Coronavirus Comeback

Six Flags whirls into newest list of Dallas-area attractions reopening

Everybody scream!

The summer heat has arrived, and so has the hankering to get out and have some fun. As restrictions on businesses have loosened per Gov. Greg Abbott's plan to reopen Texas after COVID-19 shutdowns, more venues around Dallas-Fort Worth are reopening their doors.

In these first days of June, more waterparks, movie theaters, and amusement parks — welcome back, Six Flags! — have announced their opening dates. In almost all cases, guests should reserve tickets online, plan to wear masks, and be patient with new rules about temperature-taking, capacity limits, social distancing, and sanitizing.

Here are the latest Dallas-area amusements and attractions to welcome back visitors. The list will be updated as more places reveal their plans.

Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington will reopen to the public June 22. Season pass-holders and members get to come back early, June 19-21. The park has implemented new safety measures and hygiene protocols, which are explained here. Guests should wear masks and prepare to their have temperature checked. Reservations are required to stagger arrival times for social distancing and crowd control. Parking reservations are encouraged, too. For more information, reservations, and parking, visit the website.

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Arlington reopens June 18-21 for members and season pass-holders, and June 22 for the general public. The waterpark has implemented new safety measures and hygiene protocols, which are explained here. Guests will have their temperature taken, but masks are not required. Reservations are required to stagger arrival times for social distancing and crowd control. Parking reservations are encouraged, too. For more information, reservations, and parking, visit the website.

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden set an opening date of June 1, then chose to close at 3 pm that day out of an abundance of caution due to a scheduled protest in the area.. It now has reopened with limited capacity and new safety protocols. Reservations must be made online, and tickets are timed. More information in this story.

Reunion Tower has reopened for amazing city views, but sadly, no dinner at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. Face coverings are encouraged, and guests should expect limited occupancy, including in the elevators. Find information about limited hours, special packages, and ticket sales online.

Cinemark Theaters are reopening in a four-phase plan that will begin on June 19. The first phase will be a test run, with five movie theaters in the Dallas-Fort Worth area opening first. The Plano-based chain's remaining theaters will reopen in phases, concluding on July 10. More information in this story.

Ipic upscale movie theater chain has begun a phased-in reopening, including its Fairview location, which opened June 4.

Medieval Times has reopened for dinner and a jousting show. "Guests must wear a mask to enter Her Majesty's castle ... and (we) ask that you please stay at a sword's length from your fellow Royals," they say. More information and ticket sales on their website.

NRH20 Family Waterpark in North Richland Hills reopens for its 25th anniversary season June 15. Guests can expect updated safety and cleaning protocols, as well as new procedures designed to allow for social distancing. Tickets and season passes can be purchased online.

Great Wolf Lodge resort and waterpark in Grapevine will reopen June 16, providing a convenient staycation location for families. Their new "Paw Pledge" program focuses on keeping families healthy and safe through sanitization, physical distancing, personal protection, and minimizing surface interactions. Guests may pick up complimentary masks at the front desk. For reservations and discounts, visit their website.

Sweet Tooth Hotel will reopen June 6, with their new exhibit, Intangible — A Fiber Fairytale. The Instagrammy attraction will allow just 10 guests at a time, masks are required, and temperatures will be taken. More information and tickets on the website.

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Movie Review

Faces of Death returns with modern twist on cult horror film

Photo courtesy of of IFC Films

Dacre Montgomery in Faces of Death.

True horror fans will likely be familiar with the 1978 cult film Faces of Death, which purported to be a documentary showing real-life killings in gory detail. It didn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop rumors from continuing to spread for decades. Now, almost 50 years and multiple sequels later, comes a new version of Faces of Death, an actual movie that pays homage to the original in interesting ways.

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works at a YouTube-like company called Kino as a content moderator, flagging videos that violate the company’s policies. This means her job often involves seeing some truly despicable things from all manner of depraved people. One day, though, she comes across a video that seems a little too real, and after seeing more similar videos, she starts to believe they’re genuine murders.

Going against her company NDA, she starts to investigate the videos on her own, which puts her on the radar of Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), who is actually kidnapping people and killing them on camera through methods seen in the original Faces of Death film. It’s not long before Arthur tracks her down, with a plan to make her one of his next victims.

Written and directed by Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and co-written by Isa Mazzei, the film is not so much scary as it is creepy, with the occasional gross-out sequence. The idea of having someone emulate the killings in the cult film is a good idea, and pairing it with the modern-day attention economy - in which content creators go to increasing lengths for clicks - is a clever twist on a concept that other films have done.

The film as a whole is a commentary on how social media and video sharing sites have often decided to prioritize profits over the well-being of their users. Margot is shown allowing videos involving violence and sexual assault to stay on the site while nixing ones depicting how to use Narcan or demonstrating putting on a condom on a banana. Josh (Jermaine Fowler), Margot’s boss, is even explicit in the company mandate that outrageous videos drive views.

While Arthur has the makings of a good villain, there are few attempts to make him seem truly diabolical. His kidnappings often seem more spur-of-the-moment than calculated, and even though he has a well thought-out dungeon at home, the house’s location in the suburbs seems to make him vulnerable to easy discovery. Goldhaber and Mazzei leave more than a few unanswered questions along the way that take away from the intensity of the story.

Ferreira is yet another actor from Euphoria who’s capitalizing on her exposure from that show. She plays Margot’s increasing anxiety well, and when the action ratchets up in the final act, she meets the moment in a satisfying way. Montgomery returns to the vibe he had while playing the evil Billy on Stranger Things, and even though his character doesn’t fully live up to his potential, Montgomery sells his evil for all it’s worth.

The new Faces of Death may not be what some are expecting given the reputation of the previous films, but it’s a solid horror/thriller that uses the brand as a launching pad into something different. It doesn’t make much of a dent in the scare department, but it does give its violence and gore a degree of relevance in today’s often desensitized world.

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Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

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