Film Review: Spooktacular! (Fantastic Fest)
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter)
Billed as the first Halloween theme park in the United States, SpookyWorld started as a hayride during the 1990s and grew into a business that reportedly cleared more than $2,000,000 in one month in its heyday. That month was, of course, October, when residents of Berlin, Massachusetts were as initially shocked as SpookyWorld founder David Bertolino and his crew to find traffic jams caused by people looking to attend. All good things must come to an end, though, and this documentary from director Quinn Monahan traces the rise and fall of this legendary theme park.
Although the film is rich with talking-head interviews with Bertolino and crew and cast members who worked at SpookyWorld — all of whom have fond memories, along with some stories about a few things that went wrong — as well as archival footage of such guest celebrities of the park as Linda Blair, Elvira, Tom Savini (who helped craft one of the attractions), Kane Hodder, Butch Patrick, Alice Cooper, and Tiny Tim — what really brings SpookyWorld to life for viewers is the archival footage of the park. Actors in costume, the customers they scared, the attractions, the long lines to get in, and even the well-treated mice who were used in one of the creepy attractions are all here.
Although there is plenty of behind-the-scenes footage presented, much of it focuses on the business end of things more so than how attractions were designed, makeup used, and the like. Even the use of celebrities — particularly a long sequence focusing on Tiny Tim reluctantly getting married for the second time on The Tonight Show — weighs more toward expanding SpookyWorld’s business at the time. It’s all fascinating, however, and Bertolino is adept at discussing the park’s combining showmanship with business acumen.
You don’t have to have visited SpookyWorld in the nineties to enjoy this documentary. Those who love haunted attractions along with Halloween aficionados in general should all find Spooktacular! to be a fascinating watch.
Spooktacular! screened as part of Fantastic Fest, which took place in Austin, Texas from September 21–28, 2023.
Joseph Perry writes for the websites Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), B&S About Movies (bandsaboutmovies.com), Uphill Both Ways (ubwpodcast.com), The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict (gbvreviews.com), and Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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