An exercise in checklist filmmaking, "Hell Fest" does what most slasher flicks do, it just does them more poorly than most. And given the reputation of the genre, that's saying something.
Fish-out-of-water heroine who returns home an outsider? Check.
Killer with a creepy mask, hood, and knife? Check.
Sassy group of teens willing to do a series of increasingly stupid things to set up their horrible deaths? Check.
Non-believing adults in positions of authority? Check.
Natalie (Amy Forsyth) is that heroine, a girl visiting her townie friends after some time away at college. Natalie is of mixed emotions visiting her friends; she's just as excited at the prospect of spending time with Gavin (Roby Attal), the hottie who flirted with her last time she was in town.
Natalie's friends want to go to Hell Fest, a haunted house that is the talk of the town. With multiple attractions and the promise of a new scare experience, they're all jazzed and ready for some fun. Never mind that at a Hell Fest in another town a girl was murdered and the killer never found. That's all part of the fun!
So the friends go, and soon Natalie finds herself stalked and followed in a guy in a mask. I'd love to have a name or some other description for this killer, but he is never referred to by any name throughout the film. He is Killer in Hoodie and nothing else. Who he actually is apparently is the source of some mystery, though there is little actual intrigue on that front throughout the film.
Anyway, after a girl is apparently murdered in front of Natalie, she begins to suspect something is wrong. Like, you know, for REAL wrong. Of course, no one believes her. Her friends disappear one by one, and everyone assumes the best.
The premise is pretty sound, if not terribly original (I remember a movie called "The Funhouse" in the late 70s with a similar theme), but little is done with it short of serving as a backdrop for the carnage, if you can call it that. The kills are telegraphed, slow, relatively bloodless, and without stakes. The characters exist as fodder for the killer and as a reason for the heroine to kvetch, which she hardly even does.
The main mystery surrounds Hell Fest itself. Is the entire production in league with the killer, or is is he working alone? The answer is one you sort of have to deduce, because the movie can't really be bothered to give a conclusive answer. What are the killer's motives? We also don't know those, and not in a nihilistic good way. There is something approximating a twist ending tacked on that hints at his identity, but it's vague, silly, and meant to shock, though it really just leaves you confused.
As a horror fan and a critic, it's tough to recommend "Hell Fest" as anything worth watching. It features most of the tropes of the standard horror flick, but does them all so poorly, lacking tension or characters we care about, that it's hard to even work up enough hatred for the film to properly blast it. I mean, if the filmmakers cared so little for making it, why should we care about talking about it?