This is a great video, I enjoyed the hell out of it, and subscribed. But I want to say, I have seen a great definition of camp that cuts through sontag's excessive wordcount. I think it was Rantasmo who defined it, but he said camp was "A celebrarion of artifice." The artificial, the gaudy, the fake - camp is the celebration of plastic fantastic, the vulgar and the unnatural.
I literally adore your channel so much. I like being on the receiving end of infodumping instead of being the one that is constantly infodumping on my friends about theme parks.
Yep notes: on the lift to the drop they could face you backwards so you don’t know when you’re going to fall. And 2: in the dark before the other drop make a voice say “you’re gonna drop, you’re gonna drop, you’re gonna drop” to freak you out and you don’t know when you’ll fall
Watching a few of your videos now has solidified to me that I’d be that one person at a party who’d hear you/someone talk about theme parks from afar and be like “theme parks?!” and just join in and be enthralled and/or add onto it lmao. Keep up the great work and thanks for talking about this ride, as someone who’s also timid about watching any of the Saw franchise 😅
I think at its core Saw the ride is funny because the rider has made the choice to ride it. It’s the only Saw trap that you voluntarily, enthusiastically want to participate in.
A video essay about rollercoasters that starts off by explaining the cultural context of Susan Sontag and then makes a Mean Girls reference?? That is goddamn INCREDIBLE. Top work.
You’ve nailed every aspect of the campiness!!! I tried to explain how saw the ride was camp a couple of years to go with a friend and he didn’t get it. Now I can send him this
You are so right about vertical lift-hills. I rode one that was 106 feet tall and I was clinging on for dear LIFE. It was so bad that I left temporary marks on the foam padding from how hard i was holding on
Honestly, I feel like it's a little bit of a missed opportunity to not have a body in the bathroom (maybe even a poorly photoshopped body from the ride???) in reference to the first movie.
As someone who also hasn't I feel this was probably true... but wanted to avoid making any big claims about the movies if I wasn't going to sit down and watch them!
As someone who's seen all of them, they are the goriest camp fests you'll ever see. Watching Hoffman in the later films go from "angry cop guy" to full blown Hoffinator is peak fiction
Would you ever make a video about Halloween horror nights? I would call that camp as well. I go every year and i’m amazed by the details of costumes, makeup on scare actors, and house design that I forget I’m getting scared.
So I've never had a chance to go to Halloween horror nights myself but I do love watching videos of some of the mazes for all the reasons you say. There's one maze in particular I have a lot of thoughts about due to being a huge fan of what it's adapting... but I don't know if I'll ever get round to doing a video on it! I'm so slow at making these, so trying to prioritise the ones I'm very passionate about first.
@@MikeFromTheParty Thank you!!! As an update; we thoroughly enjoyed the video and can't wait for more in the future. It reminded me of the Saw keychain I was given by a friend who rode it about a week after it opened, I was too much of a roller-coaster coward to ride it myself. That opening dark ride segment would probably have me laughing though!
@@MikeFromTheParty fiancee here- thank you Mike, it means so much you replied! Since we’re long distance it was fun hearing about my partner’s experiences and learning about a park I’ve never been to!
this channel has very quickly become my favorite channel on the whole of youtube. from the amount of info, to the interesting topics, to the pov, its just amazing. keep doing what you’re doing.
I remember watching ride throughs of this in high school desperate to ride it, great video! Also thank you for recognizing Billy for being the camp icon he is
I am so hyped to watch this, Saw makes me more excited than scared personally but after doing it 30 times it's definitely obviously lost its intimidation factor Edit: that was great. Saw's my second favourite ride in the park and you've explained it all very well. The ending was good too
So the last few times I've been to Thorpe Park I've gone midweek and only walked through the queue... so I have no memory of this! Is it in the indoor bit?
@@MikeFromTheParty It's just before you walk up the first few set of stairs. It's has a long pause between runs. I went to Thorpe about two weekends ago. They have turned a lot of things back on. Stealth has smoke, Detonator now runs a game at the top and the drop is held differently per ride and some of the zombies have changed in Walking Dead.
This video is making me want to visit England for the sole purpose of riding this masterpiece. How dare you (affectionately). This speaks to my soul and this is now my dream ride thank you very much
I would argue that Wicker man at Alton towers is also Camp. Like the no eating or drinking sign that’s on your way into the rides station says something like “No eating or drinking, your modern food displeases the Wicker man!” Basically the theme of the ride is that riders have been invited by a cult called the Beornen to a ceremony. There’s also show at the end of the queue where a Scottish sounding voiceover goes “Welcome chosen few, we are the Beornen. For generations our family has lived in these woods, lead by the spirit of the Wicker man. Our elders taught us of a day where he will rise to give us freedom and eternal wellbeing. But to start the ritual we need a gift and that gift, is you. He is here. What an honour to see yourself burn in Wicker, encased in his soul! The time has come for the Wicker man to rise, together we shall feed the flames. Let the ceremony commence.”
Yaaaas, Billy! Glad to see you’ve gone camp like the rest of us queens, this would slay after some Chardonnay. Billy was always a theater kid, he always made his traps so fab and theatrical.
On my trip to Thorpe Park, Saw was the first rollercoaster I went on that day and also the first time I ever went on a rollercoaster with inversions! Honestly it was very fun and I went on it twice that day (weirdly enough i found it to be a rougher ride later in the day which is normally the opposite). Great video btw!
I don't know why, but the prompt st the beginning is cracking me. The guy you've been dodging😂 In all honesty, I would love to run into someone like you at a party. I never find people in the wild who are as into theme parka as I am.
An authentic SAW ride would require the guests to gnaw off their own arms to get out of the safety harnesses. It's hard to see how the disconnect between horror, which requires a person to feel trapped and threatened, could translate to a roller coaster, which has to be inspected regularly and is generally operated by bored teenagers, without the result being *camp.* Maybe they should lean into it and have Tommy Wiseau design a Room ride. So, are all these videos at the same party? I need to know the LORE.
A Room ride would be iconic! I see each of these as separate parties (different outfits/ lighting) although you are very free to picture these all at the same party for comedic value
Horror based theme park attractions should be campy, it makes the horror more accessible to those who are likely to avoid it and honestly a fully serious horror attraction would probably not be very fun. I think the designers were fully aware of what this ride would be, it's unlikely that they were even attempting to be seriously scary because it would alienate a large portion of potential riders if it was genuinely fear inducing outside of the fear portrayed in the rollercoaster medium itself. The most successful horror attractions are campy. Halloween Horror Nights is a hit because it's ultimately very silly while committing to a high standard of quality and maintaining a playful theme park atmosphere with its actors. Horror fans love camp, we expect it, even when ads seem like they're trying to convey some sense that the experience will be seriously terrifying because it wouldn't be fun to theme an attraction around concepts that are more genuinely terrifying than over the top killers getting away with ridiculous crimes.
I get your point but I'd argue basically every other horror attraction I've experienced has had some level of fright, even if it's just a few jump scares. So at HHN, even if there's a certain playfulness to it, there's a sense of exhilaration from having completed a maze that comes from that level of fear it creates. Saw: The Ride not being even slightly scary (beyond the coaster) is what makes it such pure camp fun in a way that set's it apart imo
My only wish for Saw is to smooth out the ride a bit as my partner and I often coin it as "Sore: The Ride" as it can jerk you around a lot! Keep everything else though as you say it's delightfully camp and I wish the walking dead ride at Thorpe succeeded in the same way
It's interesting because I also adore The Walking Dead Ride and I'm surprised I'm in a minority on this! I think part of my love comes from the first time I went on it was a really quiet day and me and a friend were the only ones in the entire building. Walking down the long corridor after the pre-show by ourselves having no idea what was going on was such a fun memory.
I'm a late to the party cos of traffic!!! Yes it is the campest thing alive/dead! I have been waiting for this take and you did not disappoint. I love Thorpe Park when it owns it's camp and recognizes it early Channel 4 the theme park. Camp, trying to tragically hip, over ambitious but without the funds to see it's ideas through and most of the staff are wonderfully over it, yet hyper-competent at their jobs. It's my favourite place in the world.
I'm trying to think of rides that have scared me over the years... Anything moving towards the riders, regardless of how far away it is, is unsettling. Like, Dinosaur in WDW. The carnator head thrusts out at the end towards the ride vehicle and I absolutely hate that shit @.@
As someone who thinks Dinosaur is terrifying I absolutely agree! I feel like that's a great example of a jump-scare ride, but I also love rides that subtly unnerve and unsettle (the stretching room in the Haunted Mansion is a masterclass on this)
Mike, just looking cool as fuck at the beginning of the video. About an obscure theme park ride. Exactly the way I live my life. (Or try, not sure how often I actually come across as cool.)
When I think camp it runs the gammet . Batman 1960s...to the remakes by Joel Schumacher. Uma Thurman Was definitely doing camp as was Arnold Jim Carrey etc
Idk why it required a whole video to describe a low budget horror movie experience as "campy", most low budget horror is campy, it almost feels married to the word. Its kind of obnoxious how after that one Met Gala "Camp" became some kind pseudo-intellectual way of saying overstylized and a bit goofy. its not high art, its dumb fun, thats all campy means.
Of all the things I thought I'd watch today, a genuinely well crafted Video Essay about one of my favorite Thorpe Park rides that nails down why I kinda love it so much, was not on my list
Oh man. This guy again. I’ve been avoiding him all evening. Better just subscribe and say “it’s hard to pinpoint my favorite part” about his last video.
I mean, I’ve commonly heard Saw described as one of the greatest comedy series of all time because basically every movie from 2 onwards has this incredibly camp energy to it.
Okay i know it's not the point of the video at all, but i really love your framing devices! The idea of the guy over sharing about theme parks at a party is just choice.
I think the key thing that a lot of people forget is horror IS camp, it’s entertainment, it’s not meant to be serious. And the art of scare attractions is again the entertainment factor not that it’s meant to genuinely frighten you, although it does for some. So I agree, Saw the Ride is camp but so is the film and so are all horror films.
RIP deren browns ghost train, also to be honest thorpe wasn't alone in the act of 'horror' theme rides as alton towers decided to join in on the act with Thirteen, Smiler and Wickerman. They havn't had a new major coaster since though
I rode this on opening day! Someone puked right on the dead body. Good times. Ridden it lots since then and its still a campy masterpiece to this day (even if they got rid of the air-shotgun blasts in the queue line)
I absolutely love your style of video. The "guy monologing at a party that you just can't get rid of" is such a particular mood that I can't help it is itself camp. Yes to some it might seem to mock people who do it, but you do it in such a loving way that I can't help but enjoy it. The fact that I myself love listening to people passionately talking about their latest interests has nothing to do with that. Your line-up of subjects is also very interesting. Very much off the standard path with peculiar angles. Loved your recent Droomvlucht analysis. It brought a very new perspective on the ride that I haven't thought of yet. Your Flight of Passage video also made me quite excited to one day witness that ride myself. Now I'd love to talk with you a bit more, but I promised my friends a few beers so if you excuse me, I'm grab a couple from the kitchen...
I was trying to think what ride might do suspense well, and I think splash mountain might do this the best. Like, you go past the big drop multiple times and there's that whole long lift hill section before it. The whole ride you think about the drop, or maybe I just feel that way because I think log rides are spooky
I think that's a great choice. I think rides that have one big 'drop' which you're aware is coming often do this best. I think Tower of Terror is also great at this, as well as Oblivion at Alton Towers here in England
the only terrifying experience i had on this ride was when a very tiny kid (he was defo too short for this ride) was let on a seated Infront of me, me and my boyfriend had to shut our eyes because we were so scared he would fall out. now that was scary... so maybe saw is the worlds scariest ride as long as there is a small human sat Infront of you 😅
tbh i thought i missed a video from ordinary things & just doing a bit for the intro but then i got confused to why the bit was still going on and checked the channel name. really good vid btw!
this is my new favorite youtube channel. your topics are always so varied and the framing for each of the the rides and experiences is so interesting! thank you so much for the wonderful videos
A timeline watching your videos: Intro: "I don't agree but I'm interested..." - Middle "okkkk I see your point" - End "Dammit Mike you've convinced me again!!"
I think its just Merlin they seem to like darker themes wickerman is based on human sacrifice and 13 is based on bad luck the swarm is based on the apocalypse ect
I like how the wikipedia entry only made sense to me because of the years I spent playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 as a kid. Love you videos, 10/10 would listen to you ramble about theme parks at a party.
the first three Saw movies have a special place in my heart. I'd love to have a ride like this at my local park! tbf, they just brought back the Zambezi Zinger, so at least there's that!
I love that you used Expedition: Everest as an example of a better use of timing to unsettle the rider, since there's that interview with a/the guy behind "13" describing that same bit as boring, explaining that _his_ rollercoaster will be way scarier because you don't have to sit and wait on a drop track. Also the Jenny Nicholson line was great.
possibly the best title to a youtube video i've seen in a while??? your infodumps are always entertaining and loved you using your friends in the video haha
What do you think of Hyperia? Thorpe seem to be changing their style from scary, to adventure. I do wonder how they'll pull it off, what sorts of soundscapes the ride will have because they've confirmed audio around the area and the ride itself, and, how it's all going to work. Apparently the more adventuruous theme seems to be throughout the rest of the park too.
