Clown (2014)

Number Rolled: 23

Movie Name/Year: Clown (2014)

Tagline: The kids aren’t alright.

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Length: 99 minutes

Rating: R

Production Companies: Cross Creek Pictures, Dimension Films, PS 260, Vertebra Films, Zed Filmworks

Producer: Andy Cappuccino, Helen Cappuccino, Mac Cappuccino, James Holt, Robert Menzies, Brian Oliver, Eli Roth, Cody Ryder, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein

Director: Jon Watts

Writer: Christopher Ford, Jon Watts

Actors: Andy Powers, Laura Allen, Peter Stormare, Christian Distefano, Chuck Shamata, Elizabeth Whitmere, Victor Cornfoot, Lucas Kelly, Emily Burley, Matthew Stefiuk, Robert Reynolds

Stunt Doubles: Simon Northwood

Blurb from Netflix: For his kids party, a real estate agent dons a clown costume he found in one of his properties -- then discovers it’s cursed.

Selina’s Point of View:

Ugh.

Any film about the wolfman or someone turning into a vampire is basically this. Beginning to end. Just replace the words ‘werewolf’ or ‘vampire’ with ‘clown’ and there you go. Same shit.

For a few, I thought they were going to go the humor-infused route, which likely would have elevated the film. Unfortunately, they dropped that before the half-way point and started taking themselves very seriously. You can’t do that with a film like this.

Taking this antagonist seriously makes it a copy and paste of about twelve thousand other films. They easily could have gone the other route and made something decent. Going for pure horror was a terrible idea and produced an even worse film.

I didn’t enjoy Clown and I didn’t find it scary. People with Coulrophobia would find it frightening, up until the ‘clown’ in the film stopped resembling its namesake, but otherwise – it’s just a bloody bore-fest.

I don’t understand. This movie is by the same writer/director that made Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). What happened?

Cat’s Point of View:

I know a few people who are absolutely terrified of clowns. That’s never been one of my hang-ups. When I was little, I absolutely adored a Shriner clown by the name of Smiley. He walked an invisible dog as part of his act at the circus. Of course, part of what won me over was that he gave me a bright red felt Shriner fez. I was pre-school age and easy to please. The point is, I’ve never forgotten. I’ve found the evolution of clowns in the entertainment industry fascinating, frankly.

All sorts of urban legends center around bad things happening when you put on the clothes of the deceased – specifically fancy dress clothes or costumes. I guess Andy Powers’ (Northeast, Alpha House, Sweets) character didn’t get that memo. He was endearing in the part, trying to make-good as a dad before things went pear shaped.

The film had plenty of suspense and your expected jump scares, but I have to say that I haven’t quite seen something like this before. While the movie played on shades of urban legend and foreign folklore, it felt like something original. It’s not the only clown horror movie out there – but aside from what I’ve already mentioned, I haven’t really seen the others to compare.

There were some really satisfying moments, and some that just made my stomach churn when I put myself in the mom’s shoes, played by Laura Allen’s (Awake, Ravenswood, Nanny Cam).

I wouldn’t say the movie is flawless, but it was pretty good and definitely high on the creep factor just in time for Halloween.

Languages

Speech Available: English

Subtitles Available: English, Spanish

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 48%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 38%

Metascore - 42/100

Metacritic User Score – 5.2/10

IMDB Score – 5.7/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5

P.S. Some weird music during the credits.

Movie Trailer: