The Amusement Park Review (Film, 1975)
content warning: blood, gore, elder abuse
The Amusement Park might be the strangest film George A. Romero ever made. This is a brutal, biting satire of the poor treatment of the elderly in American society. That’s not speculation, either. That’s the literal text.
The film opens with lead actor Lincoln Maazel speaking directly to the camera. He introduces himself as an actor and explains what you are about to see. He is the only actor in the film; everyone else is a volunteer. This cast includes senior citizens living in nursing homes and low income housing, their attendants and families, and other local people living below the poverty line in the area. The production took over a local amusement park to explore the many ways American society fails the elderly and the underprivileged. And if the message falls flat, Maazel also returns to bookend the film with clear messaging on what you can do to help.
Romero’s horror always has some line of social commentary in it. The difference here is context and presentation. The Amusement Park has a concept, not a plot, and that puts the systemic failure of the social safety net for the elderly and the poor as the focus.
An older man in a wrinkled white suit sits in a pristine white room, clearly in pain. He is covered in cuts, blood, bandages, and bruises. The same man enters the room looking clean and healthy. He asks the injured version of himself why he doesn’t leave the room, and the injured man replies there is “nothing” and “nowhere” for him out them. The healthier version of himself decides to see for himself and enters the amusement park.
What follows is a series of vignettes exploring the cruelty and failing of any support for all but the most privileged, wealthy people in society. What’s the first thing you do at a ticket-based amusement park? Buy tickets. How does the unending line of senior citizens afford tickets? They sell off their most prized possessions for nowhere near the worth for the chance to access something greater in life. Then they get turned away again and again for having the tickets, not actual cash, to access the things they need.
The Amusement Park is a heartbreaking psychological horror film. It’s an absurdist film from Romero, combining his expertise in grounding unbelievable moments of pain and terror with Brechtian narrative techniques and fantastical visuals more aligned with avant-garde surrealism. The oversized props and cartoonish sequences prey on the confusion of the elderly in the film.
Why would someone need to renew their license to ride the bumper cars by taking an eye exam at an amusement park? How large a pencil does a doctor need to fill out paperwork? And why is death always lurking among the children who routinely stare at the elderly like they’re monsters?
The Amusement Park is filled with unexpected, horrifying sequences. One of the absolute highlights is a young couple visiting a fortune teller. They ask to find out what happens when they are old, and the fortune teller agrees to show them if they stay to see the whole reading no matter what. It’s not a pretty scene and no one—the fortune teller, the teenage boy, the teenage girl, or the old man—is happy with what they witness. It’s the extrapolation of trends explored in the film and it resets the systemic failings outside of the amusement park.
Romero once again raises questions in this film that might never have been the original intention of the screenplay. Walton Cook’s screenplay for The Amusement Park has a very clear tone and perspective, but the actual casting of the film with volunteers adds another level of meaning. These people, young and old, agreed to be in the film. They are willing participants in the scenes and the opening monologue from lead actor Lincoln Maazel specifically mentions how much fun people had making it.
That doesn’t stop a lot of these vignettes from feeling exploitative of the non-professional performers in the film. The older actors, especially, are often directed to be sad and confused as obstacles and even abusive language are thrown at them again and again. There’s something off about a crowd jeering a freak show that is really five senior citizens standing confused onstage, which in turn also illustrates the central thesis of the film. If you’re upset by a scene like this, why aren’t you upset by the real world barriers and behavior toward the elderly that inspired a scene like this?
The Amusement Park is under an hour long, but leaves an indelible impression. A piece of social satire will usually show its age over time as society grows and changes. If you told me The Amusement Park was written and filmed this year, I would believe you. It’s actually upsetting that the film released in 1975 and still feels true now.
The Amusement Park is streaming on Shudder with a newly restored print from IndieCollect.
You can also buy Haunted: A Collection of Weird Fiction at my Ko-fi or where eBooks are sold.
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