Escape From Kings Park

Director(s) - Samuel Oswald Stone (How to Make An Independent Film) and Jennifer Valdes (Jack 'O' Slasher)
Starring - Mara Lee Gilbert (Twilight Theatre), Rani Karnik (Descent of Man), and Bettina Skye (Junk Food and Horror Films)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Cinema Gold!"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     The indie horror community is one that is forever growing.  Just when I thought I have at least heard of a majority of the indie flicks being made I then come across a few hundred more making it impossible to review them all (at least it's a goal mother fuckers!).  Back in December I was on the look out for something a little different to watch and review.  A friend of mine let me know about the flick Escape from Kings Park.  I searched Facebook for the film and found the page.  The film looked fun so I reached out to the page for a review copy.  Sadly, the film was not finished so I had to wait.  Last month the page sent me a message that the film was finished but I was in the middle of moving and when things started to settle down my wife gave birth so things have been crazy here.  I was finally able to sit down and watch the film so thank you for sending me the link!

     The film follows a group of twenty-something as they travel to an abandoned asylum with a video camera to explore the property.  While inside the building they are stalked and picked off one by one.  We then learn that one of the girls survived and that it was her deranged mother that killed her friends.  She then attacks her mother and kills her.  We then jump back and learn that the young girls mother was once a famous indie director that was in an abusive relationship.  One day her husband goes too far and she kills him with a meat tenderizer.  After this incident she goes are an artistic endeavor and starts killing other indie filmmakers that she feels are unoriginal.  She then records these murders as part of a faux documentary, that is until she gets caught.

      When it comes to indie horror you never know what you will get.  Sometimes you get lucky and catch an amazing indie flick that surpasses all expectations.  Sadly, this is not something that you get every time.  Sometimes you get a movie that just veers off somewhere after the film starts rolling and goes south from there.  That is what happened with Escape from Kings Park.  The film started out with a great premise. Then the film turned sour when we got what felt like another film inside of a film.  In all honesty, the film felt like it was a movie and it's sequel all wrapped into one.  The first story involving the curious twenty-somethings was fun and once that story unfolded the film should have ended.  We then get the second story that was rather bad but bold.  This story was very promising but was not executed the way it needed to be done to be more effective.  The acting in this one is hit or miss.  The acting in the first story was amateurish but showed a lot of heart.  The cast in that segment was very excited for their roles but lacked the experience needed to make it great.  The second story felt out of place and the cast showed this as well.  The cameo appearance from Dave Campfield was solid and fun but the Bradley Creanzo cameo felt like it was added on the spot with him unaware of the what was going on until later.  The story for this film is hit or miss like I stated earlier. The first segment was solid and created a fun found footage flick.  However, the second portion of the film was a very ambitious story but did not turn out the way it should have.  Finally, the film does have some decent kills and decent special effects.  The kills are nothing new but they were still fun to see and the special effects were just enough to pull the gags off.  Overall, Escape from Kings Park is a film that could have been an indie home run but problems in story and continuity took away from the overall film.