Clown (2014) Reviews

• Clown has a unique premise, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired.

  lnvicta2015-05-10

  Even if you aren't bothered by clowns, you have to admit that a killer clown is a pretty creepy idea. I mean clowns are always around children, they have a pale face, goofy hair and bright welcoming colors, masking the homicidal tendencies underneath. I always thought it would make a good movie idea, and Clown is about the closest we get to that. It's less of a killer clown story as much as it is a possession movie. This particular clown suit does not come off. If someone puts it on, it fuses with their skin while the demon slowly possesses them. The demon is a cannibal and only eats children. 5 children to be exact: one for every month of winter, or so the lore goes. It's an interesting take on the killer clown notion and I usually like Eli Roth so I was excited to see this movie. Unfortunately, Clown misses the mark in almost every way. It's an Eli Roth movie so of course there's lots of blood and gore, which is fine. Eating kids is also inherently disturbing, even though the killing is not shown on screen you do see a lot of children's guts, blood and body parts. The thing is, it doesn't really add anything to the movie. That's mainly because the movie doesn't build up much tension in the first place. It's slow to start - the dad is the one who puts on the costume to surprise his kid at his birthday party, but he falls asleep in it and when he wakes up, he finds that the wig infused with his hair and the costume is indestructible. The psychological aspect of this is interesting for a while, but it never goes the extra mile. Everything we see here has been done to death already. Just because the premise is cool doesn't mean cheesy dialogue and inappropriate jump scares get a free pass. They're still annoying as hell, and sadly they are littered throughout the entire movie. This movie has every horror cliché in the book. The jump scares in particular really detract from the movie's atmosphere. It sets a dark tone at the beginning, and even more so when the psychological elements start dripping in and the dad questions his sanity as he discovers more about the suit, but every once in a while someone will pop up behind someone else and the music will be LOUD for a second as if it's supposed to scare us. No, it doesn't work like that. All the good build up in the first two acts are dampened by these cheap scares - they give no time for tension to build before throwing another one at you, and it's just annoying after the first couple of times. The dialogue doesn't help either. Neither does the acting. Peter Stormare is great as usual but he doesn't get that much screen time. It's mainly the female lead and her reactions to her husband turning into this monster, and let me tell you, she is a terrible actress. There are also a lot of kids in this movie and kid actors are almost always terrible. You just don't care about any people on screen, except for the guy being possessed but even he is only in the first half of the movie. We're just stuck following a bland wife and her bland kid trying to stop the evil clown from killing other bland kids. The clown itself does not disappoint. It does look genuinely creepy, and the costume and make-up are very well done, but sadly that doesn't make up for a bad script and poor direction. It just has no style. It's really by-the-numbers horror with an Eli Roth tinge. The worst part is, it isn't even scary. If you're a fan of Eli Roth then you might get some enjoyment from this, but if you aren't a horror fanatic then don't bother.

• Remarkable cheesy fun!

  gothic-fiction2015-03-01

  I love Clown! A complete surprise for me, came out of nowhere, when I was the poster I was expecting nothing but a class C kind of horror, but boy was I wrong! What makes it so much fun? The transformation itself is simple and brilliant! They take their time but they make sure to always keep you interested, waiting to see what happens next, how things will evolve and so on. Clown is a natural movie, they didn't bother into too much gore, nor nudity, but instead they actually focused on the story. And I have to say, it was a good one, effective and sometimes haunting! It is a sure thing that most horror fans out there will dig this on for sure. Without saying too much about it, if you liked movies like Rare exports or Sint, this one you'll enjoy even more because in my opinion, it is better! Clown, simple and effective! Cheers!

• Better than expected

  Ovidium802015-04-04

  I was expecting a boring, typical horror movie, instead I was really surprised, in a good way, by this film. The script is not that bad,pretty original, and it keeps you wanting to see more, to see how it will end. The acting is good, great performance from the main actors. Better than the score, I saw a lot of worst horror movie this last year. It was fun and worth watching. Not a masterpiece but highly enjoyable. I was thinking oh, no, another clown horror movie, but actually is one of the best horror movies I've seen in a while. Highly underrated on IMDb, I recommend you to watch it, you will not be disappointed.

• Well I enjoyed this messed up movie

  MattBrady0992015-03-19

  Never again would I look at Clowns in the same way after seeing this movie but that get's me thinking, when did I like them in the first place. The story to Clown is about a father discovers the clown suit and decides to wear it for his son's birthday party. However, he soon discovers that the suit turns the wearer into a killing machine. Clowns never scared me because I always know it's somebody else in cheap looking make-up trying to make you laugh but really they creeping us out. I have seen many movies and TV shows with scary looking clowns in it and yes I can see why people are scared of them but they never took a big effect on me, until I sawed this and for now on I will stay far way from clowns if possible. You can hate or like the film Clown if your a horror fan or not, for me I like my horror movies best served cold and freaky, and Clown to me isn't a bad flick. I can see a lot of effort went into the make- up and the design of the monster clown. To those who have seen the movie did you think for a second that Eli Roth directed this movie, yes I know he stars in the movie but the movie has that style look to it that Eli Roth himself would use and I'm saying that has a positive. The acting in the movie was surprisingly pretty good from Andy Powers and Laura Allen. The directing as well was pretty good from other horror movies today. Normally I don't like over the top gore in movies as I think it's a cheap way to get 18 rating or if your American Rated R, and to be honest I didn't get that in this movie for most of the time you don't really see much of guts flying everywhere but most of the after math of what happened. For problems with the movie I have some like: The characters in the movie are mostly forgettable and I'm not talking about Laura Allen or Andy Powers characters, I mean the other supporting or the background characters that always seem to get screen time which they shouldn't because they stupid and dull to watch. The movie dose have some clichés that really stick out and I thought we are already pass some of the clichés when it comes to horror movies today, but luckily after a while the movie forgotten the clichés as it went on. Oh remember when I said some of the acting was good well the kid actor was a bit noticeable that he's trying to be scared but I didn't buy it not for one bit. Besides that Clown overall isn't a bad flick, now some people may not agree with me and that's fine you got a opinion and that's awesome I'm not going to be like those dick heads that start yelling at you for nothing. Well I enjoyed this messed up movie.

• Disturbing on many different levels

  johnbkaramazov2015-03-21

  I was really looking forward to Clown after seeing the trailer, the concept seemed pretty original and interesting and I liked what I saw. If you felt the same way, I would highly recommend that you give this film a watch. In the end it surpassed my expectations and left me feeling pretty disturbed. The acting from the leads is solid, Andy Powers especially is fantastic as Kent and carries the earlier parts of the film with a really good performance. Laura Allen is also very good as Kent's wife Meg whose journey through the film is in some ways as interesting to witness as his own. Some of the supporting cast are admittedly not fantastic, but that doesn't detract from the movie as a whole. The film is generally well-paced but suffers a little during the middle where it seems to stall, don't worry if you feel this way because it soon gets going again and when it does, it really does. Some of the scenes towards the end will stay with me for a long time. Clown is dark, disturbing, original and striking. One of the best horror films of recent years.