Escape from Tomorrow

 (2013)
Effort: *****
Horror factor: ** 1/2
Average: *** 3/4

This year's Horrorthon picks find me fascinated with the medium by which directors and writers have chosen to expand our movie going palate. Escape from Tomorrow was filmed surreptitiously on the grounds of Disneyland and Disney World. For me, this brings back memories of both pure magic and pure disappointment. Back in '97 I bumped my head on a tree at Huck Finn Island and upon close inspection saw the "tree" was fabricated out of cement and wire frame. It contributed towards my bitter outlook on life, and watching Escape from Tomorrow utilizes the superficiality of childhood dreams via Disney as a clever backdrop in narrating one person's dissent to madness.

Pay no attention to the bare-bottomed woman in the background!

Jim and Emily White are on a family vacation touring all the kiddie rides with their two children, Elliot and Sara, when Jim starts seeing things -- decapitations, evil puppets staring at him, even his own wife and son begin acting strangely. The movie loses coherence early on, once Jim encounters a seductive woman who reveals some of D-Land's best kept secrets.

"That isn't a turkey leg."

It becomes a struggle to distinguish fantasy from reality as the hallucinations get heavier, sexier, and weirder. Jim drinks from every country featured at Disney World's Epcot Center (wouldn't you?) so it's important to just hang on and enjoy the rides in the Tiki room and spinning cups. Think of it as a "stay-cation;" you are viewing footage from inside the Magic Kingdom in the comfort of your own home while Jim White is uncomfortably losing it.

At times the soundtrack is grossly inappropriate (one wildly gross scene in particular), but it is a soundtrack for the illusion of happiness experienced through bright lights, fantastic castles and antiquated tales of chivalry and honest people. Escape from Tomorrow is the antithesis of a family vacation, worth checking out but not necessarily on the big screen.