Roller Coasters in Hollywood
This Thursday I’m counting down my top three coaster movie appearances. Coincidently, all three happen to be in horror/thrillers. A few honorable mentions go to: Fatal Attraction, Big, and Titanic.
Coaster @ Playland Park
Fear (1996)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William L. Petersen, Alyssa Milano
This must have been a break out role for Wahlberg. He shows his acting chops as a psycho boyfriend to Reese Witherspoon. William Petersen from CSI (the Vegas incarnation) play’s the protective father. I think this movie is pretty much every girls father’s nightmare. Witherspoon and Wahlberg’s characters have an intimate moment aboard a wooden coaster aptly named ‘Coaster’.
Incredible Hulk @ Islands of Adventure
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Taye Diggs, Famke Jansen, Bridgette Wilson, Chris Kattan & Ali Larter
A millionaire offers a group of diverse people $1,000,000 to spend the night in a haunted house with a horrifying past. The movie opens with the newly opened Incredible Hulk coaster. It’s operating in a park owned by the Vincent Price-esque millionaire played by Geoffrey Rush. There’s a good 3 minutes or more of footage of the first half of Hulk over the lake. At one point, the track becomes detached and a train flies off the track. The next train’s riders scream for their lives thinking they’ll meet the same fate. But, just as they reach the broken track it comes back together. Later, you see that the train that fell off of the track was filled with dummies with mechanicized flailing arms. This is about the most unbelievable feature for a coaster to have, but it made for an entertaining enough moment.
Corkscrew @ Playland Park
Final Destination 3 (2006)
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Chris Lemche, Gina Holden
The Corkscrew at Playland Park in Vancouver, British Columbia plays a major role in Final Destination 3. In reality, it’s a very tame coaster, but thanks to a nice dosage of CG effects, Devil’s Flight is a monster of a coaster. One of the riders has a premonition of the disaster that’s about to happen so she, and several other riders are released fromt the train before it departs. The remaining riders experience a ride from hell. Their restraints become inoperable and they are thrown from the ride at high speeds while the coaster does more loops than you would find at an entire park. After the ride, the surviving riders are picked off one at a time because they cheated death by getting off of Devil’s Flight before the accident. The deaths are some of the most gruesome imaginable, but it is an interesting twist on the teenage slasher flicks. Check out my full review.
Looking for more? Coasters-Net has a pretty good list of movie and tv coaster appearances.
Got a suggestion or comment about my Top 3? Leave a comment below.
