First off, one of the most sure fire ways of identifying that movie is probably going to be awful is if Ari Lehman is in it, and he pops up in the first 5 minutes. And as predicted, this film is another whiff. The premise itself sounded fun. Horror themed amusement park opens, then turns into a real life slasher when the titular "Phantom" begins knocking off the staff. Kind of sounds like a Scooby Doo episode taken to a psychotic level. I didn't expect it to be fine cinema, but I was just hoping for stupid fun. Weirdly enough it didn't even hit that low bar. For one thing, this movie has a real identity crisis. The theme sounds stupid, but possibly fun, the budget is low, the acting is atrocious, and Ari Lehman is there right off the bat, hamming it up in an ad for the park, in the most cringe inducing fashion, complete with the requisite blond bimbo in a tight dress oohing and aweing, and striking "sexy" poses beside him. So again, it' setting this stupid, cartoonish vibe immediately. Yet then, it introduces the main character, and suddenly cuts to this very serious, somber, drama vibe. She's showering, sadly, while very somber lifetime channel esque music is playing, then she's talking to her little brother about their mother, and how she abandoned them both, and tries to have this heartfelt moment. In fact, pretty much every time this character has a scene to herself it cuts to this very dramatic, sad, sober vibe as she attempts to relate to her brother, and connect with her estranged mother. And she's actually quite good. She's a talented actress. The problem is... she's acting in the wrong movie
Everything else, and every other character in this movie is cartoonish, and cringey. Every other character is a ridiculous stereotype. No one else can act at all, everyone is overacting horribly, every other character you encounter are all obnoxious, unlikable caricatures of people who don't speak, act, or behave like real human beings, and the rest of the movie feels like it was written by a child. Then back to the lifetime channel drama, then back to the cartoon. It makes no sense. It's like two different people wrote this film, and couldn't even agree on what kind of film they were making
Props to the main character, her brother, and to a lesser extent their mother. They are actually trying to act, far better than the awful script they were given. And major thumbs down to the park owner, the cheesy stereotypes that worked there, and Ari Lehman's ridiculously cringe...whatever it is he is trying to be (the dude played Jason as a child in Friday the 13th, long, LONG ago and has been riding that fame ever since. STOP CASTING THIS DUDE. HE CANNOT ACT, AT ALL, AND HAS A MASSIVELY OVERINFLATED EGO, EVEN LARGER THAN HIS STUPID HIPSTER MOUSTACHE).
Anyway, dull movie, weird bi polar vibe to it, with a few standouts that deserve to be in much better films.
