Carnage Park (2016)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Ashley Bell, Pat Healy, Alan Ruck
Directed by Mickey Keating
With all the bells and whistles of a grimy, dusty exploitation flick, Mickey Keating’s angry shooter film, Carnage Park, starts off like a house on fire but rapidly flames out once the fueling wind dies down.
The film stars Ashley Bell (The Last Exorcism) as Vivian, a woman who’s been taken hostage by a seedy bank robber named Scorpion Joe (James Landry Hebert), and the detour to Joe’s escape becomes stonewalled when they mistakenly enter the compound of jaded Vietnam vet Wyatt (Healy). He’s been increasingly hostile towards virtually everyone since his return from the war, and he’s making people pay with the precise targeting skills of a sniper extraordinaire – this guy could shoot the hair off of a gnat’s nuts at 500 yards… but I digress.
Wyatt does not take kindly to trespassers, and not even the attempts of his brother, the local sheriff (Alan Ruck from Ferris Bueller fame), can slow down the overly protective state of mind that he’s in. Feeling like his actions are justified for the way he was treated while serving his country, Wyatt embarks on a gory shooting spree, leaving NO skull unpierced while his “hostages” search for a way to escape the madman.
The biggest issue I had with the film was the way that certain aspects were rushed on by before they could really be fully delved into, such as the relationship between Wyatt and his law-abiding brother or the intricacies of the sniper’s compound. Performances were moderately solid, with the cuter than a button Bell taking home the gold star for her portrayal of an apprehensive survivor and Healy as the man with the agitated trigger-finger, although even he at times seemed a bit tame for insanity purposes.
Overall, the film looks great with its arid, desolate, and helpless district in which it was shot, and with a bit of a stronger backstory, it really could have knocked it out of the park. All in all, I could recommend this walk in the park to anyone who wants to partake in a little unrestrained anger management… but by the time you hear the shot fired, it’ll probably already be too late.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
