Central Park is a feature-length horror/thriller from writer/director Justin Reinsilber. Set in present day New York City the film centers around six high school juniors. Collectively they have done everything there is to do, know it all better than everyone else, and mean the world to each other. When one of their fathers is implicated in a Bernie Madoff-esque Ponzi scheme, the gang rallies around their friend. To blow off some steam, they set out for an epic night in Central Park. Little do they know the consequences of his crimes will go far beyond his client’s bank accounts.

I’m not really all that clear on what I just watched.  Central Park is a mess.  It’s full of disconnected plot lines that really don’t go anywhere, characters with very muddled motivations, and plenty of super convenient coincidences.  Because of this the only way to review this movie necessitates giving away several spoilers, so that’s your warning.

The film opens on the morning following the arrest of Christian Lincoln Smith, the perpetrator of the biggest Ponzi scheme since Bernie Madoff. His youngest son Harrold (Justiin A. Davis) hangs out with his friends and doesn’t want to talk about it. The client who lost the most money has gone missing after his pregnant wife “leapt to her death.”  Gee I wonder if he’ll turn out to be the killer or could it be the mysterious man who is living in a cave in central park. I’m sure the movie won’t try to make us think that since the man in Central Park with the long scraggly beard has been obviously living there for quite a while.

But let’s get back to some of the meaningless backstories for some of Harold’s friends. His friend Mikey (Deema Aitken) isn’t living up to his potential and his teacher, Daniel (Michael Lombardi,) is trying to be there for him. Additionally he helps look after his sister (who from some reason seems to go to bed at about 6pm.) Apparently somthing happened to their mother but their father is around. It was a bit hard to follow.  His friend Sessa’s (Ruby Modine) father died on September 11^th.  That’s it. Nothing more for her. And then there are three more in their group Leyla (Grace Van Patten,) Felix (Guillermo Arribas,) and Donna (Malika Samuel.)

As they waste time, sometimes together sometimes not, waiting for dark so they can go get drunk and high in Central Park someone is following them and taking their pictures. This never comes up again in the story and only serves two purposes: 1.) It further clarifies the killer is not the man in the park and 2.) It further clouds the killer’s already confusing actions.

So the killer, who is obviously the guy whose pregnant wife killed herself, has followed them to the park.  He warps his head in clear packing tape and then proceeds to kill Harold’s friends and Mikey’s teacher, Daniel.  Daniel came to look for Mikey after receiving a text from him saying he was in the park and needed help getting home.  Now Central Park is over 800 acres but somehow Daniel is able to go right to the spot where Mikey was killed and where he soon meets his own grizzly fate.

About that mysterious man in the park, he turns out to be a hero of sorts. After watching four of these people get killed he steps in to save the last two. The film clearly shows him watching the group from afar before the killings start. I guess to reinforce the film’s still persisting deception that he might be the killer. When the real killer shows up and starts murdering the friends of the son of the man who screwed you out of your life savings, I guess the mysterious man was on a dinner break that lasted until there were just two left.

There is one bit I found clever in which the murder of one friend is totally missed by the other.  The victim is snatched into the air at the exact moment he happens to trip. He pops back and keeps running thinking she’s still ahead of him. However, the film has done nothing to earn the suspension of disbelief required to ignore the amount of coincidence required to pull this off. This film is just an annoying mess.

If you want to see the movie for yourself it is screening tonight at the Dances With Films Festival.