Class Action Park – A Crazy Time Capsule Documentary (Early Review)

For those watching 2018’s Action Point, the thought may have occurred that the idea of a dangerous amusement park such as the one featured in that film can’t possibly exist. Fortunately or not, they exist and Class Action Park is the latest documentary that documents the rise and fall of Action Park, a legendary theme park in Vernon, New Jersey known for its history of safety concerns causing countless injuries to patrons and staff alike. This film takes the craziness that was Action Point and takes it up a few notches solely based on the fact that it was all real. But beyond all the ridiculous and badly-engineered rides and the sheer level of recklessness and general negligence along the way (not occurring without incident), the film was an ode to a simpler and arguably less politically correct time where youths had much more freedom and got away with much more than they would today. Though the film definitely gets crazy and painful to watch at times. there would also be a dark side behind those crazy stories.

Narrated by John Hodgman, Class Action Park tells the the story of how the park, the brainchild of New Jersey businessman Eugene Mulvihill, a the first modern water park in the United States came to be. He was adamantly against rules for both his employees as well as park visitors as he believed they should be in full control of their experiences (which isn’t necessarily a good thing). The danger factor was a point of fascination while the blatant lack of rules made for a volatile combination. Nevertheless, this was what kept kids constantly coming back. Meanwhile, the consumption of alcohol by both visitors and park employees ran rampant across the park, further complicating the overall park experience. All things considered, the park wasn’t the best conceived or managed to begin with, as inexperienced teens were essentially left in charge (which usually doesn’t end well). Not much thought was put behind most of what the park had to offer with safety in mind as Mulvihill’s ideology guided how the park operated.

The best part of Class Action Park is simply listening to all the stories as park employees and visitors recounted their experiences as the park came into prominence (offering some fun animated sequences). Through this, viewers get to learn about the three separate parks that made up Action Park, the Alpine Center, Motorworld, and Waterworld (the film focuses more on the latter two), and the thought process for how the different rides were constructed (if one could even call it that). As they would recount it, with hindsight, the rides may not have been the safest but back then, it was all about the experience and having fun in the moment. That’s not to say that these experiences weren’t without issues, including a few injuries and six deaths. Most viewers will surely be in disbelief at the level of craziness of it all, especially how it was allowed to happen in the first place. While many visitors did get hurt in one form or another, the actual number of injuries is unknown. This may have had something to do with Mulvihill and his underhanded (and borderline illegal) tactics. In the end, he was an arguably sleazy businessman who only cared about money (though he wasn’t the only party with a vested interest in the park’s continued success thus he leveraged those connections if needed).

However, Class Action Park is not an indictment of Mulvihill though it wasn’t necessarily clear what it wanted to be. Ultimately, the park and Mulvihill’s growing legal issues along with the changing times caught up with it, leading to its eventual closure in 1996. Multiple, and safer, incarnations of the park have since attempted to come back but it was never the same so for the most part, it will merely be a memory among many of a simpler time.

At the end of the day, Class Action Park is a highly entertaining documentary and a fun little time capsule which is something we need right now.

still courtesy of HBO Max

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.