Director: Lawarence D. Foldes
12,000 years ago a brother and sister were cursed to a life of eternal death, aging 10 years for every year, for killing the children of the community and eating them to stay young. Now in order to stay young the two must continue to eat human flesh to regain their youth (sounds like a curse on the community too!). The only way for the curse to be lifted and for the couple to gain eternal life is to sacrifice a virgin descendant 12,000 year in the future when the stars have the correct alignment.
Now, 16 years before present time the cursed man rents a room from a young woman whom he seduces and quickly marries. They have a child together, Bondi, and the mother is pushed away as Bondi’s father takes extra special care of his daughter; this is the descendant he’s been waiting 12,000 years for!
On Bondi’s 16th birthday she gets a gift from her father of an amulet, with a chain of gold. The mother is furiously jealous and they argue and so a break up ensues. Bondi is distraught and runs away to escape both her parents, but her escape quickly turns sour when she accepts a ride from some strangers and is attacked in the back of their van. Bondi screams for the help of her father and the amulet around her neck gets to work, forcing the car off a bridge, bursting into flames. Bondi is mysteriously unharmed and quite a distance from the van.
Continuing on her journey Bondi is taken in by some fellow runaways, and lives with them in a cabin in, what many consider, a cursed park. The youngest of the runaways, Nick, makes friends with a writer who is an expert on the park and informs Nick of all the strange things that have happened over the years. He believes evil lingers inside the park, and so together they decide to try and unearth the truth behind the park.
By the time Nick figures out what is going on, it’s too late, Bondi has already been captured by her father and as the stars approach their correct alignment time is running out and a sacrifice must take place.
This strange film is vastly different from what I expected. The ‘historic’ and inapt nature of the film gives it a strong fantasy feel, with large helpings of some stomach munching. Don’t Go Near the Park manages to feel very little like a horror film. So if you are expecting something like the other Don’t Go movies from the 80′s, expect something different here. There is absolutely no edge or tension in the film, it’s made pretty poorly and on an obvious tight budget. The ending is pretty pathetic and you should be commended if you make it that far! It also suffers some serious 80′s issues, but to be fair I”ve have seen worse.
