“It’s not working! Somebody stop the train!”
Wendy-Final Destination 3
I love the slasher genre, and Gregory Plotkin’s Hell Fest should have been a slasher lover’s dream. With a setting inside a Halloween-themed amusement park and a killer who stalks his victims among unsuspecting crowds, there’s so much potential here for a genuinely terrifying experience. But despite its intriguing setup and a few standout kills, Hell Fest ends up feeling like a frustrating missed opportunity, bogged down by shallow characters, terrible dialogue, and a deeply unsatisfying ending.
Let’s start with the good: the setting. Plotkin and his team deserve credit for creating an incredible atmosphere. The theme park itself is a visual treat for horror fans, packed with eerie mazes, strobe-lit corridors, and unsettling animatronics that seem to jump out at every turn. In that sense, Hell Fest nails the visual element. And to be fair, some of the kills deliver—brutal and inventive- these scenes offer brief, gruesome relief.
But any goodwill generated by the park’s atmosphere and creative kills is immediately ruined by some of the worst dialogue in recent horror. The lead cast, including Amy Forsyth, Reign Edwards, and Bex Taylor-Klaus, does what they can, but the script gives them almost nothing to work with. The characters are thinly written, and their interactions feel forced and unnatural. The humor falls flat, the banter is grating, and by the halfway mark, you’re just waiting for them to stop talking altogether.
Then there’s the ending—a complete disaster. Just when the film starts to build some momentum, it collapses with an ending so weak and unsatisfying that it feels like an afterthought. Instead of delivering a proper payoff, the final scene fizzles, leaving viewers with a “twist” that’s less frightening and more of an insult to anyone who sat through the film.
Hell Fest had all the ingredients for a great horror movie but squandered them with a clunky script and an embarrassingly anticlimactic finish. Plotkin’s film had a killer concept and a creepy setting but fell victim to poor execution. If you’re looking for true horror thrills, check out Haunt.
Rating: 1.5/10
