The Park: Kids rule the world at an empty amusement park

The Park is a dystopian tale populated with kids and teens, and you will be able to watch it on demand in March.

Shal Ngo’s thriller is a harrowing survival story set after a truly apocalyptic event. After an aggressive virus manages to kill off all of the adults, children are left to run things, knowing they are living on borrowed time.

Large groups of these young survivors have set up camp in an abandoned theme park. Of course, there are rivalries, and individual groups begin to battle for full control. And by “battle”, we aren’t talking about rock-paper-scissors. Judging by the intense trailer for The Park, these violent fights most likely end in serious injury, if not death.

I’m sure that most of our readers are familiar with William Golding’s Nobel Prize-winning novel Lord of the Flies, and that’s what The Park’s premise and trailer put me in mind of. In Lord of the Flies, a group of boys survive a plane crash on an isolated island, and with no adults in sight, must survive on their own. Of course, that’s not as easy as it sounds, and the boys end up in opposing groups, with battles for control erupting in violence and bloodshed.

The Park isn’t the first project to emulate Lord of the Flies

The themes of Lord of the Flies have been explored many times since, including in last year’s hit Showtime series Yellowjackets (which is happily receiving a second season this year). In Yellowjackets, a girl’s high school soccer team crash lands in the wilderness, where they are stranded for a year and a half. Of course, there is bickering, and ultimately, bloodshed.

Obviously, the reason for the lack of adults in The Park is different, and we have no plane crash this time, but the fighting and emotional immaturity are still in place.

XYZ Films brings us The Park, and the cast includes Chloe Guidry, Nhedrick Jabier and Carmina Garay. The Park will be available on VOD beginning March 2, and you can watch the trailer below.

Are you a fan of Lord of the Flies, and do you think The Park sounds like a good variation on the same themes? Tell us about it in the comments section.