22) Hellfest (2018)

The more scared you seem, the more they're gonna come after you

Director
Gregory Plotkin

Cast
Stephen Conroy - The Unknown Killer
Amy Forsyth - Natalie
Bex Taylor-Klaus - Taylor
Reign Edwards - Brooke
Christian James - Quinn

I came across Hellfest as I was putting DVDs on the shelf at my library job.
Its title and cover seemed like all the other commonly looked-over horror titles found on Netflix or Hulu. Just check out the horror titles on these streaming services. Who ever heard of these titles?
Picking one title to watch on a Friday night in those streaming line-ups is more difficult than it needs to be. So, when this title crossed my path with no other horror titles trying to grab my attention, I was set. I was determined to watch this.
I don't remember Hellfest's release in the theater. I doubt it played at a theater near me.
It's really a movie that should be judged on its entertainment factor and not much else.
The Candyman himself, Tony Todd, makes a cameo in this movie. Chalk one up for Hellfest. I always love a good nod to a horror classic, especially by means of an honorary cameo.
Hellfest is a travelling Halloween scare park. The mood is set as the movie starts with a girl wandering through a haunted maze where she's confronted by a person in a mask she immediately recognizes as the same person whose been following her all night. You see where this is going?
This unknown person stabs and hangs her, leaving her corpse among the haunted house props where other visitors think she's just part of the décor. This first scare sets the tone of the movie.
Next, the audience is introduced to Natalie (Amy Forsyth) as she arrives at her friend Brooke's (Reign Edwards), apartment. The two engage in typical initial exposition disguised as college girl jibberish. The two make plans to hook up with some other ditzy friends for a night of scares as Hellfest has come to town.
While they're at the fest, Natalie comes across the masked person inside one of the haunted mazes as he's about to stab another girl. Thinking it's part of the act, she lags behind to watch it play out as her friends move on. As she stands their, the masked man stairs at her, while his victim begs for help. She asks him what he's waiting for, and tells him to "do it." He does.
And as she watches, it seems as though she's concerned with just how real it all looks. The girl's scream. The knife entering the flesh, and the blood that leaks out looks too real. The masked killer starts following her throughout the night, making her more and more terrified. He doesn't speak. He just stares through the eye holes of his emotionless dirty white mask. Where does that sound familiar?

The typical horror movie tropes come with this package deal - the "don't go in there" scenes, the security that doesn't believe a word anyone is saying, the villain more elusive than a leprechaun. Some of it plays out sensibly. I mean, a group claiming they're being chased by someone in a mask...at a Halloween attraction... who may have killed someone when that very scenario is being re-enacted in every attraction at the park. The security's disbelief is not unreasonable.
The suspense grows through the movie.
This is a typical slasher film-the bad man chasing the helpless teens.
But the setting inside a Halloween horror attraction makes the peril and helplessness a little more believable, and fantastic.
Other than the setting, it's really a cookie cutter horror movie. That didn't stop it from being intriguing, keeping me invested from beginning to end.
Hellfest offers little originality to the old story of the boogie man chasing the clueless, helpless teens. There were more shots of this mystery villain staring at Natalie from a distance (just as Michael Myers stared at Laurie Strode in Halloween. I'm sure the similarity there was no coincidence) than there was horror.
One particular scene had one of the friends taking part in a mock execution scene by guillotine. After the performance, the curtains close and we find the villain is dressed as the executioner. He locks her into the guillotine and attempts to really slice her head off. After it doesn't work, she manages to escape. It's a pivotal scene that plays out fairly well, taking the intrigue into a more serious realm. It's the segue to what I call the "now what" act. Ok- things just got real. Now what?
The movie is a  Friday night popcorn picture, boiling it down to how the bad guy will get the good guys. The movie needs more, though. It lacks in horror and effort, focusing too much on the suspense. It's a movie that either could or couldn't catch on. I don't think it caught on.
Director Gregory Plotkin has his name in a few notable movies in the genre. He worked as an editor for Jordan Peele's fantastic movie Get Out. He also worked on Happy Death Day and directed Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.
The acting is scripted. The plot is as predictable as can be. But this isn't a movie where audiences would watch for a deep Kubrick-esque story line, or acting that's The Godfather quality. This movie somehow managed to satisfy my thirst for a good scare. And what's more, it left me with really wanting to know just who this masked killer was. The ending did that for me. I'd watch a sequel.