If horror films were graded on a curve and categorized into five year intervals, then I would say Dark Ride was average in comparison to what we've been getting out of Hollywood. Far from great, it still kept my interest and I made it to the end.<br /><br />Much of the credit, I must admit, goes to the choice of female cast members. Jamie-Lynn DiScala is so easy on the eyes that her obnoxious character she plays is tolerable. Although not to quite the same level, the same could also be said of Andrea Bogart and Jennifer Tisdale. Of course, this is hardly a legitimate reason to score a lousy film higher then it deserves, but it doesn't hurt.<br /><br />The film starts off intriguing enough and is pretty direct as to what you can expect as far as the film's gore factor. For me, too much gore does a a failed horror make. This film bordered on "give me a break" but didn't cross the line. Also, the fiend was sinister enough, and there was great use of various Dark Ride props, especially the mask.<br /><br />There was a pretty decent story to work with here, but unfortunately it seems that either there was a small and mismanaged budget and/or the direction of the film was placed in the wrong hands. You could see the ending coming almost from the beginning, and that was a let-down. It was one of those deals where you say to yourself, "Surely they're not going to do this" but down deep you know they are. They're going to go for the cheesy, cliché' attempt at irony. It is almost insulting. Just the same, DiScala's character's reaction to the truth of her situation at the end did have a bit of a spooky ambiguity to it.<br /><br />My advice: if you want to see this film, wait till it's released on DVD and taken off the "New Releases" wall.