CLOWN (R)

Released By The Weinstein Company & Dimension Films
Review By Adam Mast

Usually, when a film sits on a shelf for 2 two years and then is unceremoniously dumped in theaters, it isn’t a good sign. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule. CABIN IN THE WOODS and LIMITLESS both spring to mind. As far as I’m concerned, you can add the low budget independent horror flick CLOWN to that list, too! Word of warning though; If you have a perpetual fear of clowns, this movie will do nothing to cure you of that fear.

In CLOWN, loving father Kent (Andy Powers) comes to the rescue after a hired clown fails to show up at his son’s birthday party. Refusing to have his boy’s big day ruined, Kent springs into action. After doing some house searching, he comes across a clown costume locked away in a dingy attic. Quickly, he decks himself out in Bozo attire, makes an appearance at the party, and ultimately saves the day. Unfortunately for Kent, though, this is no ordinary clown costume. No, this particular costume becomes one with whoever puts it on and shortly after said party, Kent gradually begins to transform into something quite a bit less than human. In addition to obvious physical and psychological changes, this loving father eventually develops a craving for something no clown should ever have a craving for.

CLOWN was written and directed by Jon Watts, a movie maker who would eventually go on to make Cop Car, a film fest favorite starring Kevin Bacon (for the record, I wasn’t a fan of that particular movie.) He would then land the gig of a lifetime in the form of Spider-Man: Homecoming which he’s currently making for Sony pictures. Not bad for a guy who, just a few short years ago, could barely scrape together enough money to make a 2 minute long faux trailer for a potential movie about a family-man-turned-murderous-clown. Watts’ end goal, of course, was to complete that trailer and share it with industry types in hopes that he could drum up enough interest that might allow him the opportunity to turn CLOWN into a feature. Lucky for Watts, horror-meister Eli Roth saw the completed  faux trailer and liked what he saw. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sort of…

After managing to develop CLOWN into a feature length movie with Roth as his shepherd, things didn’t quite go as planned. The film basically sat on a shelf for what felt like an eternity. In fact, CLOWN sat on a shelf long enough that Watts was able to make another movie and land one of  the hottest super hero properties on the planet all before his freshman effort would even saw the light of day.

The story behind this flick  is all the more odd when you take into consideration that, for the kind of movie this is, CLOWN is pretty damn good! Obviously, this is a film designed to appeal to a niche audience. It’s a throwback to 80’s horror but without that sort of winking, precious sensibility you might be expecting. Rather than referencing 80’s genre films directly, this one almost feels like a product of that time. CLOWN has a sort of campy, mean streak that might remind one of something like KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTERSPACE but its fusion of horror, drama, dark humor, and seriousness also brings to mind 80’s masterworks like THE FLY and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, particularly where Kent’s strange metamorphosis is concerned. This film’s break down of clown mythology also does for clowns what last year’s underappreciated KRAMPUS and the little seen 2010 gem, RARE EXPORTS, did for Santa Claus.

Beyond the tone of CLOWN it should be noted that this movie looks and sounds great, particularly for what was quite clearly a low-budget production. CLOWN is beautifully shot and extremely well lit, most notably the final act in which a popular but purposely unnamed pizza place serves as an undeniably perfect backdrop for gobs of evil clown carnage. The sound design is equally impressive. Multiple scenes in which we can hear Kent’s stomach rumbling due to uncontrollable cravings are both hilarious and unnerving. Adding to these notable attributes are surprisingly solid performances (a grizzled Peter Stormare of “Fargo” fame is particularly entertaining) and a plethora of impressive practical make-up effects, the likes of which we rarely see in horror movies these days.