THe story behind Randy Moore’s Escape From Tomorrow proves infinitely more interesting that what ends up on screen. Shot guerrilla-style without permission in Disneyland and Disneyworld, it is a nightmarish surreal horror comedy about the intoxicating power of Uncle Walt’s Dream Factory and the increasingly frightening toll it takes on an innocent holidaying family. Considering the efforts that Moore and his crew went to in making the film, it’s a shame that ultimately it lets Disney off so lightly. Sure, it occasionally touches on subversive prospects like the brainwashing of children and Disney Princesses being pimped out to wealthy Asian businessmen, but focuses way too much of its attentions on the family’s Clark Griswald-esque patriarch, Jim (Roy Abramsohn) as he begins to lose his shit, fantasise about French teenagers and succumb to the stifling attack on the senses that is the Disney Experience. There are moments where inserts and cutaways were required, forcing Moore and Co to shoot on green screen rather than risk another trip to the theme park, but these moments only add to the strange detachment the whole experience has with reality.
Escape From Tomorrow
