Amusement (2009) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 2009
Director: John Simpson
Cast: Katheryn Winnick, Laura Breckenridge, Jessica Lucas, Tad Hilgenbrink, Keir O'Donnell, Reid Scott
Rating: R
Release Date: 20 January 2009 (DVD)
Running Time: 1 hour 24 minutes 33 seconds

The Movie Review

Amusement film still 1


AMUSEMENT
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Amusement... A word that in this horror film goes 2 ways! First as a word serves as a premise of the "terror" within. And second, as a word that defines the overall quality of it, Amusing!

The film starts with something stupid but it then slowly but surely develops into something clever, smart, and brainy. The first part of the movie is very similar with the opening scene of The Hitcher (2007) and House of Wax (2005), which the audiences were expected to leave their brain at home and not to think how college students could be that unaware. This makes sense, since the script of Amusement and The Hitcher were written by the same person. But Amusement is smarter, a lot smarter, the script slowly but surely develops into a very exciting horror flick. There's even a boo scare that I actually almost jump off my seat, and I'm not fond of Boo Scares since they're lame, but this one rocks!

The story is about three college students, Tabitha (Katheryn Winnick), Lisa (Jessica Lucas), and Shelby (Laura Breckenridge) who used to be friends when they were kids. They're tricked and trapped in an abandoned building by a person with demented taste of jokes. The girls are forced to endure psychological terror from a person that used to be their friend. That's it, it's simple, it's smart but the "gathering" of those three chicks is also the biggest flaw in Amusement.

Now, because this is a good horror flick, so let me lay down the flaws first. No matter how serious the cast giving their performances, the script could not make the audience rooting for the heroines. What did the girls do to deserve such painful experience, were they that mean? Or being beautiful simply a sin? I just couldn't care much about either Shelby, Lisa and Tabitha. And second of all, it's said that the villain has got the most distinctive laughter, sorry to say it's not. And as the real face of the villain unveiled, I felt like seeing one of the nerd (who also the protagonist) from National Lampoon's entries. He's just not such a mystery.

Now for the best part. The pace is just awesome! And the overall terror section of the script is just brilliant! There was almost no time for me to catch my breath, either I was enjoying the mystery and the fear itself or thinking about the plot. Many twists lying around not just for the sake of making Amusement "cool", but the twists are relevant to the storyline. And considering the mask of the clown which reminds me of Stephen King's It (1990), gladly Amusement far exceeds It. Considering the mask, had the villain wear it more often, it would've been an even greater horror movie.

And kudos for all the actors and actresses, what a splendid performances. I could truly enjoy their facial expressions of fear and of confusion, from the leading cast to the supporting cast, great. The camerawork is also clever in picking the right angles, it combines artistic value and eeriness quite well. And last but not least the soundtrack that is effective in helping to build up the tension. Amusement should be able to amuse horror fans and general moviegoers alike. Only to note, there is one scene that will make those general moviegoers cringe.

Amusement movie screenshot 2