p e n g u i n d e v i l

After pondering it for a while, I finally got around to watching Deadwood Park, it was one of those days. For some reason, I had always thoughts that this horror film took place in a trailer park. Well, that’s not the case. Deadwood Park refers to an abandoned amusement park, which may have got me to watch it earlier, had I known.

One of those cheap, eagerly acted, “super indie” movies that people make after work, it isn’t bad. The “current day” scenes were well paced and the story is a good one (though with too much exposition from the characters). Our star is a fellow who, years ago, inherited his abandoned grandparents home in a small town in Missouri and now, in the midst of a personal crisis, he goes there to clear his head. While he is warned by a local that the house has been in great disrepair these many years, there is also the unsettling fact that an extensive series of unsolved child murders occurred in this town, decades ago. These murders not only ended the towns fortunes, symbolized by the closing of the amusement park where the first victim was discovered. And, of course, his twin brother was also a victim. He has not come to investigate this, but it proves hard to avoid, especially when a young lady takes a strong interest in him and in the murders. Of course, the ghost story aspect rears its head quickly as he begins “seeing things” at his house and he and the girl head to the old amusement park to look around.

It s a nice quiet movie. The sets are good, especially the amusement park, which is quite catching with its overgrown roller coaster and other attractions. The story is nice and has a pretty good twist towards the end. Though this part (as with a lot of the movie) is a bit overloaded with background flashbacks. Especially the one that starts right when you think the movie has hit its climax, then goes on for nearly 15 minutes before returning us to the story…

But Deadwood Park is a nice independent horror movie; not too cliched and it moves at a nice easy pace and manages to maintain its sense of mystery.

And continuing in the vein of things better left buried, we also watched The Tommyknockers. The story of a bunch of concrete blocks discovered in someone’s backyard that shine green light on people who then begin hearing voices telling them how to make groovy inventions, that all include little gizmos with green lights, and everyones eyes glow green and there is even a lipstick tube that shoots green light that can turn things into green slime. Yes, there are “tommyknockers” around, infiltrating everyone with their green and getting them to do things that they wouldn’t normally do. Though I imagine that seeing Jimmy Smits and Traci Lords as stars would lead you to think it is film-making of a high caliber, it is similar in it cheap corniness with the other slew of Stephen King TV movies but, alas, even more boring then the rest. This is one that won’t be giving me the urge to see it again.