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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

 

directed by Jay Woelfel
USA 2010

 

Kristy (Aimee Brooks, MONSTER MAN) goes for a drive one night and wakes up in an old car on the grounds of a now-abandoned amusement park she once frequented as a child (until a frightening encounter with a bear and a creepy carny). She is chased by the empty car, encounters a civil war ghost who used to hang his victims from the trees until they were reduced to bones, nearly crushed by a bulldozer (which then flattens its driver) and comes across a paralyzed man impaled on a full-grown tree. She eventually reaches the cabin of James (Damien Maffei, CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD) whose parents took over as caretakers of the park when their house burned down (after an attempt by James and his crippled friend Dyrk to burn down the park as kids). James tries to explain away Kristy's experiences as the result of a bump to the head, but the two soon find their attempts to get out of the park blocked by killer bears, the aforementioned killer car, forties gangsters, a lake monster, evil doubles, visions of each others gory deaths, and the specter of the carny (Joe Unger, Kurt Russell's criminal cohort in the snipped opening of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) who once scared Kristy and threw James' friend Dyrk (Will Waters) off the roller coast and paralyzed him, or did he... The apparitions express anger at the parks former attendees having abandoned the park and let it fall into ruin. Kristy and James soon realize that the only way to get out of the park may be to play the carny's games and bring the park back to life. They win the first few games, but they have yet to brave the funhouse... Written and directed by Jay Woefel (BEYOND DREAM'S DOOR), CLOSED FOR THE SEASON has plenty of interesting concepts, but they are unexcitingly conveyed through exposition-heavy dialogue scenes, and the important underlying threads of the plot get lost within the overlong 112 minute running time (a little trimming would have gone a long way). Brooks and Maffei have chemistry, but their performances are unfocused and the script's insights into their characters is parsed too unevenly throughout, while Unger's carny (and the rest of the apparitions) are never scary. The CGI used to bring the park to life is largely unconvincing but used sparingly. The authentic derelict Chippewa amusement park location was used back in 2007 for Eric Stanze's moodier horror film DEADWOOD PARK.

Eric Cotenas

Posters

Theatrical Release:

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DVD Review: MTI Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

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Distribution

MTI Home Video

Region 1 - NTSC

Runtime 113:45
Video

2.32:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 4.1 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate

Audio English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles none
Features Release Information:
Studio: MTI Home Video

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.32:1

Edition Details:
• Trailer (16:9; 2:17)

DVD Release Date: August 23rd, 2011
Amaray

Chapters 2

 

Comments

MTI's screener disc features a watermarked, interlaced, anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer with 2.0 stereo audio. The trailer precedes the feature. The retail version should be 16:9 with 5.1 audio as well as behind the scenes, deleted scenes, trailers, and optional Spanish subtitles.

Some of the dialogue is hard to understand (hopefully, that is due to some problem with the downmix) and the digitally color-corrected day-for-night tinting sometimes render the image murky.

  - Eric Cotenas

 


Screen Captures

 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 


DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

 

 

Distribution

MTI Home Video

Region 1 - NTSC

 

 




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