User reviews

Remember being a teenager? The feeling of isolation from everyone and everything? The certainty that things are as bad as they can get and they won't get any better? Scott Smith certainly does, and he uses that knowledge to make the film "rollercoaster" one of the most disturbingly realistic looks at adolescence since "Kids" and "Dazed and Confused" in the mid-'90's.

Darren, Chloe, Justin, Stick, and Sanj are five kids from a Vancouver group home who break into a theme park that's gone out of business and whose equipment is about to be auctioned off. The point of this is Darren and Chloe--pregnant with Darren's child--have made a suicide pact and want their friends to be there with them when they jump off the roller coaster. Justin--Darren's younger brother--and Stick--a sociopathic bully who is secretly in love with Darren--don't like this plan, but feel powerless to stop it.

And that's what this film is really about: feeling powerless. The only way that the suicides can be averted is if these kids express their feelings honestly. Darren needs to tell Chloe he loves her. Justin needs to tell Darren he needs a brother. Stick needs to tell someone he's gay. But these kids only know what they've learned in the group home: hippie-dippie psychobabble alternated with sexual abuse. And so they vandalize cars and drink and smoke pot and Stick beats people up and Justin draws cartoons and they all rail about the meaningless of life.

Because this is a debut film (and because it is from my native Canada), it is riddled with flaws: we never learn much about Sanj, and a subplot about a pedophile security guard just doesn't work. But this is an impressive debut from Scott Smith. Imagine what he could do with a budget (but only as long as he keeps in touch with his inner suicidal teenager)! 7 out of 10.

I saw this movie it was like 2AM in the morning... Guess The Movie Network made a great choice by putting this movie at this hour of the 'night' cause if it had been during the day, 3/4 of the people watching would have zap to another channel for sure...

It is a good movie in the sense that this is not the usual type of movie when the two people fall in love, have children and live happy ever after... But this movie is SLOW MOVING... I mean, you could watch 5min, go elsewhere for 10min and then comeback and would be at the same place... Still, the end is tragic and the actors are pretty good...

7/10 not more!

Kudos to Scott Smith for getting this film made. It was beautifully shot and put together. The setting made for a visually stunning and poetic film about disenfranchised youth. The actors did such a convincing job of their roles that I was feeling their pain. Teen angst at its most depressing.

**** Roller Coaster **** 7.5/10 Starring: Brendan Fletcher, Kett Turton, Crystal Buble, Brent Glenen, Sean Amsing, David Lovegren

Plot: A Group of teens jump the fence of a defunct amusement park with a plan to end it all. Love stories, surprises and great acting ensues.

Not everyone is going to like this movie. Most people will, in fact, hate it. Its fairly slow, a little boring at times, and has unknowns as the leads. But it has one redeeming factor that makes it all worthwhile: Its so true. Every last bit is like its taken from the life of the average city teenager. Every parent should see this to know whats going on in their child's head.

The Acting is incredible. All except Sean Amsing. Hes just bad. But Brendan Fletcher should go far in his career. A Homosexual homophobic. Its an oxymoron and he plays it like a pro. He denies his feelings, but knows they are there. Crystal Buble's character could have been played by almost any young female actress, and the part about her being a slut wasn't that believable, but the rest rocked!

The character that stood out for me was Darrin (Kett Turton) He was so....disturbed. You could tell what he was really thinking on his face, even when he didn't express it with actions.

This is not a Hollywood fluff movie. It definitely does not have the romantic Hollywood ending, it is depressing, and if you don't watch every minute you wont know exactly what is going on. But if you want a quality movie about real life things then this is a great choice!

7.5/10

I recently watched "Rollercoaster" and although it seemed like it was never going to get to the point of the whole movie, it ended up to be alright. Kett Turton and Brendan Fletcher did an awesome job, playing boys from a group home. So if you choose to watch this movie bare with it, you might end up enjoying it.

There are some good performances here and director/screenwriter Scott Smith seems to have a grip on teen troubles and fears yet the film didn't come together into anything really meaningful. The script and characters could have done with more development.

Part of the success or failure of a movie is whether it can create a plausible sense of time and place. "Roller-coaster" succeeds. It effectively employs scenes that, under different circumstances, would disparagingly be called overused or uninspired, but here they seem fresh and compelling. It reminded me a lot of "Hurricane Streets".

Roller-coaster is the story of five seemingly aimless, conflicted teens from a group home in Vancouver who break into a defunct amusement park. Each of them has a problem or a secret the movie will eventually reveal. Mix all of this with the teens' confrontations with a security guard who at first bullies and torments them. Later it appears that, whether out of boredom or a change of heart, he befriends them. However, his kindness is just a means to an end.

Too many movies are guilty of playing down to the audience. When they show angry teens, the emotion seems contrived. However, "Roller-coaster" manages to make the anger, frustration, confusion, and boredom of growing up seem real. You develop sympathy for the characters because they don't come across as spoiled or irritatingly self-pitying.

Epilogue (added March 14, 2006:) I rented Roller-coaster this past weekend and was amazed at how faulty my memory is. Several years had gone by between the time I first watched the movie and did my review. Roller-coaster is actually better than I remembered. I would now say that it is in the same league as the incredible movie, "Mean Creek".

Not a disaster pic, not teensplatter fare nor a 3-D actioner, "rollercoaster" is a surprising ride about five very real kids who in one day at a closed-down fair come to terms with the everything that is wrong in their lives. Director Scott Smith turns a good tale here and gets his best performance from the explosive Brendan Fletcher, an actor to watch.

"rollercoaster" got great buzz at the Toronto Film Fest, won Most Popular Canadian feature at the Vancouver Film Fest, Best Canadian Feature at the Victoria Independent Film Fest and is nominated for a Leo award, along with Fletcher and Turton each for Best Actor.

When 'rollercoaster' played the Vancouver International Film Fest earlier this year, I thought it demonstrated a kind of emotional depth and a sense of visual style that are exceedingly rare in film these days. While it would be misleading to label the story 'slow', it does have a vaguely European feel to it - a narrative that unfolds more through place and emotional state than through a linear set of events. Ambitious, haunting, and well worthwhile.

I'm a sucker for indie flicks and same person writer/director movies. There's less off the Hollywood tampering and making things "Good for the general public" and more heart and reality. Rollercoaster is pure heart - disturbed, angsty, and mildly depressing heart, but pure nonetheless.

MOST people aren't going to like this, aren't going to understand it, and aren't going to be able to grasp such a non-linear format. Some of those "most" won't be able to admit that this could very well be reality, because it doesn't fit into the wonderbubble that is their lives. I'm not most people, I loved it.

The cinematography was beautiful, editing - brilliant, characters (aside from Sanj, admittedly) were exceptionally well developed. I knew those kids growing up.

Brendan Fletcher, though obnoxious in the beginning (his character calls for it, he was playing it well) throws out one of the most heartwrenching lines of the movie with such simple depth and emotion that it gives you chills.

Kett Turton deserves just as much praise playing the one hiding the most from the world. You can see it on his face, but you can't. He's a million people in one, putting on masks to please the people around him, when he's the one that's the most in pain.

It's not for everyone, and it doesn't end the way you want it to. This movie isn't handed to you on a silver platter like most Hollywood flicks - you're given a spork, and some salad tongs, and you have to use your brain to figure out how to cut the prime rib into bite sized edible pieces. But if you're like me, you like a challenge in a good movie.

Overall a good movie. However, not a movie to take a first time date to. If you do, you might not feel very cheery for the rest of the evening. Think of it as a movie to reflect on. This is not for wimps, or people with real emotional problems.

The trailer alone gets you involved to where you can't not want to see it. The acting was amazing and the writing was brilliant. You can have terrible actors and bad writing or vice versa and this had neither even the location they choose was perfect and through out the movie your so engrossed with the whole thing and the park itself is so eerie it adds to the effect. It's not a movie for the faint of heart. It deals with real issues and emotions which are differently portrayed. I remember I wanting to see this because Kett Turton was in it and I am familiar with Brendan Fletcher as well. I would see this at blockbuster from time and to time and never knew that one day I would be watching it. I watched it for the actors but was blown away by the whole thing. The movie really takes you in and you stay put and follow them through with the emotions and literally the Roller-coaster that their on till the very end. Recommended for any one who wants to see something different and with more thought!~!

For the past several years, myself and six of my girlfriends have gotten together on alternate Saturday nights to watch horror movies and vote on which ones we think are the best. I had never heard of this one when it showed up on our playlist one weekend and was pleasantly surprised about how good ir was.I have seen a lot of crappy horror movies on these weekends (Evil Dead 2, the remake of Evil Dead and Eden Lake stand out)and was surprised that the performances seemed more natural than forced. I truly enjoyed the movie and though it seems to be lacking actual horror or a building up of tension. It was an enjoyable watch. I would watch it again.

You can buy this movie at famvid.net for under $8!!. I couldn't stop watching it once I rented it. The realistic teen drama was enhanced by the dreamy music that floated thru the amusement park. I could never imagine climbing a roller-coaster, and this was really amazing to watch. I don't understand why Darrin jumped off the coaster. Was it because Chloe persuaded him to do it, or was it because she slept around and betrayed him?

Anyway it was different, and enjoyable to view. Dark and depressing, but a lot of good movies are that. The character Sketch was really creative, and I was glad that Stick joined him on his mission to his sisters.

Does anyone know if the soundtrack is available anywhere?

I consider this movie a Bible. It shows so much about most teen life as we know it. It has so much raw drama most people would think of it as non-realistic and melodramatic but the cases it shows are so real and true it contributes to what most people in that age range are thinking and feeling. What people see in that 90 minutes of "teen drama" goes on every day and most people are too blind to see it.

NOTE to parents: wanna know whats going on in your childs head? Watch this movie, it will explain so much.