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:
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