Gingerclown (2013) Reviews

• Gingerclown is a dork movie

  tdrish2014-08-29

  I didn't set my expectations too high with Gingerclown. I wasn't expecting a high body count, blood and guts flick...heck, I wasn't even expecting a good movie. What I was expecting, however, was Tim Curry reprising his "IT" clown role, that's what the hype was all over. Unfortunately, I didn't get that either. What was Gingerclown, then? Gingerclown is...how can I describe? Gingerclown is Tim Burtons Alice In Wonderland gone wrong. The reviews are all true, the acting is bad, the blood and slime is kept to a minimum, and there's no sugar coating it, THE STORY SUCKS! What's more of a letdown then anything, is the fact that virtually nothing happens in this movie. I mean, nothing! Sorry, let's rewind: Our story takes place in 1983 ( wow! the year our Hungarian director was born! Coincidence?) The first eleven or so minutes of Gingerclown ( clocked in at a total running time of just over 80 minutes) is just some jock drunk kid screaming and yelling very loudly, in fact, I was starting to think maybe he was the Gingerclown, no, he's just a clown. He dares a young boy to go into uncharted territory with his girlfriend ( the jocks girl) at a high cost...he wants them to bring back something good. Something good? Yeah, bring back a better script for this movie! By the 23 minute mark, we've already met some of the cheesy monsters. They don't get any better as the movie goes on. Most of them just do more heavy cussing then come out as being remotely scary, or doing anything that would put them in danger. There were a few scenes worth noting, although wildly bizarre. There's a...death on a ride, that's all I can say without spoilers. There's a...okay, it's just one scene worth noting, so what do you want? A lot of the later monsters just seem to be plain stupid, dripping ridiculous amounts of fluid, and just bickering and snapping on one another. The only reason why I gave Gingerclown 5 out of 10...you can tell the efforts were there. They did try, and credit has to be given for that. Story suffers, virtually no violence, and nothing happens, but the realism of 1983 is there, and you can't beat that.

• Simply horrible.

  MartinHafer2014-07-08

  "Gingerclown" is a film with absolutely no redeeming values whatsoever. It is a terrible film with little, if anything, positive I can say about the production. It lacks originality, is full of terrible acting, has horrible dialog, features incredibly dated special effects and made me wonder who would want to see or make such an awful movie. Is it bad enough that it might one day make one of my Worst Film lists? Read on to find out for yourself. The film starts off behind the iconic Hollywood sign in the hills of California. So why, then, do some of the kids in this film sport Hungarian accents while others do not? Well, it's because the movie was actually shot in Hungary--and mostly in an amusement park after hours. Yes...and amusement park. I assume that aside from the abandoned roller disco and summer camp in the woods, this is the most likely setting for a slasher film--one that has been used so many times that it's become a cliché. The gist of the film is this: a nasty jock (again, how original) dares a nerd and a sexy girl to go to the abandoned amusement park after dark. There, all sorts of hellish (and annoying) creatures hunt them. That is THE plot. So why did I hate this film so much apart from it being not one bit original or fun? Well, the dialog is the biggie here. Rarely have I ever heard such crappy lines being uttered in a film. Sure, the movie was filled with tons of cursing and crude comments--but often this seemed to be a crutch. In other words, as the writer had nothing of value to say, they sprinkled the film with these nasty lines because that was apparently all they had. Here are a few edited examples of the thespian-like dialog in Gingerclown: '...are you a f****** retard or what?!' 'suck my b**** dude' 'what do you want wormface?' Needless to say, the film has nothing particularly intelligent to say-- even for a teen slasher film (and that is saying a lot!). Frankly, I'd be ashamed to write anything this wretched and can't see how any writer would take credit for this sort of bilge. In addition to the horrible dialog, the characters are truly caricatures. Everyone seems like they were created by a 12 year-old who is trying hard to include all the traditional stereotypes. This, combined with the dialog, brings us characters who are simply annoying and stupid. When you also add that many of the actors cannot act and annunciate the wrong syllables, it makes for a painful viewing experience. So is this film bad film list-worthy? I don't really know. Most of the films I've put on my previous bad films lists were terrible but unintentionally funny to watch because they were so bad. In the case of "Gingerclown", however, the movie is simply unfunny and a waste of time. The only real value I could see was showing it to young filmmakers and screenwriters to show them an example of what not to do.

• Terrible

  mattbowler2014-07-12

  Let me say first, I rarely have had the overwhelming desire to shut off a movie without first 1) giving it the benefit of the doubt 2) watching it long enough to make an informed opinion on the work. With regard to this film; Within 25 minutes, I was completely disinterested in continuing. I kept looking for any glimmer of hope; some redeeming quality about it, that would bring it to at least the level of "watchable". Firstly, the special effects & cinematography: Although I did enjoy the simple, creepy, properly-stylized, well-scored opening credits, the rest was very disappointing. I understand it was to be an "80's feel" - but I feel like they literally used 80's technology, 80's specials effects, 80's everything; and for that reason and others, it failed miserably. I am a "child of the 80's" and this movie most certainly did NOT make me feel all "warm and nostalgic". The bigger problem came when the actors & actresses opened their mouths. At that point, the two biggest (most fatal) flaws of the film were exposed; the bad acting, and the bad script. Tim Curry, you are better than this man! I don't even know why he joined this project (slim pickings elsewhere?) I don't like calling people out by name, but Erin Hayes..She was just terrible in this film. I won't ramble on with flowery adjectives, but we all know poor acting when we see it; it's just awkward and uncomfortable. Yes, it's a given that the script was as, if not more terrible than the acting. And yes, I think most would agree that GOOD actors/actresses with a BAD script, can still pull off a GOOD movie despite bad writing. This is not the case. Although Mr. Ashley Lloyd's performance is better (and easily eclipses) than Ms. Hayes' performance, the fact remains the same; the acting stinks. The script! AUGH! Someone once told me; people swear out of ignorance, because they have nothing better or more intelligent to say. This seems to be a perfect fit for this film. It would seem that the writers ran out of ideas and substituted those ideas with copious, pointless, annoying, and ultimately distracting amounts of profanity. The rest of the script is like a rapid-fire succession of bad one-liner dialog (ie: "through here!" and "What was that?" and "I'm scared!"). This was so unpleasant to watch. One can only hope that it was all a matter of budgeting problems or some similar issue. I did not see a stated budget, or a ticket office gross, so one can only guess. As I myself never rely solely on other people's opinions and prefer to form my own - take it with a grain of salt. But then, if every reviewer says essentially the same thing - you have to wonder.

• Not a mainstream movie

  HrutkaPal2013-06-24

  I was at the actual world premiere of the movie (which was fully occupied, I don't know what the other reviewer is actually talking about...) and I can see, why many people will have their issues with the movie. You need to understand, that if the trailer says "In the style of the 80ies", it REALLY means "In the style of the 80ies". It is having all the clishés over and over, that teenagers from now will hardly enjoy this. Gingerclown is clearly a genre movie. So if you are an eighties child, you'll be more friends with this flick, but unfortunately still it's having several issues. The actors are quite bad (most of all the woman and her endless yelling/screaming made my ears bleed), there is hardly anything you'd call horror, almost no gore and many of the scenes feel unreasonably stretched. You'll need a lot of patience. Also the ending...Well, see it for yourself. I liked the monsters though, even if mostly only their heads were built properly. They had their charm, the famous voice actors had surely their fun. They could've gotten a bit more airtime, but it was okay. It had some funny moments too, but overall the movie was unfortunately a letdown, it's hard to call this a horror-comedy, when it's not that funny or scary. They tried too hard with all the nostalgic things what made many of the 80ies movies so bad, it was a bit too much in the end.

• Absolutely Awful

  nebk2014-07-16

  This movie tries to recreate a nostalgic 80s horror look about a trio of teenagers battling monsters in an abandoned amusement park. As a result the movie looks as if it was made in the 1980s using bad animatronic effects. The result is truly awful. Not because the movie looks bad (although it does), but because it has a terrible story and even worse acting by all involved. The protagonists are unknowns who just can't act, although given the material it is not surprising that it is difficult for them. Although it has Tim Curry, Lance Henriksen and Sean Young amongst others doing the voices of the monsters, this adds nothing to the film as their involvement is minimal and the dialogue itself is badly written. The voice actors probably agreed to do this knowing that at least their faces won't be on screen. The story itself is clichéd beyond all belief. There is the nerd who is in love with a hot girl who is dating a bad tempered jock. All of them stereotypes. The jock forces the nerd to go into an abandoned and supposedly haunted amusement park. The jock's friends who sound Hungarian cheer this dumbness on. The girl pitying the nerd goes in after him, and then the jock does the same. Then they are pursued by weird monsters such as Gingerclown, Wormface etc. The jock gets what he deserves and the other two survive. And that's pretty much it. There is plenty of profanity, and the characters make decisions which make no sense. There is nothing positive to say about this movie. It's badly written, badly acted with bad dialogue and implausible events. Best avoided at all costs.