Carnage Park

source: Carnage Park

Mickey Keating is a director worth checking out. His films aren't perfect, peppered with self-indulgent dollops of his signature flash-out-of-the-darkness sequences that often remind us that less is more. While Carnage Park ranks with his best work, there are a few scenes shot in near or total darkness that go on for too long in a misfired attempt to build suspense. When used late in his films the endings sometimes fizzle, rendering his climax a bit anti-climactic. Despite this editorial shortcoming, Keating ranks among the best young directors working today. His casting choices are superb as is his work with the actors. Ashley Bell fans will be delighted with her performance in Carnage Park which showcases her range as an actress and her girl next door sex appeal. I could name every other actor as well, suffice it to say they all give great performances. Action, make-up efx, cinematography are all topnotch. The editing is generally good, deftly handling a story that's disjointed but cohesive, the only questionable edits being the overly long dark sequences that really solely on the soundtrack to propel them. The soundtrack will either thrill you or turn you off, depending on how open you are to off- the-wall soundscapes, which include a few Vietnamese songs that are too bizarre by Western commercial standards to ignore. I loved it, but you may not. Otherwise the sound mixing and the score is excellent. If you enjoyed QT's Pulp Fiction or RZ's Devil's Rejects you'll probably dig this as well.

It's usually Regretful to Trash B-Movie Trash because if one Loves Movies it's Hard to be Hard on these Newbie Filmmakers. But...and it's a BIG BUTT... When there is Nothing Original or Compelling on screen it Wastes the Time of the Viewer and Insults those that were Willing to Watch. The most Irritating Ingredient in this Dumb Derivative is, Ironically, someone's decision to Include Audio Feedback, Air-Raid Sirens, and other Screeching Ear-Piercing Intrusions that seem to be the Filmmakers Signature Artistic Attempt to be "Different". Perhaps it's meant to Assault the Audience, but it Insults the Audience with a Torturous Template that Never Ceases in this Abomination that Never Ceases to Show how Awful this Thing is. The Audio is also Accompanied with Loud Screams from the Female Victim with Annoying Regularity. Ashley Bell seems to be Auditioning for a "Scream Queen" Centerfold. The Movie is Repetitive, Aggravating, and Awful. It's a Sepia-Toned, Flat, and Poorly Crafted Throwback. The Gore Effects are the Best Thing in this Thing, but a Few Flourishes of Morbid Makeup can't Make Up for the what's on Display. from behind the Camera and are Hardly Enough to make this Worth a Watch.

Started out as everyone else said, appearing to be a grindhouse / "tarantino-esque" movie, but ends up ( and by ends up, I mean the last 2/3rds) utterly boring, predictable, and then unresolved. It poses as a documentary in the end, with a postscript of how the killer's body was NEVER FOUND (I'm scurred now) and that's just the cherry on top of this shite sundae. I LOVED "Grindhouse", Reservoir Dogs, even the campy "Texas Chainsaw massacre". This movie couldn't decide if it was dark humor or just dark feces, and it's the latter.

I'm gonna rate it a 9. Pros: 1)Good use of gore 2)good storytelling (mostly) 3)Good character development 4)Good surprises Cons: 1)Stupid and weird at times and maybe not in a good way 2)Parts of movie seem long and pointless The movie was pretty good fun and awesome scenery and a good use of a script and story. I liked the characters and found myself enjoying it and having fun mostly but some stuff just seems unnecessary drawn out and not interesting but for the most part it is a good ride and I love independent films that can give us a good ride so for that it gets a 9. It would have gotten 10 but I felt there was a little room for it to be better. This movie probably would have done well with cutting a little more out of it. This movie is dark and gruesome. Don't watch if you can't handle some grizzly surprises. Maybe better if you can see the humor in dark films.

Old school grindhouse movies typically operate by using some sort of hook to bring the viewer in (extreme violence, sex/nudity, bizarre sights, etc). The rest of the movie is often poorly produced as the entire point of the movie is to make a movie as cheap as possible while pulling in a large audience via an appeal to their "baser desires". Modern gindhouse movies either take the idea of the grindhouse hook and ramp it up (Hobo with a Shotgun, Green Inferno, Turbo Kid) or they take the ideas and feel of grindhouse cinema and execute it more elegantly (Tarantino's and to an extent Rodriguez's works). Carnage Park does neither of these things. What starts off as a heavily Tarantino inspired thriller turns into a rather pedestrian, predictable, and overall boring retelling of The Most Dangerous game. I love grindhouse, I love b movies, I love cheap movies. But this one is a stinker.

Seriously, this was a waste of my time. Completely stupid, trying to incorporate bits from other movies that were good and even with the stolen bits, they still couldn't manage to put it together. I stopped watching it and starting writing this when there was about 12 mins. left but I could care less that I didn't see the end. Possibly the worst movie I've seen but they could shoot and the people that made the movie knew what they were doing, just a POS film. Now I'm just completing the ten line minimum so that I can complete my review and save other viewers from wasting their time. It's hard to believe that people have the time and energy to waste their time on such ridiculous projects.

Around 20 minutes from the end I checked how long left and more or less kept checking how long left until this awful film came to an end, I thought we had an early release but then realised the screen had gone black for no apparent reason, maybe we were suppose to be scared at what we could not see, sometimes it is better to leave the monster reveal near the end.. The only good thing about the movie was it only lasted 77 minutes. So where do we start, we have a half baked back story for the kidnapped girl, I knew we were in trouble when 50% of the cast died in the first ten minutes, we had an attempt at a Tarantino cartoon type film, a hill's have eyes type etc, at times it was like someone who got a book of quotations for Xmas and uses quotes every other sentence, the director must have been giddy with all the nods to various other films. We had awful irritating music, insipid acting, a non existent script, a boring plot and some of the worst cinematography I have seen in a long while, long lingering sweeping views of chem trails in an appalling sepia nod to the 70's style. I have finally had it with horror films, this was the straw that broke the camels back. I know it is a harsh comparison but look at Hitchcock's 'The Birds' how the film unfolds building the tension, each scene redone until it was perfect and this, I would be stunned if any scene was redone, awful, terrible film.

Made as an ode to flicks from the seventies this flick sadly do has it flows. It all starts pretty well with the future and the past perfectly blend into each other but the further this one goes it turns into a few problems. I can dig the whole story so-called based on true events a bit like they did wit Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) even the color grading used reminded me of those good old exploitation flicks. But it's the ending, especially in the mines that took a bit too long for me because naturally it's pitch black in mines but it's also filmed that way. So many moments the only thing you see is a black screen. But luckily the effects used were above mediocre. There aren't that many in it but the shooting in the head and the results are really a must see for gorehounds. Don't get me wrong, it is still worth picking up but as said, the mines could have been a bit shorter, it would made it a perfect flick. Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

'Carnage Park' starts out a very different film to the one it finishes as. It starts out trying to be overly stylish with slow-motion shots, flashbacks, over the top characters and music blaring over the top of scenes. All things you'd commonly see in Quentin Tarantino films, the only difference is that he has the ability to pull them off. So the film wasn't off to a great start. I've scene directors attempt to replicate his style before, usually for the entire duration of a film, and it is simply unbearable. Luckily for 'Carnage Park' it gives up on that pretty quickly and settles into a fun little film. I think the element of using a sniper as the killer in films is under utilised in Hollywood films. It really is a creepy little device. You can never be entirely comfortable (or at all for that matter) when there is a sniper around. You are simply there one moment, gone the next. There's a bit of a 'The Hill Have Eyes' feel to this one, only with a slightly more realistic villain. Every scene is intense and a lot of them would fit nicely into any modern horror film. There's actually a lot to like here and if people push through the first 15 minutes or so I think they'll find they're quite enjoying themselves.