Class Action Park

This 2020 documentary tells the true story of Action Park, a wild water park in Vernon, New Jersey, in the 1980s and 1990s. Owner Gene Mulvihill wanted a place with almost no rules. Rides were rough, often unsafe, and run by young staff. Guests got hurt a lot, and some people died. The film mixes old footage, new interviews, and simple animation. The tone starts fun and crazy, then turns serious when it covers the deaths and cover-ups.

The film’s main push is safety, greed, and how people still joke about a place that hurt real people. Viewers hear about fake insurance, broken rules, and a park boss who dodged the law. Mulvihill is likened to big-ego money men of the 1980s, and the film notes he was friends with Donald Trump, who looked at investing and walked away. Some talk frames the park as free-market “no rules” thinking gone wrong and as a product of that era’s loose oversight. A normal viewer notices the money-and-power critique and the Trump parallel more than any race, gender, or queer identity agenda. Those identity themes are not the story’s center.