{"id":21240,"date":"2016-07-01T18:24:15","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T22:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=21240"},"modified":"2016-08-21T08:31:54","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T12:31:54","slug":"carnage-park-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/01\/carnage-park-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Carnage Park (2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"carnagepark-1\"<\/a>Two bank robbers take a hostage in rural California after their botched robbery attempt.\u00a0 They take her on the road where they run afoul of an armed man who likes to go hunting for a special kind of game. \u201cCarnage Park\u201d is written and directed by Mickey Keating, who also did the very good \u201cPod,\u201d as well as \u201cUltra Violence,\u201d \u201cRitual,\u201d and \u201cDarling\u201d which have all been on this reviewer\u2019s radar, alas victims to the classic situation of too many movies, too little time.\u00a0 Keating knows his craft and how to build an effective film.\u00a0 This one being well written and directed, however for all its violence, it is not as effective as it should be.<\/p>\n

The movie starts with a bang and maintains its violence and tension for a while, however, once the character of Vivian finds herself on the mad man\u2019s property, the whole thing becomes routine cat and mouse and fizzles out which is unfortunate as her character, up to that point, was built as someone the viewers can care about.\u00a0 The story here, once it finds its groove doesn\u2019t go off course which means there are no real twists and turns to it and it becomes unfortunately predictable.\u00a0 The characters created by Keating are interesting but not given much of an arc or evolution except for Vivian who gets a more to work with. These characters are brought to life by a competent cast, including the very charming (and adorable) Ashley Bell as Vivian.<\/p>\n

Bell has some experience, however this is the first performance seen by this reviewer that brought her to the front and added her to a pack of newer actresses to be watched.\u00a0 As almost the entire movie rests on her performance, she did very well with only a couple of lesser moments.\u00a0 Playing opposite her are James Landry Hebert as Scorpion Joe, one of the bank robbers who take her hostage, and Pat Healy as Wyatt Moss, the gun happy mad man who\u2019s made her his game for the day.\u00a0 Both turn in good performances, Hebert gives off a crazed desperation type of vibe, while Moss gives off a more calculated, calm performance.\u00a0 In a small cameo, viewers should recognize Ferris Bueller\u2019s best friend, actor Alan Ruck, stealing a few scenes.<\/p>\n

The setting here is its own character.\u00a0 In the sun-bleached desert of California in what looks like the 1970s, everything is perfect for the time period.\u00a0 From the d\u00e9cor, to the buildings, to the cars, to the clothes, et al., the production design by Angel Herrera and the art direction by Priscilla Watson are on point.\u00a0 Their work is highlighted by cinematographer Mac Fisker, a regular of Keating\u2019s films, which shows the locations as perfectly deserted with well selected framing and focus on details most would not notice.\u00a0 Also worth noting is the music by Giona Ostinelli which works with the scenes and adds mood to the sometimes over-exposed images.\u00a0 The piece at the end of the film is very reminiscent of films like \u201cThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre,\u201d perhaps even a bit too much as the film is already packed with homages to other films and art pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarnage Park\u201d is a violent, grimy piece of cinema with good performances.\u00a0 The story, based on a real crime, starts off very interesting but unfortunately becomes routine once the lead character starts being chased by the big baddie.\u00a0 The violence is well done and brutal, making the film an experience in itself; however it\u2019s not enough to be fully engrossing.\u00a0 The first part of the film moves at a good pace, but it eventually starts to feel slow with a dew overly long sequences in complete darkness which are hard to follow and consequently hard to care about.\u00a0 The film seems to want to be a western, a horror film, a drama, etc but can\u2019t seem to settle on a main focus.<\/p>\n

For all its violence, Carnage Park brings a question:\u00a0 Can a film be both brutal and boring at the same time?<\/p>\n

As with IFC\u2019s other recent release, \u201cIntruder,\u201d \u201cCarnage Park\u201d has a mid-credit scene which feels out of place for this style of film.<\/p>\n

On VOD and in select theaters on July 1st<\/sup>, 2016; it is slated for a limited run at San Diego\u2019s Digital Gym Cinema starting on July 8th<\/sup>, 2016. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two bank robbers take a hostage in rural California after their botched robbery attempt.\u00a0 They take her on the road where they run afoul of an armed man who likes to go hunting for a special kind of game. \u201cCarnage Park\u201d is written and directed by Mickey Keating, who also did the very good \u201cPod,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[58,170,240,391,477,501,703,1012,1013,1087],"class_list":["post-21240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-c","tag-crime","tag-gangster","tag-horror","tag-indie-film","tag-mystery","tag-survival","tag-suspense","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21245,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21240\/revisions\/21245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}