Amusement (2009)

I sat down to watch Amusement tonight, to try and keep up with my weekly posting here. I selected Amusement for a couple of different reasons. Back in November of 2007, I managed to watch the 8 Films To Die For at the theater. I didn’t get to this last time, which I am still bitter about. One of the trailers, that played before each and every film, was for the film Amusement. That was the last I had heard about it. A few months over a year later, it was released straight to DVD. Since I was force fed the trailer eight times in a row, you would think I wouldn’t want to see the film at all. Enough time has passed that I forgot, mostly, about the trailer. The other reason I selected this film, is because Laura Breckenridge shows up in it. You may remember that I gushed all about her in my review for Hit And Run, which you can find in the older posts on this blog. I single out movies for odd reasons sometimes, I’m not afraid to admit that.

Amusement has four acts to it. In the first act we meet Shelby (Laura Breckenridge), and Rob (Tad Hilgenbrink). The couple is returning home after a weekend getaway, that apparently didn’t end well. To give them credit, they aren’t fighting, just not in complete agreement. While traveling down the highway, Rob gets in between a semi-truck and a SUV, forming up so they all can go the same speed. They all pull over for gas at the same time, which is when Shelby sees a girl looking out of the semi’s windows. The truck driver informs them that they will be taking the back roads since the highway is supposed to be backed up further ahead. While following the semi, Rob also sees the girl, this time holding up a “help me” sign. Seconds later, the girl is meeting up with their windshield.

In the second act we meet Tabitha (Katheryn Winnick). Tabitha shows up at her relatives house, either to take over for the babysitter, or just showing up to see her cousins. Either way, she finds out the babysitter that was supposed to be there, isn’t. The boys have a good laugh between them about the babysitter though. Once Tabitha gets the boys to bed, she goes to to the spare room, which is full of clowns. There happens to be a life sized clown in a wooden rocking chair as well. When her aunt calls, Tabitha tells her that she doesn’t like the creepy looking clown in the chair. Of course the aunt has no idea what Tabitha is talking about, because the clown is an actual person. Clown chases girl, and well…you get the point.

In act three, we meet Lisa (Jessica Lucas). Lisa is out with her boyfriend, Dan (Reid Scott). When Lisa returns to her place, she discovers that Cat (Fernanda Dorogi), the woman she lives with, is not home. Lisa then calls up Dan, and has him come over. The next day, Cat still hasn’t shown up. Lisa puts on her detective hat, and goes in search of her friend. The last place she knew Cat to be, turns out to be a very creepy place. The same guy keeps answering the door, who refuses to help Lisa out. But he is happy to kill Dan. The last act ties everything together.

Thus is the mess that is Amusement. It plays out like a horror anthology, until you figure out that all the stories are connected some how. The fact that this film has a running time of 85 minutes, throw out a few minutes for opening and closing credits, and you get four stories that don’t have time to play out properly. It isn’t until the end of the second act, or close to half way through the film, that a hint is dropped that maybe these stories are all tied together. That only leaves the question of why? I think that Amusement would have worked a lot better knowing from the start that the three girls knew each other at some point in their pasts. Given the short run time, I also feel it would have worked better with a straight start to finish story line, instead of breaking it up into three acts with completely different people in each one. By breaking it up the way they did, it just ends up confusing people. By the time I had put everything together, I really didn’t care anymore.

There are some pretty good effects to be found. The main one being cuts down the front and back, with the skin pulled to the side. It looks very real actually, but I had to wonder how the person was still alive. When I found out, I had to admit it was a good surprise. There is also another nice effect right at the end of the film. In truth, not a lot of gore, but it was enough I thought. I was a little disappointed with the acting. Not that it was bad or anything. It was because Laura Breckenridge had the smallest role of the three leads. I thought she did an ok job with what little she was given. This is the second film I have watched for each of the three actresses. Katheryn Winnick has the biggest role in the film, and carries it well. The other film I watched that she is in was Satan’s Little Helper. I also liked Jessica Lucas, but hated her character. I also watched Lucas in Cloverfield.

The reason I didn’t care for Lisa is because of how stupid her character ended up being. She talks her boyfriend into finding a way to get into the Bed & Breakfast (or whatever the place was supposed to be), to see if he can find her friend. When he never comes back out, does she call the police? No she just keeps calling his cell phone and leaving messages. It is things like that, along with the confusing plot, that makes Amusement not work. When it is revealed what is going on, it will probably leave you saying something like: “You’re serious? They couldn’t come up with a better reason than that?” Maybe good for a watch on a slow day, otherwise I would suggest skipping over it. Too bad it didn’t work out better.

2 out of 5 Sometimes trying to outsmart us isn’t a good thing