Dark Ride (2006)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Craig Singer

Writers:

Robert Dean Klein (writer)
Craig Singer (writer)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The Last Ride You'll Ever Take...

Plot:

A group of six friends on a road trip stop off at an amusement park attraction named 'Dark Ride', unaware that a psychopath who brutally murdered two girls, has just escaped a mental institution and is seeking refuge there.

Plot Keywords:

Road Trip | Amusement Park | Psychopath | Twin Sister | Pirate Flag

Cast

Jamie-Lynn Sigler	...	Cathy
Patrick Renna	...	Bill
David Clayton Rogers	...	Steve (as David Rogers)
Alex Solowitz	...	Jim
Andrea Bogart	...	Jen
Jennifer Tisdale	...	Liz (as Jennifer Kelly Tisdale)
Brittney Coyle	...	Colleen
Chelsey Coyle	...	Samantha
Dave Warden	...	Jonah
Jim Cody Williams	...	Ticket Taker
Erin Dawson	...	Pretty Hippie
Jack Doner	...	Old Man
David Ury	...	Attendant #1
Atticus Todd	...	Attendant #2
Steven Mattila	...	Homeless Man

MPAA:

Rated R for strong grisly horror violence and gore, sexuality, nudity, language and some drug content.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | UK:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA (www.videoezy.com.au/default.aspx?page=detail&itemId=46437) | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

My2Centences

Trivia:

"Dark ride" is an old term used in the carnival business to describe rides that involve getting in a cart or buggy and traversing a dark, enclosed building designed to have characters or props appear at intervals, designed to surprise or entertain.

Goofs:

Plot holes: In the beginning of the film a number of newspaper headlines are shown including one that reads "Killer Sentenced to Life in Mental Institution." Yet later in the film Jim says that he read an article about the event that said that the killer had died. Bill then reveals that the media had reported that the killer had been killed, and the fact that he was locked up in a mental institution was a secret known only to people involved in the case.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Colleen: Looks like it's closed.
Samantha: Don't be such a wimp. The guy's right there.

Movie Connections:

References "E! True Hollywood Story" (1996)

Worth a look

Dark Ride

It starts out with two young girls being brutally murdered by a psychopath that lives inside an amusement park attraction call "Dark Ride". After being incarcerated for over a decade, the killer escapes from the mental hospital and takes refuge inside the now abandoned Dark Ride. Meanwhile, a group of college students on Spring Break decide to spend the night inside the abandoned amusement park ride for thrills, and to save money rather than spend it in a hotel. This is where they start getting knocked off one by one by the killer who now wears a childlike mask to conceal his facial deformity. I thought this was a decent flick. The writing was not great, but there was some great jokes within the film itself. There is a great kill scene that involves decapitation and oral sex. It was good stuff. I'll definitely be looking for this on DVD. There was also some recognizable actors within this film like Jamie-Lynn Di Scala (The Sopranos), and Patrick Renna (The Sandlot). The only problem I had with this movie was the ending. I think it tried too hard to have a twist ending like the Saw films, but it was worth the 1hr 50 min of my time.

After watching this film, I can see that the director borrowed elements of Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Tobe Hooper's : The Funhouse, which there was a number of similarities between The Funhouse and Dark Ride range from teenagers spending the night within the attraction to being hunted down by a deformed killer to the creepy puppets and horror props that create the eerie ambiance of the films.