“AMUSEMENT” (2009)

Starring: Keir O’Donnell, Katheryn Winnick, Laura Breckenridge, Jessica Lucas, Tad Hilgenbrink, Reid Scott, Rena Owen, Kevin Gage, Brennan Bailey, Preston Bailey, Shauna Duggins, Fernanda Dorogi, Eyad Kurd-Misto, Karley Scott Collins & Jadin Gould
Written by Jake Wade Wall
Directed by John Simpson
Official Site

Polly Staffle Rating: ****

“Let me understand this, cause ya know, maybe it’s me. I’m a little fucked up maybe, but I’m funny how? I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you?” - Tommy DeVito

No one likes to be seen as a joke. Even clowns, jesters, comedians and Joe Pesci’s character Tommy DeVito in “Goodfellas” want people laughing with them - not at them. “Amusement” is the story of a demented kid with an ugly sense of humor that got laughed at and not with. The kid, never referred to by name and dubbed “The Laugh” on IMDb.com, is sent away to a mental institution and forgotten about by his peers. He grows up to be a sadistic killer. Now an adult, he looks to cause harm to three girls – Tabitha, Shelby and Lisa - that didn’t get him as a child.

In elementary, while all the other students made dioramas of a carnival, a sleep over and things of that nature, this freak put a tortured live rat in a creepy little chest and brought it to the school’s art show. “It’s funny, right?” The Laugh asks when he shows off his handy work to Tabitha. “No… It isn’t,” she replies.

Tabitha isn’t amused with his current antics either. He has snatched her from her ordinary life and thrown her into a (non) funhouse of traps, illusions and mechanisms of doom. Here in the chamber of horrors, Tabitha finds her childhood friends Shelby and Lisa. Will they escape or become part of the killer’s demented life-sized diorama of vengeance? Buy a ticket and take the thrill ride that is John Simpson’s “Amusement” to find out. This is a fun movie. It’s got scares galore, it’s got suspense, it’s got blood and guts, it’s got a sinister villain played exceptionally well by Keir O’Donnell (“Paul Blart: Mall Cop”), and it offers a good mesh of horror styles.

“Amusement” opens with a “Jeepers Creepers” road trip vibe as Shelby (Laura Breckenridge, who even reminded me of Gina Philips) and her boyfriend Rob (Tad Hilgenbrink) are returning home from a crappy weekend. The duo is out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night when Rob picks the wrong three-vehicle convoy to be a part of. When the suspicious-looking trucker in front of him makes a pit stop, Rob and the Ned Flanders-like driver behind him do as well. After filling up their tanks, the trucker (Kevin Gage of “Chaos,” “May”) informs everybody that he heard on the C.B. that the freeway was jammed up with traffic. Not to worry; he knows a short cut. So the convoy heads down a deserted road and soon all hell breaks loose.

Then Tabitha steps into the film and she brings a bit of “Saw” and “Halloween” flavor, as well as some badassness in the vein of Jessica Biel with her to the terror party. Played by Katheryn Winnick of “Hellraiser: Hellworld,” “Satan’s Little Helper,” Tabitha heads to check out her aunt and uncle’s recently purchased home. When she gets there, she finds her little cousins have been abandoned by their babysitter. With a thunderstorm going on outside and a room full of clowns spooking her to no end inside, Tabitha reluctantly tries to get comfortable after tucking her cousins in for the night. Soon Tabitha finds out one of the clowns in the room is even more threatening than he seems. Instead of simply delivering bad news about evil games like Billy the remote controlled puppet in the “Saw” series, this face-painted, crazy-haired character is out for blood.

Lastly, Lisa (Jessica Lucas) is brought into the mix and with her comes a “Hostel” type vibe. Lisa’s good girl roommate Cat (Fernanda Dorogi) got a ride home from a stranger and hasn’t been seen since. Lisa knows the guy she took off with supposedly lives at the mom and pop hotel Peres Pension, so she heads there with her health department worker boyfriend Dan (Reid Scott). But when they get there, Lisa finds this place of lodging is a condemned bed-and-breakfast where those that check in, never check out.

All three of the storylines then intersect in the final act, which is dark, grizzly and claustrophobic with elements reminiscent of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” remake, “Thir13en Ghosts” and “High Tension.” In the end, “Amusement” lives up to its title and delivers an enjoyable 85 minutes of scares. This was a straight-to-DVD release and I’m not really sure why. It is being distributed through Warner Brothers and is on Blu-ray, but still I found it worthy of a theatrical release, easily surpassing a lot of the PG-13 horror-lite crapfests, remakes and sequels we are seeing so much of lately.

With fine editing from Chris G. Willingham (“Black Christmas” remake, “Final Destination 3”), original music from Marco Beltrami (“Captivity,” “Hellboy,” “Scream”), a fun story and a strong cast, you really couldn’t ask for anything more. Director John Simpson, who won a number of awards for his debut feature “Freeze Frame,” along with writer Jake Wade Wall, who penned “The Hitcher” and “When a Stranger Calls” remakes, take elements that could have very well resulted in a clichéd genre film and manipulate them into a solidly structured shadow box of horror.

- CCF, January 2009