THE AMUSEMENT PARK (1973) Movie Review

The Amusement Park (1973) d. George A. Romero (USA) (54 min)

This recently uncovered and restored “lost” film from the Zombie King is a decided curiosity, with as much going on behind the scenes as in front of the camera. I’m sure most of the folks reading this are familiar with the backstory by now, so I’ll keep it to a thumbnail version: Apparently, Romero was approached by a religious organization, The Lutheran Society of Western Pennsylvania, about creating a PSA about the ill treatment of the elderly and highlighting the need for empathy and support. What Romero subsequently delivered is an Expressionistic nightmare of an older gent (Lincoln Maazel, who would later star as Martin’s vengeful vampire-killing uncle) trapped inside an amusement park filled with attractions that highlight the ageist plight. (“You must be this old, and a limited fixed income and no preexisting conditions, to ride this ride…”)

MARTIN (1977) movie review

Martin (1977) d. Romero, George A. (USA)

Romero, having already placed his indelible stamp on the zombie genre in 1968, took on the bloodsuckers nearly a decade later with equally impressive (if not as widely copied) results. Subverting the entire vampire mythology, the erstwhile Pittsburgh writer/director creates a sympathetic portrayal of a troubled teenager named Martin (brilliantly played by John Amplas) who believes himself to be an 88-year-old vampire.

THE DEFINITIVE DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD (2012) movie review

On the audio commentary for this latest iteration of his groundbreaking behind-the-scenes Document of the Dead, filmmaker Roy Frumkes compares his film to Michael Apted’s Up series (7 Up, 14 Up, 21 Up, etc.) in that he feels that his life has somehow become intertwined with that of his doc’s subject, George A. Romero. While a pronounced exaggeration alongside with Apted’s landmark half-century-and-counting achievement, Frumkes’ point is that with each new version, he has to choose what archival footage to excise in order to make room for the new. Sadly, the truth is that this 2012 release (dubbed “The Definitive Document of the Dead”) shows only too clearly that – arguably like Romero’s work itself – the past is where the good stuff lies.

While teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1978, Frumkes was looking for a documentary subject and decided that, while there had been several behind-the-scenes films made for Hollywood studio efforts, there had not been many (if any) that covered the making-of an independent feature. Denied the ability to shoot in NY or California due to union rules, the instructor learned of Romero’s impending Dawn of the Dead shoot at the Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsburgh. Thanks to an already existing relationship with Dawn producer Richard Rubenstein, Frumkes was granted access to the set where he and a small crew (comprised mainly of SVA students) shot for several nights alongside Romero, Tom Savini, Ken Foree, et al., capturing delicious celluloid tidbits of a masterpiece in the making.