The description card on streaming services compares this film to The Goonies and Stand By Me. Yeah, don’t you believe that… that’s some marketing hack’s attempt at stealing glory from much better films. Which isn’t to say this is a terrible film, it just in no way approaches the heights of those classics.

The flick is about a group of miscreant teens who hang out a closed-for-the-season horror carnival when they randomly find an oily black creature that might be a local urban legend. They capture the creature and film it for YouTube to get a good grade in history class (long story) and for the clout. I think.

This film isn’t bad but it’s definitely got some problems. Motivation being one of them. A number of these teens do things without much explanation or recognizable motivation. Maybe there was some back story cut out, maybe it’s a victim of editing. Because, boy, the editing is often jarring and/or seems to be missing inserts or maybe even whole scenes.

But the film is otherwise (?!) competently made and acted. It looks good for what’s likely a pretty low budget indie flick. There’s some talent in the filming, if not in the editing bay. And it has an interesting, if perplexing, morose tone, especially in the sad/tragic ending. I’m not sure why though… it’s as though they think they’ve set up a tragedy based on, I guess, backstories we never see. I still felt somewhat despondent watching it.. even if I also felt it was unearned.

The creature is an interesting practical makeup/suit. It’s also pitch black and covered in slime so there could be a dozen zippers showing if it was lit better and/or ever dried out. Charitably, I’d say it looks a lot like the tarman zombie from Return of the Living Dead. Uncharitably, I could snarkily suggest it looks a little like Armus from the Star Trek: TNG episode Skin of Evil. But that’d be a mean thing to say.

Overall, this is a decent little horror film that shows its limitations in script and editing pretty evidently. But I think there’s enough right going on here to give it a little bit of a pass. Not a huge pass, but just enough for a slight recommendation if you like indie horror flicks.

Now, about that ad-copy…

Score: 76