A film from George A. Romero that was considered lost for decades, The Amusement Park is a surprisingly excellent short feature (it clocks in at just over 50 minutes), and one that is absolutely in line with the work that Romero did when he wasn't back in the company of his shambling ghouls.
Lincoln Maazel plays an elderly gentleman who goes for a day out in an amusement park, still heading out there after being warned by a disheveled and distressed elderly gentleman who has just returned from the experience. The amusement park is quickly shown to be a bit of a nightmare for all of the elderly people visiting it, from stalls offering very little money as they buy items of value to bumper car experiences that allow people to pass blame on to drivers they assume are too old to be driving reasonably. And it just keeps getting worse, to the point that the character played by Maazel starts to crave a moment of genuine connection with anyone else.
A work commissioned by the Lutheran Society, The Amusement Park was envisioned as a film that would show the abuse of the elderly, and how important it is to look after them. That means both protecting them from a number of perils, such as those that seek to prey on their vulnerability, and also just giving them your time and attention without making them feel like a burden. As wild and hellish as this is, it absolutely fulfils the remit. Romero seized on a great an idea that he ran with, and I have to say that it works perfectly.
Most of the stuff here is very much on the nose, but that doesn't make it any less effective. In fact, on this occasion, the more blunt and obvious the mistreatment of the characters onscreen the more it should give people watching it a wake up call. Writer Wally Cook stabs at the heart of a major issue that has, if anything, only grown worse over the decades since this was made (back in 1973). We see it every day, even if we don't recognise it immediately. Every advert that uses fear about people leaving their loved ones unprepared after their passing, every company that offers to "free up the value of your home", and the general feeling of being a bit left behind as younger generations find more of their time taken up by phones, computers, and anything else that stops them from wanting to just spend some time with, or talk to, their parents/grandparents.
Romero doesn't overtly pick from his bag of horror movie tropes, despite the amusement park setting being rife with imagery we've seen used throughout the genre so often, but he contents himself with building an atmosphere that starts to become oppressively disorientating and bleak, arguably culminating in a beautiful and horrifying moment that shows the main character breaking down after trying to tell a short story to a young child, only for her to then be moved away by her mother.
Maazel is superb in the main role, although all of the cast does a very good job. Considering the budget, I suspect that many non-actors were put in the mix, but you can't really tell. That's helped by the fact that many of the elderly people onscreen, as in life, are talked over and left confused by others trying to bamboozle them and frighten them into giving up their money, assets, and rights.
Of course it's a curio piece, but The Amusement Park holds up surprisingly well as a strong outing from Romero, a film that shows his continuing attempts to mix intelligence and social commentary within some loose horror genre confines. I'd go so far as to say that this is in his top five, personally, and the other four would be Martin and his first three "Dead" movies.
8/10
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