After seeing the trailer for Carnage Park, I was kind of excited. You had elements that, if put together correctly, could make for a pretty solid genre flick. Another upside was finding out that this was director Mickey Keating’s latest release. I am a fan of his previous film, Darling, so that added to the expectation. Unfortunately for Carnage Park, the trailer was the most exciting thing about the movie.
Carnage Park tells the story of Vivian (Ashley Bell), a small town girl who was taken hostage after a botched bank heist. Following a high speed pursuit with the cops, the bank robbers, along with their hostage, are Mexico bound until they drive right into the hunting ground of a psychotic army veteran.
This movie was boring. There are some things in the film that stand out, and I will get to that in a moment, but overall Carnage Park lacked in the development department. It wasted the third act with dull story-telling and clichéd horror movie bits. I honestly had high expectations for this flick and it didn’t even come close. Such a shame. It had a good concept and a director that was capable of executing– or so I thought. The cat and mouse game on display between our protagonist Vivian and our antagonist Wyatt (John Healy) gets old quick. After successfully building up the tension, writer/director Mickey Keating takes the sharpest needle he could find and pops that balloon he had worked so hard to blow up. This leads to a flat third act that fell short in tying up any loose ends. At the conclusion of this story I ended up totally dissatisfied with the whole thing.
This movie was boring. There are some things in the film that stand out, and I will get to that in a moment, but overall Carnage Park lacked in the development department. It wasted the third act with dull story-telling and clichéd horror movie bits. I honestly had high expectations for this flick and it didn’t even come close. Such a shame. It had a good concept and a director that was capable of executing– or so I thought. The cat and mouse game on display between our protagonist Vivian and our antagonist Wyatt (John Healy) gets old quick. After successfully building up the tension, writer/director Mickey Keating takes the sharpest needle he could find and pops that balloon he had worked so hard to blow up. This leads to a flat third act that fell short in tying up any loose ends. At the conclusion of this story I ended up totally dissatisfied with the whole thing.
I did enjoy Ashley Bell’s portrayal of Vivian. She was a strong female character that was fighting to survive all the way through. She didn’t succumb to the pitfalls of the horror damsel in distress, which I truly appreciated– it made the movie that much more tolerable. I was rooting for Vivian’s character the entire time. Another stand out but short-lived character was the lead bank thief, Scorpion Joe (James Landry Hebert). The movie could have used about another hour or so of Scorpion Joe, the loveable outlaw that reminded me of Matthew McConaughey’s character in Dazed and Confused, except wired up. Joe was definitely a scene-stealing character that needed to be showcased more.
There wasn’t much in terms of gore. You get a couple of awesome scenes where Wyatt uses his sniping skills to blow the head off a couple of his victims. You can’t really go all out with the gore when the killer’s main weapon is a sniper rifle. On the other hand, I am going to have to give credit to the setting. The land Wyatt presided over was just so vast that it added to the mounting tension– you didn’t know where the shots were coming from. Also the fear from being stuck in a sort of desert valley– with no towns in sight– that shit is scary.
There wasn’t much in terms of gore. You get a couple of awesome scenes where Wyatt uses his sniping skills to blow the head off a couple of his victims. You can’t really go all out with the gore when the killer’s main weapon is a sniper rifle. On the other hand, I am going to have to give credit to the setting. The land Wyatt presided over was just so vast that it added to the mounting tension– you didn’t know where the shots were coming from. Also the fear from being stuck in a sort of desert valley– with no towns in sight– that shit is scary.
Carnage Park was just shy of 90 minutes, and it felt a tad too long for its own good. The cast was the saving grace of this project. They did a solid job with the weak-ass script they were given. I expected more from director and writer Mickey Keating, and I do hope, going forward, he will be producing more quality material. I wouldn’t bother giving this one a watch unless you have nothing else to do– and even then, don’t say I didn’t warn you. //Arturo Padilla
