Madman
R4 DVD
Trailer
Park of Terror is one of those movie gems you do not come across often; mixing
together cult, exploitation and horror genres it is outrageous gore ridden fun.
Matched with a hard rock hillbilly soundtrack and a great sense of humour this
is truly a marvellous adaptation of the Imperium comic book series.
The
film opens like a classic work of exploitation cinema, Norma lives in a broken
down trailer park filled with rednecks, inbreds and hillbillies, but wants a
better life. Her boyfriend has promised to help her escape from the life of
squalor, abuse and violence but when he arrives to take her on a date things go
horribly wrong. Taunting and abuse lead to his death; he is skewered by a metal
fence post. Norma is both bereft with grief and furious, as she wanders
confused and bewildered aimlessly along the dusty track leading away from the
park she meets a strange heavy metal character who blocks her way.
This
strange man reaches into the back of his van which is filled with snakes and
one turns into a gun. He offers her the opportunity for revenge but she does
not realize the cost, you see he is the devil and she has sold her soul and the
souls of all those she kills. She slaughters everyone in the trailer park,
turns on the gas and relaxes with a smoke waiting for the park to explode.
For
years stories abound about people going missing when they travel past the park,
tourists, children even locals aren’t spared.
It
is twenty years later and a group of dysfunctional teens associated with their
youthful pastor are on the way to the mountains for a retreat. They are a
motley bunch and clearly don’t take the religious ravings of their youth leader
especially seriously. As they head into a rainy night the preacher takes a
wrong turn and distracted by one of the group writes off the van. They see a
sign for a local trailer park and with no mobile phone reception decide to ask
for help.
They
are met by the beautiful Norma, young, sexy and alluring, who encourages them
to stay the night and since there seems to be no-one else at the park they have
a choice of cabins. As they settle down to sleep the previous occupants of the
park, now eternally undead zombies, come out to play. It is fun to watch how
the various failings of the youngsters and their preacher are exploited by the
undead, all to a Southern rock beat. The preacher is first to go as he falls
head over heels in lust with Norma and as she reveals her “true face” he loses
his head, literally. Soon all the zombies are in on the action, a young man
with a chip on his shoulder and obsessed with sex, is shown what it is like to
be “penetrated” like a woman and then turned into beef jerky (he now learns
what treating women like pieces of meat really costs!). The demons at first
explore the fears of the teens killing them via ironic means; however, this
only lasts so long before the whole Trailer Park becomes a bloodbath of epic
proportions.
Trailer
Park of Terror is a fun, nasty, gore ridden ride through classic horror
territory giving it a new twist with a dark sense of humour and great special
effects. The zombies are awfully fun and the teens are annoying enough that you
don’t mind them being knocked off one by one. Sure horror puritans will argue
that it doesn’t have the required level of suspense or tension, but this is
horror comedy, it is meant to be a genre cinema piece bringing together
exploitation and horror cinema and it does so especially well.
Artwork
©2008 Trailer Park Partners, LLC
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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and
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