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Post by Mattsby on May 6, 2021 17:30:08 GMT
“Recently discovered and restored 46 years after its completion by the George A. Romero Foundation and produced by Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, The Amusement Park stars Martin’s Lincoln Maazel as an elderly man who finds himself disoriented and increasingly isolated as the pains, tragedies and humiliations of aging in America are manifested through roller coasters and chaotic crowds. Commissioned by the Lutheran Society, the film is perhaps Romero’s wildest and most imaginative movie, an allegory about the nightmarish realities of growing older, and is an alluring snapshot of the filmmaker’s early artistic capacity and style and would go on to inform his ensuing filmography.”
Releasing on the Shudder platform -- June 8th
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Post by TerryMontana on May 6, 2021 17:50:02 GMT
This looks like a total mindfuck.
I'm so in!!!!
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Post by pacinoyes on May 6, 2021 18:32:04 GMT
“Recently discovered and restored 46 years after its completion by the George A. Romero Foundation and produced by Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, The Amusement Park stars Martin’s Lincoln Maazel as an elderly man who finds himself disoriented and increasingly isolated as the pains, tragedies and humiliations of aging in America are manifested through roller coasters and chaotic crowds. Releasing on the Shudder platform -- June 8th
So this is basically the Hell I go through every day is that it?  |
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Post by Mattsby on May 6, 2021 19:04:37 GMT
 Awesome poster. Tony Williams, Romero's decades-long profiler, saw a print in the '80s and said, “The film is far too powerful for American society then and now. It must remain under lock and key never seeing the light of the day.” Gotta admire Romero who was, essentially, sponsoring Meals on Wheels and made a disturbing little Twilight Zone episode. I'm kind of in speechless awe at these unearthed classics (The Other Side of the Wind the key one) .....we're also, reportedly, gonna see The Day the Clown Cried around 2024. |
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Post by theycallmemrfish on May 6, 2021 19:26:52 GMT
I don't know about this one...
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Post by TerryMontana on May 6, 2021 19:35:31 GMT
The Day the Clown Cried...
Not happening.
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Post by Mattsby on May 6, 2021 19:50:12 GMT
The Day the Clown Cried... Not happening. Jerry Lewis gave a copy to Library of Congress provided they don't screen it til 2024. Reports that it's incomplete seem due to post production sound/etc. - unless it's truly a disaster, I'd hope it gets a funded touch up and eventual release. |
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Post by TerryMontana on May 6, 2021 20:09:43 GMT
The Day the Clown Cried... Not happening. Jerry Lewis gave a copy to Library of Congress provided they don't screen it til 2024. Reports that it's incomplete seem due to post production sound/etc. - unless it's truly a disaster, I'd hope it gets a funded touch up and eventual release. Yeah, I'm familiar with the story. But I highly doubt we'll ever see it. |
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Post by Joaquim on May 7, 2021 0:47:29 GMT
Holy fuck yes
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 6, 2021 18:16:14 GMT
Remember - streams Tuesdaytriblive.com/aande/movies-tv/tv-talk-george-a-romero-transports-viewers-to-the-amusement-park/“ The Amusement Park” isn’t the only unearthed, unreleased Romero production to become available this year. In April, an independently produced, failed Romero pilot for a TV series was released on DVD. Desrocher-Romero says there’s another recently discovered Romero short film that truly was thought to be lost.
“I’m working on George’s very first film that he made in 1961,” Desrocher-Romero said of the 21-minute silent movie, now known as “Romero’s Elegy.” “It’s extraordinary. He meant to add music to it, add narration to it but he got busy doing commercials so he put it away and never got it done. We’ve knitted together some of the elements.” |
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Post by Mattsby on Jun 6, 2021 18:30:47 GMT
I've already set up my Shudder free week trial, which has put me on a much-needed horror streak.  It's great how committed his wife is to releasing his stuff... now if only Oja Kodar would ease her vice grip of The Deep and Don Quixote..... |
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 7, 2021 21:40:59 GMT
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Post by TerryMontana on Jun 8, 2021 5:26:02 GMT
Hyped!!!
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Post by Mattsby on Jun 9, 2021 19:08:44 GMT
Posting here - call the cops, or move the thread so we don't maroon the movie info/discussion! This delivers on the promise of it... a stirring little movie with disconcerting textures and an all too true theme pushed to its extreme. I wasn't expecting the gags... you can laugh at the bumper cars and cafe joke... but then later, when the old man is reading Three Little Pigs the humor suddenly switches and we're left with a central sadness. Some scenes work well like that, but mostly it's an effective disheveling loop and also kinda fun to try to spot the repeating background actors. Its main flaw.... and perhaps keeps it from being a gem, is the awfully sloshed sound that isn't only kinda warped flat but piercing on the ears too. pacinoyes made a great suggestion to watch on mute with subtitles , I'll try that next go. Also great ironic trivia: the lead actor lived to be 106y/o. Take that, Time! |
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 9, 2021 19:47:05 GMT
This is one of my favorite Romero's and it has elements of my 2 faves of his - Martin and Night of The Living Dead too. On some level the suffering the main character endures is like the suffering Martin inflicts on the first victim we see - existing and sustained only to be used and exploited. You see it in the way the rides and life events intrude on the "plot": ie the roller coaster promises the excitement of youth, the bumper cars the more "practical" responsibilities of life ("driving", "transportation" .......with insurance men!), the merry go round a ride for children or the elderly (who are racing to become like the other in many ways) to observe since it is neither scary (not yet!) nor dynamic like the roller coaster.......and the gut wrenching scenes of how those with wealth will exploit you through life (the old man and old lady and her running to the pay phone, the poor people devouring his food when he invites them to share and which descends to rodents feasting on it). There's a brilliant scene where a young couple asks what "their future will be like" ....."when they are old" and they can not fathom it .....exactly how the central character is at the end - finding everything baffling - he can not fathom it either. So what does the male in the young couple do? He attacks him to "prove" his strength, control, virility and sense of purpose - smartly conceived scene I thought........ Like Night of the Living Dead the "consumers" at the amusement park are zombies themselves - shuffling mindlessly through these "amusements" - their movements slow and lumbering like zombies with their walkers, canes and wheelchairs - and that which are simultaneously rights of passage, and Death. When he says "there's NOTHING out there" - it is rather that there is "too much out there".......it reminded me of whenever you talk to a very old man (not me, shut up!) about his life - how the scope and breadth of it is almost incomprehensible to him in his current state of frailty. If you've never done that - just read an obituary of any man of grand accomplishment and you will have the same feeling FOR them - ie how could they have done this over the course of a single life?.....you assume their life experience and the feeling of being overwhelmed - just at an earlier age........kinda loved it.  |
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Post by Mattsby on Jun 9, 2021 20:49:43 GMT
There's a brilliant scene where a young couple asks what "their future will be like" ....."when they are old" and they can not fathom it .....exactly how the central character is at the end - finding everything baffling - he can not fathom it either. So what does the male in the young couple do? He attacks him to "prove" his strength, control, virility and sense of purpose - smartly conceived scene I thought........ Like Night of the Living Dead the "consumers" at the amusement park are zombies themselves - shuffling mindlessly through these "amusements" - their movements slow and lumbering like zombies with their walkers, canes and wheelchairs - and that which are simultaneously rights of passage, and Death. Yess... that crystal ball scene is a highlight, especially of Romero's feverish, punchy editing. He was unsung as an editor... Season of the Witch is crisp in that regard... and he makes the weak ensemble of The Crazies seem to fit bc he keeps pushing scenes forward, in, and out. And he was so sharp as a writer - many of those earlier movies hold up bc he was so clever around themes... and knew his horror place and how to use that. Like with the darkly brilliant Martin...how messed up and unseductive that behavior is when it's not from a vampire! and there's a lot of those iconic-nods - The Crazies besides the scarily relevant plot, it opens with a kid pretending to be a zombie, and then a guy imitates Dracula teasingly to his gf.../ And there's a funny sight gag I remember in Season of the Witch where it seems like the husband is a zombie but he's just very slowly doing sit-ups with his arms out. They're more than just winks, though.... like the trudging lot and that dragging cane in Amusement Park... the presence and indifference of horror in the mundane.... I also loved the "hosting" intro/outro to Amusement - that emptiness around him. |
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 9, 2021 21:02:39 GMT
WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA. This is the first I've heard of this.  |
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Post by TerryMontana on Jun 26, 2021 11:17:57 GMT
I was high hopes for this and it mostly delivered.
You don't get to realize the whole point of the movie by yourself, the lead actor gives it away in the prologue. And many scenes seem very biased. But some others are terrific and very well directed by a young Romero. The bumping cars sequence was hilarious. But as the movie goes on, things get serious! No more fun...
The crystal ball scene was the heart of the movie, a shuttering scene. And the finale with the fairytale reading... just devastating.
Oh, I almost forgot: What's wrong with the sound? Makes your ears hurt. They supposedly restored both video and audio, right?
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Post by Mattsby on Oct 31, 2021 0:44:54 GMT
Big find, as it was Romero’s preferred, original cut - he had thought no copies existed. Curious about it…..but I don’t think MARTIN can be much improved! and I like the color! |
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Post by Mattsby on Mar 28, 2022 18:16:42 GMT
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Post by Martin Stett on Apr 29, 2022 23:21:31 GMT
I'm scared to go outside now. Truly one of the most unsettling horror movies I've ever seen.
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Post by Martin Stett on Apr 30, 2022 3:05:35 GMT
This makes a great companion piece to The Father. I think that Zeller tried to do what Romero had already perfected: show the nightmare of living with old age in a world that has no value for someone who can't contribute. It's one of the saddest, most sobering movies I've seen in a long time, and all you Father fans ought to check it out. This is also one of the greatest pieces of surreal horror I've seen. The amusement park as a topsy-turvy microcosm of the uncaring world is a great little trick, allowing for so many moments that wouldn't work in a more "grounded" story: the bumper car insurance scene  is an obvious standout, but also the things like the Sanctuary closing for the day are the kinds of things that only work if you throw in a dash of the fantastical, and the dreamworld of the park is a great way to make those work. The more I look back on this, the more I love it. I was pretty tired from work when I watched it, but I still can't shake it hours later. Not sure how I'm gonna sleep tonight. |
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is an obvious standout, but also the things like the Sanctuary closing for the day 