Review: Hell Fest (2018)

So, when reviewing movies, you have to factor in two major things:  Is the movie entertaining?, and is the movie well made?  Just because a movie is entertaining doesn't necessarily mean it is a good production, just as a well-made movie can be tedious and boring.  You might be asking why I lead my review of Hell Fest with such a statement, and it is because the movie succeeds at one of these two major considerations while failing absolutely in the other.

The basic premise is that a (traveling?) carnival called Hell Fest comes to town and a group of twenty-somethings - yes, teenagers get to survive this time, as the movie decides to focus on college-age people - decide to attend while, unbeknownst to them, a serial killer also attends.

I will be upfront:  The movie does not live up to the premise.  It does create some interesting sets and works as a decent MacGuffin for why no one notices all of the dead bodies, but that is about all the gold spun from the straw that is this script.  None of the kills are especially inventive, although there is one scene that works exceptionally well during the setup but makes no sense upon the reveal. Afterwards, the movie shifts into the Final Chase, so it sort of deflates quickly at that point anyway.

The acting is adequate - no one is especially terrible, although it feels like a waste of both Tony Todd and Bex Taylor-Klaus' talents giving them the roles that they have.  But it doesn't have the clunky acting that usually accompanies a slasher with no big names.

On the plus side, the movie moves along at a quick pace and doesn't overthink the premise to the point of distraction.  It actually does surprise a little bit on who lives and how it ends, but still pays homage to the 'rules' of the horror genre.

The movie still manages to be entertaining.  It won't ever make any Greatest Horror Movies lists, and if it fades into obscurity in 2 years time, it won't be a huge loss to the genre.  But if you have an hour and a half to kill and you like horror movies, there are worst ways to spend your time.

2024 Addition: In retrospect, I was a little harder on this than I should've been.  The setting, especially, works really well and is used in more interesting ways than I alluded to in my original review.  I think I was correct in my basic assessment - perfectly adequate but ultimately forgettable - but I've bumped up the score from 5 to 6, and my feelings towards it are much warmer.

6 out of 10