George Romero's "lost" 1973 film, The Amusement Park, is closer than ever to getting released

By Randall Colburn  |  June 26, 2020 | 2:27pm
Aux Features Film
George Romero's "lost" 1973 film, The Amusement Park, is closer than ever to getting released
Photo: Laura Lezza

A few years back, author Daniel Kraus lit up Twitter with a thread about a “lost” film from Night Of The Living Dead director George Romero, The Amusement Park. Kraus, a former colleague of the late filmmaker, called the lo-fi flick “one of those magical (cursed?) objects,” saying it might be Romero’s “most overtly horrifying film.” A restoration effort was in the works at the time, and Romero’s widow, Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, said she had plans to unleash it on the world.

Now, with the movie’s worldwide sales rights having been picked up by Yellow Veil Pictures, it may soon see the light of day. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 1973 feature is currently being shopped around the Cannes virtual market.

Per THR, “it stars Lincoln Maazel as an elderly man who finds himself disoriented and increasingly isolated as the pains, tragedies, and humiliations of aging in America are illustrated by his journey among roller coasters and chaotic crowds.” Desrocher-Romero says it is not explicitly a horror movie, but echoes Kraus in saying it’s Romero’s “most terrifying film.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to team up with the George A. Romero Foundation to bring this horrifying lost film to audiences,” reads a statement from Yellow Veil’s Justin Timms. “George’s work here, as always, is an unnerving criticism of American society, this time embodied through a relentless amusement park.”

Clowns? Rollercoasters? The perils of aging into irrelevance in a society that looks more and more like a circus everyday? Yep. Still relevant.

 
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