College-age kids decide on a rad road trip, looking forward to a killer summer of partying, but unexpectedly they fall prey to an unhinged psycho named Spider (Michael Copon) who loves to mock them while pursuing and butchering them at an abandoned amusement part off the beaten path. The kids ride in a RV, hitting ole Route 66, when a fallen sign leads them to the park that will be where the vacation for most of them is stopped
dead.
Rachel Lara, donning striking red hair and a flaming sensuality to match, makes quite an impression (just plain sexy and performs a little number for the boys in front of a camp fire before settling on the lap of hunky David Namminga) among the cast. Coupon clearly looks for his inner Fred Krueger, while the rest of the cast is either ridiculously lured to him without a clue that he might be dangerous or running all over the place, scattering apart so they can be picked off one at a time. Julia Beth Stern is the cute "nerd" (she isn't really all that geeky, though, as she's relaxed with the rest of them and even wears a hoody) who finds herself as the "final girl" by film's end
there's a particular attachment she has with the killer to be revealed, too. Two twists with a ludicrous final image that is a bit too much. Also too much is the director's emphasis on slow motion, repeated action in B&W photography (that does nothing but interfere with the pace and distract from the "plot"),and ADD editing which jerks us around and doesn't truly help make the film effective. There's some clever kill gags like the use of a rigged guitar with a sharp handle, an accidental arm decapitation, and shards of glass from one of those mirror rides flying right into the face of a victim trapped in a bucket seat. There's a nasty use of a broken bottle, impaled forcibly through a victim (for extra impact, Coupon waits, allowing his victim "to breathe" and even preparing her for the inevitable death),and the knife killing of Lara's parents while the kids are outside the house by the RV definitely sets up Coupon as a nutcase with little difficulty torturing and taking the lives of innocents for kicks.
I think the amusement park could be just a bit more atmospheric and spooky, and, sadly, there's very little definition of the place (Dark Ride (2006) seems to do a better job of it),with a bit too much darkness. I also felt if they had made the amusement park more weathered, dilapidated, and aged, it could have really brought some needed eye candy to accompany the attractive cast. As far as the dialogue and acting: there's nothing significantly distinguished. If you like the usual stalk and stab slasher, this fits the formula, right down to the "family revelations" and "you thought he was gone, well don't we have a surprise for you!!!" conclusion. The butcher knife remains the go-to weapon of choice for this slasher's killer. This film decided to show the killer immediately and establish him as ruthless and cruel. Its heart is aimed for that low budget slasher audience that doesn't necessarily request much diversion from the norm.
Killer Holiday
2013
Action / Horror / Thriller
Killer Holiday
2013
Action / Horror / Thriller
Plot summary
Taylor, a former juvenile delinquent, convinces straight-'A' student, Cammi to join her and her friends on a Spring Break road trip through the California desert. Ignoring evil premonitions from Cammi, the 8 friends party heavily as they get farther and farther away from civilization along old Route 66 with a killer in pursuit. Anxiety builds as each stop along the way proves stranger and stranger until the group is lured to an abandoned amusement park with a mysterious past far off the main highway. There the group discovers that the park comes complete with broken down vintage carnival rides, shocking surprises, the smell of death, and an enticing, young tattooed serial killer named Spider.
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Killer Holiday
"Disappointing!"
This 2013 film stars Michael Copon, Julia Beth Stern and Rachel Lara. This focuses on teenage girl, Cammi (Stern) who is talked by her friend, Taylor (Lara) into going on a road trip for Spring break with some other friends. Soon, a psychotic killer, Melvin aka Spider (Copon) follows them to an abandoned carnival/amusement park where he plays a deadly game of cat and mouse. Copon isn't bad yet over the top as the killer and the film pays homage to "The Funhouse" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." It had potential for it's surroundings, but is ruined by a far-fetched plot twist. I'd probably give this a try only if you enjoy horror/thriller flicks, but it's disappointing.
Utterly terrible and lame slasher
Taking a road-trip for college, a group of friends find themselves drawn to an abandoned amusement park where their activities bring them into contact with a vicious serial killer living at the park and must find a way to stop him to get away alive.
This here was a rather atrocious slasher and only had some worthwhile moments. Among the few solid parts here is the fact that there's just an absolutely blistering pace to this one once it makes it's way to the abandoned amusement park where it goes for a strong series of action scenes in the bowels of the facility. This has some of the film's only attempts at suspense and enjoyment as the stalking present here is quite fun with the twirling-car ride stalking, the guys down with the series of traps and the different series of brawling throughout the hiding-grounds deep underground which leads to some decently-gory kills there, giving this the film's best qualities. Still, there's some pretty big flaws to this one. One of the bigger problems here is that there's yet another cast full of utterly intolerable characters that don't for the slightest second scream like a group of friends hanging out with each other much during the majority of the film. There's plenty of cruel ribbing and utterly mean pranks that are supposedly committed in the name of trying to kill time on a road-trip yet none of these really make for an engaging or enjoyable time as there's not much about it that makes them seem that worthwhile to be followed. On top of that, there's the fact that the film features so much time with them driving along to get there that it's simply a matter of not really having that much interesting stuff to do during there as the film's focus on them getting sidetracked by the different attendants at their stops as the unnecessary scenes of them in the snake's cage or going around twice to the motel owner are just perfect examples of that. Not only that, the fact that these here create such an extended running time before the killings start that the pacing is off throughout here with the utterly bland first-half before getting to the rushed stalking scenes in the later half, even though these are well aren't that impressive either with the utterly low-quality work to them and are so haphazardly shot and arranged that there's little impact to be had from them. This one also gets rather artistic for no reason here with the rather inane ability to go for a black-and-white insert for many of the various scenes makes for some rather questionable decisions during these scenes and stick out incredibly well. The main issue, though, beyond all these problems is the fact that the killer is one of the lamest and most non- threatening killers in the genre's history which really takes out so much of the film's powers here by showing him to be a deranged lunatic that makes quips at his victims, tends to come up with the lamest possible kills and is a smiling, arrogant douchebag more than a philosophical cunning mastermind as there's just no way to take him seriously and the gut reaction of his antics is simply laughter. These here are what really hold this one back so much as to be quite disappointing.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and a mild sex scene.