Guilty Pleasures: Dark Ride
In 2007 I was working at a small mom and pops video store in Delaware. I remember one day when opening our box of new releases seeing a box set staring up at me called “AfterDark Horror Festival: 8 Films to Die For”. It bragged that these 8 films were too graphic and horrifying to be released theatrically. Being the horror buff that I am I rented all 8 throughout the month, I’d say that the movies were split 50/50 some of them being truly great (The Hamiltons and Reincarnation) while others were painfully awful (Wicked Little Things, Penny Dreadful).
For me Dark Ride fell into the ‘good but not great” category while it seems most people felt it was less than good. Perhaps it’s because I love Amusement park horror films or maybe it’s because I’m a die-hard slasher buff but I genuinely enjoyed this film.
Ten years after two teenage girls are brutally murdered a group of college kids take a road trip and end up at the amusement park where the girls were slaughtered. Instead of simply riding the Dark Ride they instead decide to spend the night (so basically the plot of superior film Funhouse).
While sitting in the ride getting high one of the friends (Bill played by the fat kid from Big Green) confesses that the two girls killed on the ride were his cousins. Suddenly the power goes out. Another one of the friends Jim (the Bad Boy from 2ge+her) goes to the basement to turn the power back on.
One of the girls on the trip begins to flirt with him and starts to blow him. During the blowjob her head is decapitated without Jim knowing it. This scene predates Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving trailer by almost two years, the only difference is one was satirical and one is scenario. If you ask me I prefer it as a sincere use.
In the end Bill’s crazy brother is revealed to be the killer. Bill has asked him to kill his friends for some reason that’s never totally explained because while he’s a little annoying they seem to tolerate him.
Dark Ride came out at a time where slasher movies had disappeared again. This was a throwback to the fun slashers of the 80’s. The character are stereotypes, the jokes are awful and the twist is ridiculous. Those are all the elements that makes us love those films. How is “Bill’s Brother” had more insane than “Angela’s really a boy” and the killer was “Ann wearing mask that looked like Ginny”.
You see by the early 90’s the slasher genre had sorta become a punchline to people. Movies like Dr. Giggles and Shocker kinda hit theaters with a thud and the genre died a quiet death until Scream came out in 1996 and revived the genre.
Scream didn’t just revive it though, it rewrote it. It spawned it’s own little twist on the genre. Now the characters were self aware, they knew all the rules of horror movies and the killer’s were just every day people. We had movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Valentine, Urban Legends and a dozen other films that all were basically the same.
These days the genre is dominated by remakes. There’s a small underground movement of horror movies that ‘return to the roots’ persay. These films blend the 80’s slasher film with the late-90’s slasher films. It’s given us some of the best horror films in years with movies like Hatchet, Cabin Fever and Behind the Mask however the fact remains that Dark Ride predates them all by at least a year. However much like how Student Bodies predates all horror/comedies the film isn’t nearly as loved and respected as it’s predecessors.
The characters in this movie have the right blend of lackability as well as ridiculousness. BIll’s ‘movie geek’ character makes reasonable references (Midnight Cowboy, Deer Hunter) instead of some films that’d have him spouting out every obscure title known to man. But the biggest saving grace to the film is a wonderful picked out mask. The mask is nothing more than a shattered porcelain doll face. Let’s face it, dolls are creepy.
This is an under appreciated hidden gem filled with great kills, awesome use of sound and great set design. If you’re a fan of the slasher genre and you’ve never seen this, perhaps this Halloween is the perfect time to see it.
