Amusement (2008) (V)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

John Simpson

Writer (WGA):

Jake Wade Wall (written by)

Release Date:

20 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

It's Funny... Right?

Plot:

Three women are stalked by a killer with a grudge that extends back to the girls' childhoods. |

Plot Keywords:

Killer | Childhood | Grudge | Stabbed In The Head | Cb Radio

Cast

Keir O'Donnell	...	The Laugh
Katheryn Winnick	...	Tabitha
Laura Breckenridge	...	Shelby
Jessica Lucas	...	Lisa
Tad Hilgenbrink	...	Rob (as Tad Hilgenbrinck)
Reid Scott	...	Dan
Rena Owen	...	Psychiatrist
Kevin Gage	...	Tryton
Brennan Bailey	...	Danny
Preston Bailey	...	Max
Shauna Duggins	...	Woman In Truck
Fernanda Dorogi	...	Cat
Eyad Kurd-Misto	...	Child Laugh
Karley Scott Collins	...	Child Tabitha
Jadin Gould	...	Child Shelby

MPAA:

Rated R for horror violence, terror and disturbing images.

Runtime:

Argentina:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA | UK:18 | Argentina:16 | South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Germany:18 | Singapore:M18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB)

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Macari/Edelstein

Trivia:

Originally slated to go to theaters.

Quotes:

Danny: What's wrong, Tabby?
Max: Don't be scared.
Tabitha: Boys, listen to me, we have to hide. There's a bad man, a very bad man in the house.
Max: He just wants to play. Like earlier at the door.
Tabitha: That was him?
Danny: [Chuckles] Owen.
Tabitha: No, don't.
Danny: But, Tabby, he said he just wanted to have some fun.

Movie Connections:

Features "The Mask" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Rafe

At most average

After languishing for so long in 2008, Amusement is finally making its debut on DVD. I had high hopes for the movie after watching the trailer but it is nowhere near what I had expected it to be.

The movie can be summarized as a series of vignettes.Each vignette tells the tale of three women and their encounter with a psychotic killer, out to get them for they had done to him in the past. The plot is similar to Valentine (2001) but the movie was weighed, measured and found wanting.

For starters the editing could have been a lot better. The movie starts off with the Shelby story when it could have been much better placed when the psychiatrist questions Tabitha about Shelby. Another scene in which Lisa tries to enter the hotel and accidentally breaks a bottle, when the psycho steps out the bottle is still on the steps untouched and in one piece.

The story was not impressive at all. The whole Tabitha portion of the story of her babysitting her cousins and being attacked by the clown was very similar to Halloween (1978). The back-story which told why the psycho had such an animosity towards the girls in the first place should have been well explained.

The characters where not plausible at all. For instance, when Lisa sends her boyfriend to check on her friend at the hotel and when he doesn't come out, she doesn't call the cops, she goes in herself. I mean how stupid can you get. The movie is nothing more than a compilation of several slasher movies made in the past all jumbled up into one movie. No wonder why this movie never made it to the big screen.

If you want to watch a good horror movie rent out Halloween(1978), Psycho(1960) or The Changeling(1980)because this movie is nothing more than another futile attempt by Hollywood to create a decent, original horror movie.