Summary
George A. Romero’s previously lost thriller is equal parts PSA and waking nightmare. We’ll see you in the park some day.
Somewhere in a parallel universe, there’s a George A. Romero who had a massive success with There’s Always Vanilla (1971) and continued to make romantic comedies well into his 70s.
In another divergent path, there’s this: a film on elder abuse originally commissioned by the Lutheran Society but shelved due to its extreme content. Planned for release in 1973 — the same year as Season of the Witch and The Crazies — one wonders if the Lutherans had pulled out the wrong George from their Rolodex.
Structured around the titular amusement park, it’s a disturbing vision of how society treats the elderly. Led by narrator/star Lincoln Maazel (who Romero fans will recognise from 1978’s Martin), it opens like any other piece of edutainment by reminding us that the elderly are a “much misused natural resource.” As Maazel turns to the camera and reminds us that “one day you will be old,” we’re already terrified.
In a white void of a waiting room, presumably representing the blank space society assigns the elderly, Maazel encounters a battered and bloody version of himself who claims “there’s nothing outside.” The principal Maazel takes it upon himself to leave the room, and is transported to the titular amusement park.
Shot at the now-defunct West View Park in (where else?) Pennsylvania, Wally Cook’s script rapidly descends into a whirling dervish of nightmarish visions that mentally and physically break down the protagonist. Bumper cars stand in for the stereotypes about elderly drivers. Accusations of perversion are levelled at any interaction with children. A marching band drowns out an older woman pleading for help. A snake oil salesman sells insurance while the elderly battle it out for basic medical equipment.
Shot in a similarly loose style to There’s Always Vanilla — with short and savage cuts, overlapping dialogue and random cutaways — Romero and Cook’s vision veers from educational to psychological horror in short order. In a subplot, a young couple is shown a vision of their future, causing the young man to physically assault Maazel. Roving motorcycle gangs (almost a decade before Knightriders) beat him to a pulp. The amusement park experience effectively ends with Maazel broken and weeping when a young girl, the one person who showed him kindness, is ushered away by her mother.
Maazel, who was a spritely 70 at the time of filming, didn’t start his onstage acting career until 56, and in some ways is the perfect embodiment of this film’s dark message. Living to the impressive age of 106, he clearly survived his own ride through life’s amusement park despite only being credited in one more film. THE AMUSEMENT PARK may not be the way he intended to be remembered, but it’s now a strangely appropriate legacy for both the star and his director.
2019 | USA | DIRECTOR: George A. Romero | WRITERS: Wally Cook | CAST: Lincoln Maazel, Phyllis Casterwiler, Harry Albacker, Sally Erwin, Pete Chovan | DISTRIBUTOR: Shudder, IFFR 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 52 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 8 June 2021 (Shudder)
