American Fright Fest (2018)
Written By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Ante Novakovic
Producer: Gleb Fetisov, Sergei Bespalov, et. al.
Screenplay: Robert Gilings
Date Released: August 25, 2018
Cast:
Dylan Walsh as Spencer Crowe
Madison McKinley as Taylor
Mercy Malick as Estelle
Romeo Miller as Ricco
Pancho Moler as Finkle
Luke Baines as Mason
Jonathan Camp as Ruben
Robert Scott Wilson as Steph
Kresh Novakovic a Mayor Fowler
Rating = 2.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
A deadbeat horror film director is invited to produce and arrange a fright festival at an abandoned asylum in a small rural town. However, when a bus of insane inmates are involved in a car crash, one inmate walks into the fright festival killing everyone while another inmate tries to warn everyone.
Gore Factor
There is quite a bit of blood and gore in this film. The killer also sets up some traps for the guests such as an electric wired fence. However, there are two notable scenes which are worth noting. In one scene, the killer slice open one of them fright workers spilling out the worker’s blood and guts. In another scene, after the killer gets shot with a shotgun, he is stitching up his wound.
The Grave Review
There are many films that attempt to portray a haunted attraction which ultimately goes wrong for some reason. Some of these films include but are not limited to, The Funhouse Massacre, Extremity, Escape Room, The Houses October Built and even Eli Roth’s short-film, Chainsaw. We can now add American Fright Fest to the mix. Unfortunately, new ideas are not created but merely recycled.
The focal point of the story seemed to center on the dead-beat director, Spencer Crowe as he is recording the massacre while the killer is lurking within the abandoned asylum. However, there seemed to be no true backstory as to why the killer decided to massacre all the guests. In addition, there was never seemed to be a designated protagonist. In the film, Spencer Crowe hires multiple actors and actresses, but none of these people are central to the plot. The only central character was the other insane patient, Mason. Mason tries to help everyone against the killer because allegedly the killer had killed his family. Unfortunately, as the film progresses, Mason’s role quickly changes from hero back to an insane patient. Such a twist was disappointing and felt unfulfilling.
From a pure gore and blood perspective, the film provided a fun and mindless experience of a psychotic killer slaughtering the guests who attended the fright festival. However, substantively, the film has little to offer as the plot did not take the time to develop the characters in the story.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives American Fright Fest (2018) two and one-half graves out of five graves.
Do you agree with our review? Comment below.
Join the Conversation