Welcome one and all to part 16 of my weekly blog series, The 52 In 52. The premise is simple, every week I watch and review a film in my collection of DVDs and Blu Rays that I have never watched. Last week I reviewed the fun filled, zombie musical Anna And The Apocalypse.
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This week I am writing about the newly released Hell Fest. Directed Gregory Plotkin (Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension) Hell Fest follows a group of friends lead by Natalie as they venture into a horror amusement park where a masked killer is stalking victims for his own amusement. Natalie and her friends face a night that surpasses any horror they have ever experienced.
In an age of horror that is all jump scares and expanded universes Hell Fest is a refreshing change of pace. If you strip out modern technology Hell Fest could have easily been made at the start of the millennium. The slasher film seems to be having a little bit of a revival in recent years with Scream the TV series as well as Slasher and American Horror Story and Hell Fest is at it's heart a slasher that finds a great balance of horror and humour without excessive gore.
The story is a little lacking in background but, I enjoyed not really knowing too much about the characters as it allowed me to be in the moment and not think about possible motives for the killer. I also enjoyed the lack of back story for the killer. I feel that sometimes the pace of a film like Hell Fest can slow right down with flashbacks and plot points that establish the motive when sometimes the best characters are the ones that have no reason other than they can.
I felt that some of the characters were a little grating at first, obnoxious and over the top but, as the film progressed I warmed to them a little more especially Taylor (Bex Taylor-Klaus) who is irritating and a bit of a horror cliche to begin with but, dials it down to great results. It is Natalie (Amy Forsyth) and Brooke (Reign Edwards) who are the stand outs in this film, finding a great balance of the vulnerability and strength of a traditional scream queen.
The effects were well done through out. There tends to be an excessive use of fake blood and wound make up in these types of films but, the gore and effects were used sparingly and in a way that was realistic. The mask design of the killer was genuinely creepy and well designed.
I felt the dialogue, especially between Natalie and Gavin was very natural and felt improvised in parts which made there budding romance a lot more believable.
The score was pretty typical of a slasher film, a lot of heavy strings and dramatic breaks which I enjoyed over the over used loud quiet jump scare scoring of modern horror.
Overall Hell Fest is a great modern twist on the classic slasher. Whilst the story is a little sparse at times it fits with the pace of the film. The forced banter and initial annoying character work in the beginning makes way for some decent story telling.
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