The Amusement Park

The Amusement Park is a 1975 American psychological horror film directed and edited by George A. Romero from a screenplay by Wally Cook. It stars Lincoln Maazel, Harry Albacker, Phyllis Casterwiler, Pete Chovan and Sally Erwin. Filmed in 1973, it was considered a lost film for over four decades until its re-discovery in 2017 and subsequent release in 2021, 48 years after its original production.

The film technically premiered two years after its production at the 1975 American Film Festival in New York. However, it failed to find a distributor, and was not released in theaters or home media, leaving its 1975 premiere as the sole time it was shown publicly for 44 years; it was considered lost, with no known copy of the film remaining and many unknowing of its existence, including Romero's later wife, Suzanne Desrocher-Romero. In 2017, a 16 mm print of The Amusement Park was rediscovered and sent to Romero shortly before his death, and the film underwent restoration and 4K upgrades supervised by Desrocher-Romero; after this new version version premiered in Pittsburgh on October 12, 2019, the film finally got released on June 8, 2021 when Shudder released it for home media in most English-speaking countries.

Originally commissioned by the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania as an educational film about the elderly, The Amusement Park is one of Romero's few works devoid of supernatural elements, acting as commentary on elder abuse. It received very positive reviews upon its proper 2021 release, with critics, who deemed it atypical of Romero's work, praising its direction and social commentary.