Hell Fest

Year: 2018
Director: Gregory Plotkin
Cast: Amy Forsyth, Reign Edwards, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Roby Attal, Christian James, Matt Mercurio


Plot: Three young couples attend Hell Fest, an elaborate horror fair filled with realistic scares. The group is subsequently stalked by a masked killer whom they mistakenly believe to be part of the horror show.


Review: As far as slasher flicks go, Hell Fest isn't breaking much new ground, other than the location and the killer blending into the surroundings. But originality isn't the most important thing for me, because I am looking for a competent film that knows how to have fun. In that sense, Hell Fest succeeds more often than not.

Director Gregory Plotkin uses his chosen environment efficiently, deploying an endless series of fake jumpscares (it's a huge haunted house essentially) while making the best of various lighting tricks to illuminate the rooms at just the right level. Many of his scare tactics are familiar and old school, for sure, but most of the time they work, even if you can sense them coming a mile away.

Plotkin's trump card has to be the elaborate maze of horrors at the fair itself. He certainly went through great lengths to recreate several effective haunted houses filled with blood, mannequins, actual people in costumes, rail cars, weapons, mirrors, masks and sound effects. Even if it doesn't scare you, you'll be in awe of the effort the filmmakers made here.

The six youths portraying the three couples are convincing enough as the token horror roles here. Amy Forsyth is cute and likable enough as the trademark final girl, Reign Edwards is good as her loyal best friend and Bex Taylor-Klaus nails it as the horny/bitchy one. The legendary Tony Todd makes an appearance as a character at the fair. The killer here, credited as The Other, is just a guy in a mask and a hoodie, armed with an ice pick. His greatest asset apparently, is stealth.

All in all, Hell Fest is a fun slasher horror flick that delivers exactly what it advertises. If you want to have some fun with horror before the Halloween sequel shows up soon, this works just fine. (7/10)