George A. Romero’s unearthed lost film is The Amusement Park

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Last month, George A. Romero's widow Suzanne Desrocher-Romero revealed that one of the things Romero left behind when he passed away last year was a little-seen film that he had made in 1973, something described as being 

a scary movie, but it's not a horror movie, and it's about ageism."

This came as quite a surprise to many of us, and we were left wondering just what this lost film was… Even though the Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn had hosted a screening of this film back in March of this year. That one somehow slipped past many of us.

As it turns out, the mysterious film is titled THE AMUSEMENT PARK, and it stars Lincoln Maazel of Romero's MARTIN as 

an elderly gentlemen sets out for what he thinks will be a normal day at an amusement park and is soon embroiled in a waking nightmare the likes of which you've never seen! 

There's some confusion over whether the film's running time is 60 minutes or closer to 25, but we do know that it was meant to be a television PSA about elder abuse that Romero was commissioned to make by a religious group. When the group saw how strange and disturbing the finished film was, they decided to shelve it rather than release it.

Author Daniel Kraus, who has written the THE SHAPE OF WATER and TROLLHUNTERS novels with Guillermo Del Toro and is working on finishing Romero's novel THE LIVING DEAD, recent got the chance to watch THE AMUSEMENT PARK and wrote about the film on Twitter, as you can see in this thread of tweets:

I’m about to watch George A. Romero’s virtually unseen 1973 movie THE AMUSEMENT PARK (shot between Season of the Witch & The Crazies). Been trying to find this for 20 years. pic.twitter.com/ng6WqOeR6y

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 10, 2018

OK, this movie is a REVELATION. pic.twitter.com/PaZA2HNDAW

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

With the exception of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD—maybe—THE AMUSEMENT PARK is Romero’s most overtly horrifying film. Hugely upsetting in form & function. pic.twitter.com/BmyS5iTIyU

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

The scholar Tony Williams, who saw the film 30 years ago, wrote “The film is far too powerful for American society…It must remain under lock & key never seeing the light of day.”

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

It was never shown publicly. The people who funded it wouldn’t allow it. And no wonder. It’s hellish. In Romero’s long career of criticizing American institutions, never was he so merciless. pic.twitter.com/987qbeb1J0

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

Where can you see this savage masterwork? You can’t. But I’m dedicating myself to changing that. pic.twitter.com/nayHmSzeNq

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

Can you help? Yes, probably. Give me some time to figure out what’s what. This is truly one of those magical (cursed?) objects that I cannot believe has fallen through the cinematic cracks. We’ll drag it back.

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

I mean, THE AMUSEMENT PARK doesn’t even show up on Romero’s @IMDb page! This thing is long-long-long-lost. What does that tell me? It’s dangerous & uncomfortable.

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

Everyone’s excited! That’s good. This is Romero at the height of his full-throttle, machine-gun-edit, CRAZIES-era confidence. It’s a sun-soaked nightmare: bright, loud, demented, disorienting. (It is *not*, as some sources report, a documentary.) pic.twitter.com/h7OIZixyvy

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

But I repeat: there is *no* way to see this right now. That said, rest assured people are working on fixing that. It will take a little time. Please be patient.

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

For right now, there *is* something you can do. @theGARFofficial is accepting donations toward the film’s restoration. —> https://t.co/pyGeMNZULg

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 11, 2018

A big day for Romero's lost 1973 film THE AMUSEMENT PARK! I've heard from @theGARFofficial that restoration donations are pouring in!! Donate at the below link. [I'm tagging some folks who might signal-boost this?] https://t.co/pyGeMNZULg pic.twitter.com/s8HU5PBLoh

— Daniel Kraus (@DanielDKraus) November 12, 2018

Like Kraus said, the George A. Romero Foundation is currently raising funds to restore THE AMUSEMENT PARK, so fans who would like to see this lost work of Romero's finally get some kind of release might want to head over to the donation page.

Romero is one of my favorite filmmakers, my #1 favorite of the directors who are commonly referred to as "masters of horror", so I would love to see this long-lost and forgotten film get some kind of distribution 45 years after it was made.