Amusement is a 2009 horror film directed by John Simpson and starring Katheryn Winnick. The film was originally slated to hit theaters in January 2008, but was pushed back to April 25 and then again to September 12. It was pushed back once more to December 26, but Warner Bros. ultimately decided to release it direct-to-video on January 20, 2009[1]. It was released on DVD in Australia on February 5, 2009[2] and on March 23, 2009 in the United Kingdom[3]. The film is rated R by the MPAA for "horror violence, terror and disturbing images."
Plot
Episode 1: Shelby
Rob and Shelby are on the highway headed to Cincinnati. On the way there they join a convoy of vehicles. The convoy decides to pull over for gas. Rob meets the drivers of the 2 other vehicles in the convoy. The driver of the semi tells them that the highway ahead has bad traffic and he can show them an alternate route. At the gas station Shelby sees a woman in the window of the semi who looks scared. After they are on the road again she sees the same girl put a "Help Me" sign in the back window of the semi. The girl eventually jumps from the semi and lands on their car. The 2 cars stop and the driver of the Jeep along with Rob and Shelby get out to help the girl. The semi keeps on driving. Rob gets back in his car and chases the semi to get his plates. The driver ends up cornering Rob and then taking off back down the hill. When Rob gets back to where the others are the driver of the Jeep says that the semi driver took Shelby and the original girl from the truck. They get in the guy's Jeep and chase down the semi to an old house. The driver of the Jeep says he wants to go first (to try and stop the semi driver). Rob waits in the Jeep. Suddenly he hears a noise. He finds a cb-radio in the center console. Then he hears more noise. He looks in the back and sees movement under a tarp. He moves the tarp and sees both girls tied up. Suddenly the driver of the Jeep comes back (after bashing in the skull of the semi driver). He breaks the window of the Jeep to attack Rob.
Episode 2: Tabitha
The next scene you see a girl named Tabitha. Her aunt had just bought a new house. She goes to the house and finds her aunt's two sons. Soon, Tabitha is wondering about the babysitter that was there. She asks the boys if they had seen her. They say that she had already left. Tabitha, in disbelief, walks upstairs after hearing a noise. She enters the play room and a motion senser clown scares her. Soon, once the boys are in bed, she hears a knock on the door. She heads over to see who it is, and she does not know as the person is wearing a raincoat and a hood on. She opens the door and asks who he is. He said that he was looking for the babysitter, and that she missed cheerleading practice. Tabitha admits that the babysitter had already left, and that she heard nothing else. After that, Tabitha walks into the guest room and sees that the entire room is decorated with clown toys. She looks around and sees a life-size one that she finds a bit scary. When she goes to bed, the thunderstorm woke her up. She turns around so she will not be able to see the big clown. After she turned around, the clown's head then turns his head to see her. In the middle of the night, the phone started to ring. Not knowing that the clown is still staring at her, Tabitha walked into the hallway to answer the phonecall. She realized that it was her aunt, checking on the children. After they were done talking about the boys, she then admits that she is a bit spooked by the clown. She told her aunt that it was the big one, but her aunt states that she does not own any big clowns. Tabitha looks in the room and only sees the empty rocking chair moving. She runs into the boys' room and locks it, whispering to them to wake them up. She says that they have to hide, as a very bad man is in the house. The boys say that it is just Owen, the boy in the raincoat, wanting to play. They reach for the doorknob, and Tabitha yells at them. Soon, spikes go through the door several times. Tabitha realizes that it is the clown, while the boys are screaming. She pulls their dresser against the door, and gets the boys out of the window and tells them to go to their neighbor's house to go and get help. The clown breaks the dresser and reaches out for Tabitha. She then throws a lamp at him and climbs out of the window. The clown stands up and fails his attempt to stab her, as she let go. She fell down and ran into the shed, opening a closet in there and finding the babysitter's dead body. As the dead body falls on top of her the man with the clown mask enters the room with a knife and the scene ends.
Next scene you see Tabitha in a police interrogation room. A therapist comes in to talk to her. She asks her about her friend Lisa. Tabitha then starts having flashbacks. She flashes back to memories of her two friends Shelby and Lisa when they were all kids. All of the girls had cerated art in a shoebox with a peephole to see. Tabitha's was a room of clowns, Shelby's was a highway, and Lisa's was a sleepover. Tabitha, in real life, finds out that the killer was in a disguise similar to her art. Continuing the flashback, Tabitha looks at the boy's art, and sees a rat being chained up, with his skin open. She states that it is not funny.
Episode 3: Lisa
Then it flashes to the present. Lisa is with her boyfriend looking for her roommate Cat who has suddenly disappeared.They go to an old hotel that Cat might be at. Lisa tries to get in, but the man says that the beds are full, and shuts the peephole. She then goes to her boyfriend and asks if he can make up something to get in. He says that he is a health inspector. He then goes in the place and finds a music player. The man says that there is a surprise in the end, which is a knife flying out of the speakers, stabbing her boyfriend in the eye. Lisa impatiently sneaks in the house and goes in a room with beds. She finds dead bodies in them, including Cat, and then the killer comes upstairs and does the same to her.
The Briar Hills Connection: The Final Confrontation
Again at the police station Tabitha is being grilled by the therapist. The woman asks Tabitha about her friend Shelby. Tabitha says that they were all friends. The therapist then tells her about a boy she had as a patient. Before she walks out she tells Tabitha that Lisa and Shelby are at the station, too, and to sit tight because she will be back for them. The door suddenly opens. When Tabitha walks outside the room she realizes that she is not at the police station afterall. At the end of the hallway she sees the therapist on the floor. She approaches the body when she sees an officer approaching, too. That's when she sees that he's not a cop, he's really the killer. He chases her around the basement. Eventually she's pinned in between 2 glass walls. When the lights come on behind the glass walls she sees Lisa and Shelby chained up. Eventually she's able to help them break free.
They try to make a run for it together. Before they get far, the killer stabs Lisa. Tabitha and Shelby run for it. They begin climbing a ladder as the killer chases them. He climbs up behind them and grabs a hold of Shelby. Both he and Shelby fall back down to the basement floor. Tabitha continues to climb. Once at ground level she sees she's in a caged area. Suddenly an elevator comes on and she realizes the killer is coming up. She hides in what she thinks is a closet. The killer looks through a peep hole at her and then locks her in the room. Suddenly the room starts to move and she realizes she's in the back of a truck. The truck doesn't make it far from the house (which is the same house from the beginning of the movie). Tabitha grabs one of the spiked handles that the killer had used in the house she was babysitting in. When he looks through the peep hole again she stabs him in the eye. Then you see the truck driving away and hear Tabitha's voice talking about how she and her friends had laughed at him when they were a kid. And she says that even though it's all over she still can't get his laugh out of her head.
Cast
Main Characters
Supporting Characters
- Tad Hilgenbrink as Rob
- Preston Bailey as Max
- Brennan Bailey as Danny
- Ashley Arnold as School girl
- David Arnold as Playground boy
- Alisha Boe as Young Lisa
- Karley Scott Collins as Young Tabitha
- Fernanda Dorogi as Cat
- Shauna Duggins as Woman In Truck
- Kevin Gage as Tryton
- Jadin Gould as Young Shelby
- Eyad Kurd-Misto as Young Laugh
- Rena Owen as Psychiatrist
- Reid Scott as Dan
Production
The film was produced by Macari/Edelstein, New Line Cinema and Picturehouse Entertainment.
Release dates
Reception
Bloody-Disgusting.com apparently caught an early screening of the film and called it "disastrous"[4], which might be one of the reasons why the theatrical release has been delayed so much and the eventual decision to release it direct-to-video instead.
References
External links
