Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

morrison-dylan-fan After recently watching two movies with a run time of 60 minutes,I decided to check for what other flicks I have waiting to view. Picking up the film after reading an outline that made it sound like a proto- Final Destination,I got on the roller coaster.The plot:Waving goodbye to her husband as he sets out to work at the local amusement park, Sheila Brady gets visions of a roller coaster at the amusement park burning down. Going to the park,Brady finds her warnings to get ignored. As Brady begins getting recurring,strange things start taking place at the park. View on the film:Taking three days/three attempts to shoot,(a real 80-year-old roller coaster at Ocean View was actually destroyed) director E.W. Swackhamer & cinematographer Travers Hill actually get a fair bit of bang for their TV movie bucks,with Swackhamer gliding the camera along the burning roller coaster,and looking down on the ground covered in unlucky punters.Made for Playboy TV, the screenplay by John Furia and Barry Oringer avoids any raunchy action or Horror thrills from the "vision", for a tame Drama/Thriller tale,where Brady's concerns are lightly brushed aside. Giving the TV flick a shot of glamour, cute Diana Canova, (who is joined by a likable Martin Landau as Tom Flood)gives Brady a wide-eyed terror of life on a roller coaster.

Chris Mitchell First off I was about 8 years old when this was made for television movie was made. This is a classic from where I come from because I live in the city where it took place. This is not a scary thriller the if it had not ended up on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 it should have. But it is so funny because it is so bad. I used to live where Ocean View Park Amusement Park and it would have been fun to have a roller coaster in the area but no they had to go and build a bunch of condos where it used to be! At least each year they do bring a amusement park like festival instead. This is one of those fun stupid movies like the Toxic avenger or Night of the Lepus not with Movies like Star Wars or Halloween. Granted it is semi historical because the place did exist but it was not demolished due to exploding gas tanks under neath the ground. However it was the in place to be when it did exist.

Kenneth Johnson A response to previous comments made by residents of the region where this motion picture was lensed: One person suggested that the closing and destruction of the Ocean View Amusement Park led to a downturn in the surrounding neighborhoods. This is simply not true. Prior to the construction of Interstate 64, which bypasses the Ocean View area, the primary route for traffic went through the heart of Ocean View. Once the interstate was completed, Ocean View rapidly became a ghost town with businesses closing up and an increase in crime. This led to a huge reduction in revenues for the park, which also faced new competition from nearby Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. Meanwhile, in the past few years, the City of Norfolk has done a remarkable job of fostering redevelopment so that the area has become a sought-after location for construction of high-end housing.It has also been said that the destruction footage of the roller coaster was used in the film "Rollercoaster". This is also untrue. Footage was shot of two coaster cars careening off the ride for that film, but the actual explosions and collapse are exclusive to "Death of Ocean View Park".As to the film itself, the storyline of a "supernatural" force in the water adjacent to the park was certainly silly, but somewhat typical for B-grade movies of the time. With the cast involved, there should be no surprise that the scenery was gnawed in almost every scene by the primary actors. I don't believe this film was intended to be another "Citizen Kane"; I believe Playboy was experimenting with a new non-nude format to determine if this was an area for the company to expand into (apparently not!). A strange force in the water causing strange events in an old amusement park probably sounded good at the conference table, but proved unmanageable in execution. The roller coaster and the rest of the park was destined for the wrecking ball anyway; "let's come up with a weird way to justify an explosive demise!".For the casual movie viewer, this would be a "see once and forget about it" film (except for Diana Canova fans); but for the thousands of people who live in the region and have fond memories of the park, this movie is like a "walk down memory lane" for footage of the park as well as old footage of downtown Norfolk, the first "Harborfest", and Old Dominion University. Even a limited release of this film on DVD would be welcome.

VENEZIADOGE The Death of Oceanview Park fits the part for a TV Movie trying to be mildly scary. Actually it more accurately fits the 1970s idea of a silly TV trying to be mildly scary. The movie never really ties itself together and gives the impression that it was written and/or pieced together on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It has several paranormal phenomena that serve as the scary throw-ins, but they never resolve themselves or show how they actually fit in to the movie's events. The acting appears serious, almost too serious, but this only makes the movie that much sillier. Although this movie is bad, it's a great movie for a few laughs and a look into 1970s "made for TV" filmography. Beware of the roving sand bump!