15 Best Documentaries Of 2020

This is an often hilarious, often troubling documentary about a theme park with no rules, and by extension 1980s America at large. In 1978 an ex-Wall Street trader called Eugene Mulvihill bought up a ski resort which he later turned into Action Park, a New Jersey summer hotspot where the usual rules of conduct simply didn’t apply.

30 years down the line, former patrons and staff members reminisce about this whimsical wild west, where kids were encouraged to throw themselves down a water slide with a full 360 loop, ride carts down concrete tracks with precision braking required to remain on course, and pilot actual mini tanks in a combat exhibit.

Those who were there recall Action Park with a mixture of whimsy and horror. They’re shocked a place so chaotic ever existed, but proud that they survived it, and eager to show off their battle scars. Then, there’s the darker side. Along with multiple minor injuries, people died at Action Park, and the interview with the mother of a boy who lost his life is heartbreaking.

The result is a funny, sad monument to a bygone era, probably best left in the past.