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Fans flock to a festival celebrating the most iconic horror movies, only to discover that the charismatic showman behind the event has a diabolical agenda. As festival attendees start dying off, three teenagers – more schooled in horror-film cliches than practical knowledge about neutralizing psycho killers – must band together and battle through various madmen and monstrosities to survive.
I’ve been a huge horror fan since I was 12 years old. I’ve seen some pretty amazing horror flicks over the years but I have also seen some truly horrendous ones, not horrendous as in “a bloody great time,” horrendous as in, one of the worst movies ever made. While “Blood Fest” does not fall into that category, it does come close. The production quality and set-pieces are all impressive, it is in the film’s overall narrative where it fails. The idea is actually pretty cool, when horror fans attend a horror festival, aptly titled “Blood Fest,” once they turn up to the festival which is being held in a remote wooded area in the middle of nowhere, the gates are locked and they are all informed that they are going to die. Naturally, everyone believes it is all part of the show but when chainsaw-wielding maniacs start hacking up people, everyone goes screaming for the exits. Of course, they are all locked and with zombies, ghouls, and vampires giving chase, it is only a matter of time before no one is left standing.
That premise alone, promises a fun good time. Alas, it is not. When the owner of “Blood Fest” turns out to be a maniacal fanatic who has set up cameras everywhere throughout the park, he states that he will create the ultimate horror film, rejuvenating the genre because he feels that it has declined over the years. The chainsaw-wielding psychos I can go along with, after all, it’s not too difficult to find unhinged people in this day and age but then zombies start rising from the grave and vampires begin sinking their fangs into unsuspecting patrons and these aspects are never really explained. As with any other kind of movie, a definitive reality needs to be established and in this case, the world our main protagonists live and breathe in every day, is the same world that you and I live in, people cannot fly, they cannot walk through walls, they do not have superhero powers so when zombies and vampires and killer clowns appear out of nowhere, with no valid explanation, you have already failed.
Like so many other horror films, a group of people have to make their way throughout the park without being noticed but one by one, they succumb to death, each more grisly than the last. These characters must have seen Wes Craven’s “Scream” because they state, for those who do not understand the rules of horror movies, what they can and cannot do, in order to survive. And then naturally, everyone breaks those rules. This aspect was much more fun and more relevant in the aforementioned “Scream,” but here, it’s almost as if the filmmakers hope that the people watching this flick will have either forgotten about that movie or have never seen it. The characters are bland, uninspiring, and I actually rooted for the zombies to catch each one and slowly rip them to shreds, in the hopes it would end my suffering. The film even dares to add a big twist in its finale but by that point, you are beyond caring and are already reaching for the power button on your Blu-ray player.
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