Fantastic Fest 2023: SPOOKTACULAR! revives the infamous SpookyWorld theme park

Halloween theme parks have become a major business and an integral part of each spooky season. Yet years before big-budget attractions like Universal’s Horror Nights began popping-up around the globe there was SpookyWorld, America’s first major Halloween horror theme park and the subject of Director Quinn Monahan’s new Spooktacular! documentary.

Conceived by David Bertolino, SpookyWorld began as a threadbare haunted hayride attraction in a rural area outside of Boston before eventually morphing into a one-stop-shop for horror fanatics. At its peak, SpookyWorld featured a souped-up hayride, multiple sideshows (including one helmed by horror SFX legend Tom Savini, who also co-produced the film), and horror celebrities who would regularly sign autographs for thousands of excited fans. 

Spooktacular! lovingly charts the origins of SpookyWorld and Bertolino’s charming marketing efforts in a pre-social media age. Monahan fills the doc with interview from the likes of Savini and frequent guests like Kane Hodder, but the heart of the film lies in the great memories provided by the staff who worked at the theme park over the years.

While SpookyWorld ended up becoming a victim of its own success, attracting the wrath of the community by including real-life horror memorabilia in its displays (signalling our current fascinating with true-crime), Spooktacular! takes viewers back to a simpler time to witness the rise (and fall) of a true horror mainstay. 

Spooktacular! screened at this year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.