picture of the lake, I veered my camera over to the right. There was movement. I used a zoom lens and, across the lake, I saw a man. He was dirty, he was big, and he was watching me. When he saw me aiming my camera at him, he mounted a four-wheeler and began driving around the lake, toward me. I wasn't even ****ing around anymore. I am a grown man - in shape and strong. But, I ran. I ran fast... I got some great pictures, but I won't do that again. I was lucky.
So, yeah, Jordan Peele is right - amusement parks and carnivals are creepy. Don't wander off alone.
RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria:
Acting - 1/1;
Casting - 1/1;
Directing - 1/1;
Story - 1/1;
Writing/Screenplay - 1/1;
Total Base Score = 5
Modifiers (+ or -):
Originality: +1;
Music/Soundtrack: +1 (Brilliant use of thematic score based on pop music, along with incorporating music into the story.);
Total RealReview Rating: 7