CBS Films and Lionsgate have gotten creative with the final trailer for their upcoming horror film Hell Fest. Directed by Gregory Plotkin (Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension), the film revolves around a horror-themed amusement park in which an actual killer is on the loose. A college student named Natalie (Amy Forsyth) and her friends attend Hell Fest expecting to encounter scares and mazes galore, but soon find themselves being hunted by a genuine murderer who finds it easy to blend into the horror-centric atmosphere.

This “throwback trailer”, however, is done completely in the style of a trailer for a horror film that would’ve been released in the 80s or early 90s, and it’s pretty terrific. There’s certainly a Grindhouse vibe to retroactively making modern footage look grainy, but the voiceover and editing is particularly terrific, and those graphics! I’d love to see a horror film marketed like this from the get-go, although then you’d likely have audiences upset that the actual film isn’t 80s-esque at all.

Regardless, this is a neat trailer. Check it out below along with a throwback poster, and click here to watch our interview with Plotkin and producer Gale Anne Hurd. The film also stars Reign Edwards, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Christian James, Robby Attal, Matt Mercurio, and Tony Todd. Hell Fest opens in theaters on September 28th.

Here’s the official synopsis for Hell Fest:

A masked serial killer turns a horror themed amusement park into his own personal playground, terrorizing a group of friends while the rest of the patrons believe that it is all part of the show.

 

College student NATALIE (Forsyth) is visiting her childhood best friend BROOKE (Edwards) and her roommate TAYLOR (Taylor-Klaus).  If it was any other time of year these three and their boyfriends might be heading to a concert or bar, but it is Halloween which means that like everyone else they will be bound for HELL FEST – a sprawling labyrinth of rides, games, and mazes that travels the country and happens to be in town. Every year thousands follow Hell Fest to experience fear at the ghoulish carnival of nightmares.

 

But for one visitor, Hell Fest is not the attraction – it is a hunting ground. An opportunity to slay in plain view of a gawking audience, too caught up in the terrifyingly fun atmosphere to recognize the horrific reality playing out before their eyes. As the body count and frenzied excitement of the crowds continues to rise, he turns his masked face to NATALIE, BROOKE, TAYLOR and their boyfriends who will fight to survive the night.