Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster races into San Antonio summer 2017.
Rendering courtesy of SeaWorld Parks
The first roller coaster of its kind in North America will debut at SeaWorld San Antonio next summer.
Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster will combine "the thrill of the sea, the adrenaline rush of a multi-launch roller coaster, and the inspiration of animal rescue," says a release. Passengers will ride on unique jet ski-like cars, zooming across the surface of the water and 60-plus feet in the air.
The ride is inspired by Sea Rescue, an ABC show that follows the SeaWorld Rescue team. It's designed to mimic a real jet ski experience, allowing riders to lean into turns.
"Replicating an adventure limited to only a few trained professionals, Wave Breaker will launch riders into an exhilarating experience similar to going on an animal rescue mission. The coaster is sure to thrill, but also brings awareness to the brave efforts of our animal teams," says SeaWorld San Antonio president Carl Lum in a statement.
"Inspired by our guests' ongoing requests to learn more about how they can help support animal rescue efforts, each ride begins by telling the story of a rescue mission and invites guests to become personally involved in helping to protect animals," he says.
Wave Breaker is the fourth roller coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio, joining the Great White, Steel Eel, and Shamu Express. Several other SeaWorld locations are getting new attractions next year too, including a virtual reality ride in Orlando and an orca exhibit in San Diego.
YouTube has become such a big part of the culture that it was only a matter of time before content creators started making waves in big screen filmmaking. Interestingly, most of them have made their names in the horror genre, including Danny and Michael Philippou (Talk to Me, Bring Her Back), Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach (the recent Iron Lung), and now Kane Parsons with Backrooms.
Set in 1990, the film centers on Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who owns a rundown furniture store in a nondescript city. He is divorced and seemingly depressed, two things that come up in his multiple sessions with his therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve). Lately, he has taken to sleeping in the store instead of going home, which allows him to notice strange electrical activity when the lights are supposed to be turned off.
When investigating the issues one night, he discovers a mysterious opening that leads to a completely different structure with a seemingly endless amount of rooms and corridors. Some of them are innocuous and some of them contain strange and creepy elements. With nothing else of interest in his life, Clark returns to the area night after night, eventually drawing in his employee, Kat (Lukita Maxwell), her boyfriend Bobby (Finn Bennett), and Mary.
The 20-year-old Parsons, helped by a number of well-known producers, demonstrates an astonishing level of filmmaking prowess for a first-time feature filmmaker. There is no trace of amateurishness in the progression of the story or the visual style of the film. Whatever confusion arises comes from the plot itself, which is designed to raise way more questions than answers.
Clark’s journey into the bewildering collection of rooms is full of intrigue instead of scares for most of the film, but when Parsons decides to amp things up, he really goes for it. The final third of the film contains some haunting imagery that defies description or explanation. It seems clear that Parsons’ preferred method of storytelling is to keep the audience off-balance, unable to predict what comes next.
What he also seems to understand, however, is that you have to give the audience something to hold on to, and in this case it’s the backstories of Clark and Mary. Both seem to be living differing versions of pathetic, uninteresting lives, but things revealed in their sessions broaden the scope of their stories. The strange world they find seems to reflect their respective traumas, giving a tenuous connection to reality that keeps the film from becoming too frustrating.
Ejiofor and Reinsve, both of whom are Oscar nominees, give the film an air of legitimacy that allows viewers to follow whatever odd roads Parsons wants to go down. Because it’s impossible to tell where the film is heading, the steady acting of Ejiofor and Reinsve is crucial in its success. Maxwell, Bennett, and Mark Duplass are good in brief appearances, but don’t appear enough to have a huge impact.
The ambiguous nature of Backrooms lends it the possibility of becoming a franchise, as Parsons could seemingly take it in any direction he wanted and have it feel part of the larger whole. Given how well done this and other recent films by YouTubers have been, the melding of the two seemingly disparate mediums makes more sense than ever.
