The Amusement Park (2021 | USA | 54 minutes | George A. Romero)
A film that once seemed lost to time, The Amusement Park is by no means the best work from the great director George Romero though it remains an enthralling and interesting look at what it means to age.
For those confused by the fact that a new Romero has been released in 2021, even after the director passed away in 2017, this film was originally produced and subsequently shelved in 1973 by the Lutheran Service Society. They had commissioned the film in the hopes Romero would create a piece that would show the trials of growing old and how best to help those in need. Upon seeing what the acclaimed horror director had created, the film was never released as it reportedly was not at all what the Lutherans had imagined for their project.
It is easy to see why their intentions diverged, though it is humorous that the organization had either not done their research into Romero’s work (he had already made Night of the Living Dead by this time) or never thought to discuss how the project was going. Whatever the reason for their oversight, their mistake is our collective gain as the decades-delayed release is a bizarre and unsettling nightmare that is worth seeing for its historical value alone.
The story is straightforward and the central metaphor unsubtle in its execution. It follows an elderly man in a white suit as he enters a bustling fairgrounds, The Amusement Park of the title, where it soon becomes clear that he is not going to have a good time. He and all the elderly people are not only unwelcome there, this world is actively hostile to them. They are exploited at every turn, with each ride a new nightmare that serves as a parallel to modern society. Lincoln Maazel as the unnamed old man instills the story with grace and a tragic touch, making it clear why Romero would subsequently work with him on his 1978 film Martin.
The film itself is still built around a bluntly straightforward message that is occasionally jarring. The opening and closing of the film feel akin to an educational special as it breaks the fourth wall to directly explain its central thesis, leaving little to the imagination. Such candor makes sense considering the intent of the original commission. What elevates it is the haunting sequences where it becomes increasingly clear how to grow old is to face immense horrors.
These threats manifest themselves in frightening, otherworldly visuals, underpinned by the grounded reality of our own world. The old man and all the other elderly people in the park are targeted for the precise reason that they are vulnerable. They are robbed, beaten, mocked, and dehumanized repeatedly. It is a dark, mean-spirited film that reflects the undeniable cruelty of the world it portrays.
There also are moments where Romero identifies the roots of this cruelty as not just a collective despising of the elderly, but the wealth disparity that leaves them with nothing. This is seen in a silent movie-esque sequence where the old man is left with little to eat while a cartoonishly evil man with a cigar eats a multi-course meal. While not exactly nuanced, it still correctly identifies how the disparity endemic to this world, as well as our own, stems from a system where the rich can live a life of luxurious excess only because the poor and abandoned are left to pick up the scraps.
It is a short film, only running 54 minutes, though that suits the film just fine. It not only doesn’t need to be any longer, but any more would likely begin to strain the premise. The tragedy of the man, a doomed life where he is left with nothing and no one, serves as an effectively haunting parable for our own world. It sees Romero experimenting and pushing himself with each new scene. To see a film resurrected for audiences looking to see a legendary director beginning to find his voice, makes The Amusement Park a uniquely reflective look at a previously hidden work of one of history’s great cinematic voices.
The Amusement Park is now streaming on Shudder.