Line #29 Film/HellFest


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5baa5ac892af7image.jpg]]
2	A 2018 SlasherMovie directed by Gregory Plotkin. It stars a group of teens who visit a Halloween carnival and end up being stalked by a serial killer known as the Other.
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4	!!This film provides examples of:
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6	* AdvertisedExtra: Creator/TonyTodd receives an AndStarring credit for what amounts to about a minute of screentime, plus some voiceovers.
7	* AllPartOfTheShow: The nature of the park means people tend to think The Other is just an employee scaring people. But then people actually start ''dying''.
8	* AmusementParkOfDoom: Hell Fest is a traveling horror-themed amusement park that changes location year to year. It isn't one of these by design, but The Other's presence turns it into one.
9	* AxCrazy: The Other, though he uses an ice pick and doesn't pick up the axe until just before the climax.
10	* BarrierBustingBlow: At the climax when [[spoiler:Brooke and Natalie]] are in the final maze.
11	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Brooke and Natalie survive but their friends are dead and the Other escapes the park, likely to carry out another murder spree in the future.]]
12	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Subverted.]] When [[spoiler:Brooke]] goes off on her own to confront the Other about taking Natalie and Gavin's photos, it ''looks'' like this trope is being set up, [[spoiler:but Gavin is actually the first kill. Brooke survives the film.]]
13	* TheCameo: Employees from Netherworld Haunted House in Atlanta, Georgia appear as park-goers.
14	* CeilingCorpse: The last shot in the ColdOpen reveals the Other's first victim hanging from the rafters.
15	* CellPhonesAreUseless: Natalie's attempt to call 911 when the Other terrorizes her in the bathroom fails (even though she'd ''just'' been texting). In the climax, both [[spoiler:her and Brooke's]] cells have no service in the final maze.
16	* CreepyChild: The escorts to the Deadlands are this, mixed with CreepyDoll.
17	* CreepyDoll: A LOT of these in the various mazes, especially the last one.
18	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Gavin]] is killed via [[TestYourStrengthGame strong-man mallet]] that crushes his windpipe and pulverizes his head (and makes the bell go ding!).
19	* DamselInDistress: When the ride taking them to the Deadlands breaks down. Natalie is the only one caught inside, with the Other getting closer and closer ...[[spoiler:Subverted because it's actually an employee and the whole thing was done as a way to scare single riders.]]
20	* DeadlyPrank: Since it's an amusement park that literally thrives on making it ''look'' like people are being attacked and/or killed, onlookers assume the deaths and attacks are the prank part of this. Including Natalie, who's horrified by the "prank" turning deadly.
21	* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: After the ColdOpen, the film takes some time to introduce us to our victims for the evening.
22	* DwindlingParty: Six walks in, two come out.
23	* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler:At the end, we see the Other coming home and opening a locked cabinet, revealing several ''other'' masks and mementos of previous killings. He then goes into the living room and embraces his daughter, and it's implied this will happen again.]]
24	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:The Other is revealed to be a loving father who hides his true nature from his daughter. He's seen embracing his daughter and giving her a doll from Hell Fest.]]
25	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: The theme of the mazes, obviously.
26	* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Asher is killed by having a needle jammed into his eye.]]
27	* FailedASpotCheck: When [[spoiler:The Other tries to use a guillotine on Taylor, it doesn't work, because it-- like every other bladed weapon in the park-- is a prop and therefore the blade isn't actually sharp]].
28	* GuttedLikeAFish: The first victim we see die. Also how [[spoiler:Quinn and maybe Taylor]] die.
29	* HalloweenEpisode: Takes place on Halloween.
30	* {{Hell}}: The theme of the most intense attraction of the park, which is the characters' destination.
31	* HiddenHarasser: What the Other starts out as. Natalie's friends become more exasperated with her insistence she's being stalked and keep telling her it's an employee of the park. Then a very ''dedicated'' employee. Then they start to believe her.
32	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: It's implied the Other only kills on Halloween.
33	* IronicNurseryTune: The Other hums "Pop Goes the Weasel" to himself while stalking his victims.
34	* ItTastesLikeFeet: After a scare actor carries her off, Taylor complains that he smells like a hobo's ass. She's promptly asked how she knows what that smells like.
35	* JumpScare: Pretty much what the park is made of, with a couple for the audience as well.
36	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:The Other gets out of the park without a hitch, despite having been stabbed in the side by Natalie with his own ice pick, and goes home to his little daughter.]]
37	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: While there is nothing obviously supernatural about The Other [[spoiler:who is depicted in the end as being an ordinary person]], he does manage to swing a heavy mallet that the (admittedly scrawny) Gavin found too difficult to pick up, and in the end, [[spoiler:manages to evade the police despite having been stabbed.]]
38	* MonsterClown: A scareactor playing one of these {{jump scare}}s Gavin and Natalie, with Gavin remarking that he has a "very specific phobia of demonic clowns."
39	* OffscreenTeleportation: Apparently how the Other gets around at times, since he goes from one part of the park to a completely different one within minutes.
40	* OffWithHisHead: The Other uses a guillotine on [[spoiler:Taylor. Fortunately for her, [[SubvertedTrope the prop blade is too dull to actually do any damage]], and only leaves a shallow scratch on the back on her neck, giving her time to escape.]]
41	* PartyScattering: Happens in the mazes with [[spoiler:Quinn and Asher]], which ends with the latter being killed, and [[spoiler:Natalie and Brooke]] during the climax.
42	* PoliceAreUseless: Zigzagged. The security at the park is nigh-useless and generally dismisses Natalie's complaints about the Other assaulting her in a bathroom. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, the police arrive on the scene once it becomes apparent there really is a killer on the loose, and their presence seems to save Natalie and Brooke and drive the killer away. They don't catch him though.]]
43	* QuizzicalTilt: The Other when [[spoiler:he realizes the prop guillotine is just a prop, and can't actually cut off heads]].
44	* RoomFullOfCrazy: Some of the rooms in the mazes are quite remarkably put together this way.
45	* SerialKiller: The Other has five kills onscreen and untold others over at least two years.
46	* TestYourStrengthGame: There is a test-your-strength game kept in the employee locker area. [[spoiler:When Gavin wanders in to steal a prize for Natalie]], The Other attacks and ultimately kills him with the strength game's mallet, smashing his head while it was on the target... and ringing the bell.
47	* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler:The killer's identity and motive are never revealed. All that's learned about him is that he has a daughter who is unaware of his true nature. It works rather well, as the point was less about revealing the killer's identity and more about how easily these people can live among us, with those closest to them unaware.]]
48	* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Clearly what the final scene is trying to invoke. [[spoiler:When The Other returns home from Hellfest, we see that he lives in a normal suburban home and has a young daughter who loves him and doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that he's a serial killer. He even presents her with a teddy bear from the park.]]
49	* TwistedAnkle: [[spoiler:Brooke]] receives the business end of the Other's axe to the leg, forcing them to hobble through the final maze supported by [[spoiler:Natalie]].
50	* WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties: The ride to the Deadlands shuts down whilst Natalie is still inside and this announcement is made.

Context Film / HellFest