Twenty-five years ago, six employees were murdered at Phantom Fun-World, an amusement park owned by August Ambrose (played Ari Lehman, best known for having played the young Jason Voorhees in the first Friday the 13th).  Now, the park is reopening and there’s already people competing to be the new Phantom Fun-World mascot.  Unfortunately, none of them get the job because they’re all killed by a hulking figure wearing a mask.  For whatever reason, this killer seems to have a real issue with mascots.

Yes, there is a killer stalking Phantom Fun-World and that’s not good news for Andi (Celeste Blandon), who has taken a job working nights at the park.  Andi needs the money to take care of her teenage brother, Cole (Jace Carson) and the job will give her a chance to hang out with her best friend, Collins (Spooky Madison).  (It will also give her a chance to spend time away from her toxic mother.)  Unfortunately, the killer has plans of his own and soon, Andi’s co-workers are dying and Andi is fighting to both protect Cole and to survive the night.

Despite the brevity of this review, I actually enjoyed Phantom Fun-World quite a bit.  There’s nothing particularly unique about the plot.  It’s a standard slasher film and the fact that it points out more than once that it’s a standard slasher film doesn’t change that fact.  (Indeed, the slasher genre has been so influenced by Scream that it’s now more surprising when a film doesn’t deliberately draw attention to or comment on its use of all of the genre’s cliches.)  But the film makes good use of the theme park location and the killer is a frightening one, both because of his mask and the fact that he seems to truly relish his work.  Someone like Jason Voorhees kills because it’s the only thing that he knows how to do.  He doesn’t seem to take any pleasure out of it.  The killer in Phantom Fun-World is having the time of his life and that’s make him all the more frightening.  The murders are well-directed and surprisingly brutal.  Again, this is one intimidating killer.

It helps that the cast is likable.  There’s really no one in this movie who does a bad job.  The viewer likes everyone and, as such, there’s some actual emotional stakes to all of the mayhem.  Celeste Blandon does an especially good job as Andi, making her a worthy protagonist without making her so perfect that she becomes a less-than-credible character.  One of the reasons that the movie works is because Andi truly does make the same mistakes that anyone in her situation would make and, as a result, it’s easy to empathize with her and her desire to protect Cole.

Don’t get me wrong.  Phantom Fun-World is a low-budget slasher film and there’s not a whole lot going on here that you haven’t seen in other slasher films.  That said, it’s a well-done film and an appropriate way to spend 90 minutes during the Halloween season.