Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Amusement Park’ on Shudder, George Romero’s Surreal, Long-Lost PSA Film

Somewhere around the time George Romero made The Crazies and Season of the Witch, the Lutheran Service Society of West Pennsylvania hired him to make a PSA about the plight of the elderly — and one can’t help but wonder if the Lutheran Service Society of West Pennsylvania knew what they were getting into. Romero gave them The Amusement Park, a surreal and experimental 53-minute film that never saw the light of day after he made it in 1973 because it was, well, surreal and experimental. And creepy and weird and more than a little distressing, which is why it makes sense that the film was snatched up by horror streamer Shudder after it was unearthed and painstakingly restored from two battered old prints. Now let’s find out if it’s a must-see from a master or just a long-lost curiosity.

THE AMUSEMENT PARK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The Amusement Park lead actor Lincoln Maazel looks into the camera, introduces himself and gives a four-minute spiel about ageism, speaking in broad terms about how society mistreats the elderly. So much for subtext eh? Cut to the actual narrative, if you can call it that: Playing an unnamed man, Maazel sits in an all-white room with a single door, wearing a grubby all-white suit, a vacant look on his bloodied and bandaged face. A second version of Maazel, clean and crisp with his hair neatly combed and his mustaches groomed, enters the room. Let’s call him Maazel 2 for now. “There is nothing outside,” Maazel 1 says, but Maazel 2 disagrees, for outside the door is a bustling amusement park. Maazel 2 decides to see for himself what this joyous place is all about. Maazel 1 just moans.

Old folks file into the park, clutching canes, pushing walkers, rolling in with wheelchairs. Maazel 2, who is probably just plain Maazel by this point, shuffles through crowds. He reaches a rollercoaster flanked by signs outlining the requirements to go on the ride. “Must have individual income over $3,500,” reads one. “Must not fear the unknown,” reads another. Weird? Sure. But this is just the beginning, my friends. There isn’t much dialogue; we hear mostly indiscriminate chatter and light hubbub of a busy day at a place of “fun” and “joy” for people of all ages — or so they say, right? — soundtracked by persistently annoying, annoyingly persistent carnival music.

Strange things happen at this park, none of it adhering to narrative logic, like a deeply unpleasant dream. An older couple must undergo a vision screening before they drive the bumper cars; they get in an “accident” with another bumper car driver, and the cops and insurance agents show up. Maazel suddenly has three bags of groceries, and can’t carry them all. He wanders into a fortune teller’s tent as she shows a young couple visions of their life ahead as senior citizens. He’s suddenly alone in the abandoned park, until three nasty motorcycle hoodlums arrive to harass him. The park is just as suddenly busy again, and he’s hurt and lying on the sidewalk as people just shuffle by him, not caring about his plight; dare I say they resemble zombies? And who’s that man with the green, haunted face who appears here and there, and was that a reaper’s scythe he was holding?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I’m reminded of Werner Herzog’s somewhat disappointingly straightforward but still stereotypically grimly Herzogian PSA about texting and driving, From One Second to the Next. Which gives me an idea: How about David Lynch doing an animal rights PSA with talking cows and cats? David Cronenberg commissioned for one about phishing scams? Jordan Peele on looking both ways before crossing the street? Kelly Reichardt on washing your hands after you use the toilet? Michael Haneke on the importance of brushing and flossing every day?

Performance Worth Watching: Maazel is the focal point and the film’s only regular “character,” so this one goes to him pretty much by default. He looks convincingly bewildered throughout, and one can’t help but wonder if he’s acting or not.

Memorable Dialogue: From Maazel’s intro: “Remember as you watch the film: One day, you will be old.”

Sex and Skin: None, and we’re all grateful for it.

Our Take: The Amusement Park isn’t a typical horror movie with blood and guts and shock value, but it’s easy to see why the Lutheran Society likely wasn’t, y’know, amused with what Romero gave them, and therefore shoved the film into an attic and forgot about it. The film is rife with heavy-handed metaphors about society’s cruel indifference to the struggles of the elderly. It’s not conventionally gruesome, but psychologically gruesome, a reminder that people who are closer to the great unknown of death are most deserving of our empathy.

We can only assume the Lutherans agreed more with the message than the method, which is deeply unsettling. Romero crafts a nightmare: A disjointed, episodic narrative; harsh, abrupt edits; the constant audio and visual noise of people, people, people everywhere, frequently walking between the subject and the camera, breaking our focus. Maazel is consistently pushed into the background. Any moments of absurdist comedy, e.g. the bumper car bit, quickly evolve into displays of judgmental discrimination. It’s maddening and upsetting. Romero’s intent clearly wasn’t gentle admonishment — he’s showing how ugly human behavior can be, and he wasn’t being subtle.

Anyone familiar with Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead will immediately detect Romero’s style in The Amusement Park. It’s disorienting at the same time that it’s direct and effective. Maybe it goes without saying that it’ll never be more than a noggin-scratcher oddity in his influential canon, but it’s more of a gem than a curiosity.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Romero aficionados will surely appreciate the anti-funhouse that is The Amusement Park. Maybe it has more historical importance than entertainment value, but it’s damn well worth a watch.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream The Amusement Park on Shudder