Hell Fest: Blu-Ray Review

Available now on Blu-ray and Ultra HD is the theme park slasher flick, “Hell Fest”, directed by Gregory Plotkin (“Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension”).  Slashers happen to be one of my favorite sub-genres in horror and since hauntings have been all the rage in theatrical horror for quite some time, the masked killer flicks have been somewhat scarce.  With the success of last year’s “Halloween”, I have a feeling we will see a bunch more of these in the coming year.  So how does “Hell Fest” measure up?  Unfortunately, not so well.

Much of “Hell Fest” is set at a spooky carnival and centered on a group of friends out for a night of scares. Little-do-they-know, there is a vicious killer in their midst and the masked figure has set his sights on the unsuspecting teens.  “Hell Fest” isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t contain a single terrifying moment. Thankfully it at least earns its’ “R” rating and does deliver the blood.  What works best to me is the designs in some of the haunts. The is a competent production and Plotkin does have talent, but the screenplay which was worked on by 3 writers is much to be desired.

“Hell Fest” leaves things open for a potential sequel, however unless it makes a killing on digital and Blu-ray, that will probably never happen.

By: Marc Ferman