Hell Fest (2018)

[Leisher]

There's a traveling horror festival that comes to town. A girl and her friends head out to enjoy it without realizing a serial killer lurks inside.

I didn't hate this. Yes, the victims are dumb and there are a lot of coincidences. Plus, the killer must have the supernatural abilities of knowing horror festival layouts, themes (you'll see why in the final scene), when he can get away with murder in crowds, and knowing where his intended victims will be heading. This is in a park filled wall to wall with people.

I should have hated this film, but it works for a few reasons:
1. The main girl (Amy Forsyth) is really hot in a "girl next door" way. Plus, she's the best actor in the film. That is super important to making her likable. I was genuinely rooting for her. She is really the main reason this film works.
2. He's just a killer. No dead mother revenge, no cults, no aliens, and so on. This is just a serial killer. And the mask didn't suck.
3. The teens/young adults act like moronic teens/young adults. It's quite perfect. They're focused on themselves, they say really stupid shit, they act up for attention, and so on. I honestly really bought into the detail of the writing and direction on this specific point. The whole group were annoying, but young ignorance and peacocking annoying, not "get the fuck off my screen and die already" annoying. Even the most annoying character grew on me as she showed signs of humanity. Point being, the characters had some depth and you don't just see them as cannon fodder.

There's stuff to hate too. The aforementioned supernatural abilities of the killer being the main thing. They do, thankfully, avoid some horror cliches, but they do hit a few others, which is ok, with one exception. The killer isn't treated like his victims by the script. What do I mean by that? Well, his victims are all level 1 newbs with 10 hit points. He's probably level 12 with 143 hit points. You might consider that a spoiler because you will know what to expect, but let's be honest, when's the last time you saw a horror movie where the killer is felled with the same simple attack that kills his victims? You'll pretty much hate the ending too. It's just ridiculously unrealistic. It's not an action or anything, but a scene that acts like an epilogue.

One other thing I loved, and I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the haunted festival is filled with jump scares. Thus, you are exposed to them along with the characters. However, the overall story with the killer is a fantastic contrast because it isn't about jump scares. Sure, there are some, but it's mostly a slow build type of horror of a killer stalking and toying with his prey.

Wait until October and this would probably make a decent movie to add to your horror movie marathon.