Chicago-made 'Thrill Ride' keeps 10-year-old's spirit alive
"Thrill Ride," a fantasy adventure written and directed by Woodstock filmmaker Chris Parrish, will get a limited release Dec. 1 through Dec. 8 at Classic Cinemas theaters in Woodstock, Elk Grove and Naperville, preceded by an official premiere Thursday, Nov. 30, at the Woodstock Theater.
Showing the film fulfills a promise that Parrish made to his young son, Mason, that they would one day make movies together.
Mason died from a rare form of pediatric brain cancer in 2011 at the age of 10. He had given his dad ideas for movie plots he wanted to make. Parrish used them to create and inspire "Thrill Ride."
"Mason was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor on Christmas Eve, 2010," Parrish said, "and that's made the holidays something my wife Ilisa and I had to endure with a smile on our faces for the sake of Mason's younger brother Max and sister Lainey.
"Now with 'Thrill Ride' coming out, for the first time in a very long time, Ilisa and I are excited about the holidays again, and that's a wonderful present to get back. That present is really a gift from Mason."
Parrish remembered the moment Mason came up with the movie's plot.
"I was driving Mason to school," Parrish said. "We just saw 'Night at the Museum.' And Mason said, 'You know, Dad, I really liked that movie, but why did they make it about Ben Stiller? It should have been about his son. Plus, museums are boring. They should have set the movie in an amusement park!'
"I had to pull over and write that down," Parrish said.
"Thrill Ride" tells the tale of three kids looking for Al Capone's treasure, rumored to be hidden somewhere in an amusement park that he built during the 1920s (with help, as it turns out, from local actor Tim Kazurinsky).
From there, it's "The Goonies" for the 21st century with secret entrances, chases, pirates, an evil mermaid, a friendly sea hag ("3rd Rock From the Sun" star Kristen Johnson), a runaway locomotive and a fire-breathing dragon.
Parrish's production company, Mason's Movies, will follow Mason's mandate of making movies in which kids become the heroes.
Up next will either be a nostalgic holiday comedy like "A Christmas Story" or an action movie about kids on an undersea adventure.
Parrish predicted that "Thrill Ride" will be seen by millions of people around the country for years.
"That's what's so wonderful and powerful about movies," he said. "They last forever. And because of 'Thrill Ride,' so will Mason's memory and his imagination."
The movie can be purchased on iTunes and Amazon. It has a video release date of Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Tax-deductible contributions to the Mason Parrish Foundation can be made at 720 S. Eastwood Drive, #103, Woodstock, IL 60098. Go to themasonparrishfoundation.org.
<h3 class="briefHead">After Hours presents van Gogh mystery</h3>
The After Hours Film Society presents "Loving Vincent," directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, a drama in which every frame has been oil-painted in a process that took six years.
The film, which looks at the mysterious gunshot death of famed artist Vincent van Gogh, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 20, at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. Go to afterhoursfilmsociety.com.
Complimentary refreshments will be provided during a post-show group discussion. Admission is $10, $6 for members. (630) 534-4528.