Must See Movie...

Great Film overall

An Exercise In Nonsense

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Well basically this is the type of movie you get what you ask for with, its low budget and not afraid to admit it, its main cast is a group of obscure C list actors and character actors you would never assume would share the same screen, and the plot is pretty run of the mill...but I still gave it 6 and with good reason, ATMOSPHERE. Holes plot wise (not to mention I knew the ending within 15 minutes of watching), and a pretty hammy story stops it from being anything more than a tad above average but its shooting, and lighting is on point so it gets my approval at least for 1 watch, it does the best with what its given, its also nice to see the goalie from the big green is still getting work, I have always liked that guy for some reason.So yea Dark Ride- 6/10 on the cheesy horror scale, Troll 2 being a 1 and Return of The Living Dead being a 9.

In 1989, in New Jersey, two sisters are killed in a ghost train in the greatest attraction of the Asbury Park, the Dark Ride. The police arrest the serial killer that is sentenced to life in a mental institution; finds fourteen other bodies hidden in the spot and the justice shuts-down the attraction. Fourteen years later, a group of five friends and a hitchhiker decides to visit the amusement park that is offering free lodging in its reopening. Meanwhile, the psychopath escapes from the asylum and while the group is inside the Dark Ride, they are chased and killed by the murderer.The slasher "Dark Ride" is a boring collection of clichés. Whatever the viewer may expect in a B-movie of the genre, he or she will find in this flick: bad acting, poor screenplay and budget, breasts, screams, the victims splitting from the group and killed one by one, "unexpected" twist etc. In the end, watching this flick is a pure waste of time. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Trem Fantasma" ("Ghost Train")

I agree with the majority of voters that the movie "Dark Ride" is not exactly a masterpiece. Nevertheless, I think, director Craig Singer has to be thanked for having made the first movie of what is called either "dark ride" or "ghost train" in British English.In this Movie Database, there is a very concise definition of what we are speaking here: " 'Dark ride' is an old term used in the carnival business to describe rides that involve getting in a cart or buggy and traversing a dark, enclosed building designed to have characters or props appear at intervals, designed to surprise or entertain". However, the most important part of a dark ride, besides the maze-like horror cabinet, is forgotten here: the combination of rails and wheel. There are indeed "ghost houses" or "haunted houses" in the form of "walk-throughs", i.e. without carts or buggies driving through. Not only is it amazing that it took decades until the first movie was made about dark rides – a topic that is more than predestined to deliver the background for or like here the center of almost any thinkable form of horror. It is also amazing that the British term "dark ride" is almost unknown in the US – although there are dark rides even in small theme parks (stationary) or on fairgrounds (itinerant). The other British term, "ghost train", is ambiguous: On the one side, it is used for a real train driven or populated by ghosts (like in many movies under this title), or it is used for dark ride, being a literal translation of German "Geisterbahn".Ghost trains or dark rides or haunted houses appear first on German and Dutch fairgrounds in the early 1930ies. Their ancestors were "hollow trains", "scene railways" and generally horror cabinets, which came up in the late 19th century. When fairground business started to decline between the two World Wars, many of the famous German dark rides which were built by the legendary showman Hugo Haase, were sold to America. The best two-floor dark rides or ghost trains came for example to Coney Island where they have been gigantic attractions. However, the fate of these theme-rides has never been written. Why they did not even inspire a movie until 2006, when Singer's "Dark Ride" was released, stays a mystery. Moreover, dark rides hardly ever appear in American standard works about fairground art, although Geoff Warden and Richard Ward displayed in their art history reference work hundreds of pictures of both Europe-imported and US-built dark rides and similar theme-rides. Nowadays, it seems that the once fascinating rides through dark rides have been followed by horror movies under use of extensive special effects. However, watching a movie can never substitute a ride through a horror cabinet. Therefore, dark rides could perhaps be revitalized through using newer forms of horror provided by movies.

A "Dark Ride" is fairly similar to a horror film. It has facades meant to draw you into a fictitious world where creeps and spooks will jump out and say "boo!" Unfortunately, a "Dark Ride" is exactly the same as a bad horror movie. Cheap sets, too much smoke in a pathetic attempt to create atmosphere and no real cognitive pay off to the slight story lines devised.There isn't much good about the movie "Dark Ride." Everything in it is spare parts, which is a shame because it feels like the director, Craig Singer, and his writing partner Robert Dean Klein had something more in mind. The concept of a horror movie set inside of a semblance of a horror movie is an intriguing one. It is just totally wasted here.The cast is full of unlikable people. From the film geek who seems to have never seen a movie that wasn't directed by Cimino, to the horny guy with a van, everyone is stock and boring. I fell asleep trying to watch this movie, twice. The plot makes no sense and the final twist is the worst I have ever seen, bar none.The only bright spot is Andrea Bogart who is talented and incredibly beautiful. Whenever she was on screen, the movie came alive a bit. Unfortunately, her endearing stoner hitchhiker leaves the picture early and spends most of her brief screen time out of frame, pleasuring another cast member in an awfully staged oral sex scene that goes, intermittently for 20 minutes.The kills are lame. The cast is substandard. The cinematography is lazy and the colors are bland. The killer looks sort of cool, but his back story was too bizarre to make any sense. If you think about anything in this film for 5 minutes, it all falls apart. Don't waste your time.