Circus Kane

When I picked up "Circus Kane", I must admit that I didn't really have much of any expectations of being in for a massive treat in terms of an entertaining movie. Why? Well, this being a clown horror movie and all, as they have a tendency of being rather bad most of the time.

But still, I decided to give the movie a chance on the offbeat chance that it would actually turn out to be a hidden gem in the horror genre. Well, let's just state for the record that it wasn't a gem.

The storyline told in "Circus Kane" was actually fairly adequate, and I must admit that I hadn't figured out the twist to the plot, so when that was revealed it was a genuine surprise to me. I liked that part of the movie.

It was the execution of the storyline and the whole bringing it to life on the screen that seemed to stagger and not really work well in favor of the movie. I must admit that throughout the entire course of the movie, I sat with a feeling of 'is this really it?' And the movie sort of felt flaccid, because while it attempted to achieve a lot, everything in the movie just seemed pointless and random. It was as if they made everything up as they went along, driving without an aim.

The characters in the movie were fair, some of them more detailed than others. But in overall it wasn't a grand character gallery, especially because most of them didn't feel like they were properly fleshed out - pardon the pun. I must admit that some of the behavior from some of the characters was just ludicrous and it really dumbed down the entire feel of the movie.

The entire haunted house, circus act, whatever you wish to call it had some interesting enough aspects to it. But again it just felt random and as if the director went without a plot and planned script.

I endured the movie to the end, though it wasn't a particularly thrilling or overly entertaining experience. And I can honestly say that I am not returning to watch "Circus Kane" a second time.

Terrible story, dreadful and pointless script, appaling cast, constant ramblings of a completely un-scary archvillain make this schlock painful to watch.

Don't waste an hour and a half of your life, go watch a Mexican or a Turkish telenovel instead.

The character Kane tried to look and sound like Rob and his circus ring leader vibe. The story rips off the murder world vibe and last man standing plot of Zombies new movie "31" (which was his worst cinematic effort yet.) Even with this it could have at least been mildly entertaining but it flat out sucked. There was no attempt to thrill with cheap gore or jump scares. Nothing at all entertaining. Just a lot of standing around and listening to bad actors try and talk us to sleep. The dialogue sounded like it was from a third graders play. Whoever was responsible for the script certainly didn't do the non talented actors any favors. It was just a flop all around. Nothing positive to say about it at all. I give it three out of ten.

Picked this up in the bargain section of my local supermarket. A scary clown on the cover with a red balloon & the word IT suggested an unoriginal film in the vein of Stephen King's book come movie. However it has no resemblance to that whatsoever. A group of strangers can win 250,000 dollars if they can survive the creepy home of one infamous clown called Kane. Needless to say they start getting bumped off, one by one. There's plenty of clown creepiness going on here and its reasonably well done. There's also a fair bit of gore. However it is let down by a poor script and unconvincing characters, including Kane. It felt like a wannabe Rob Zombie movie, but just lacking his talent or budget. Wouldn't watch it again.

Saw 'Circus Kane' as someone with an appreciation for horror and who found the premise oddly interesting. Despite it not being a unique one and one that could have gone either way in execution, it sounded pretty decent and if done right could have made a guilty pleasure sort of film.

What 'Circus Kane' was instead was a very lame, if not irredeemable, film that did very little with its premise and its setting. The setting is the best thing about the film, to me also the only good thing, and is pretty creepy. Even that feels wasted, a shame because it was the one thing that was done pretty well and deserved better than what the rest of 'Circus Kane' turned out to be. Didn't get the sense as such that it didn't even try, other low-budget films seen recently have done a far worse job at that, but did get the sense that it didn't do what to do with itself.

The setting apart, 'Circus Kane' looks cheap. Photography was drab and the editing, while not incoherent as such, was sloppy. Faring worst were the special effects, their ineptitude and intelligence insulting cheapness being an assault on the senses.

'Circus Kane's' villain was not menacing or threatening, actually veering on the goofy side of things. In all fairness the material was cheesy and lacking in suspense, and the action was not disturbing, brutal or scary no matter how much gratuitous and cheap-looking gore or supposedly creepy but actually laughable imagery there was.

Its obvious and over-bearing sound really annoys and hinders the impact of any scares or suspense when they are telegraphed when being built up that they become predictable.

Script constantly sounds stilted and even cheesier than a large cheeseburger. The story is dull, lacking in any kind of atmosphere, tension or suspense and insults the intelligence by how ridiculous and confused it tends to be.

No better news about the characters or acting, the latter being one of the worst assets of 'Circus Kane'. The characters are bland and obnoxious, either or and in a few cases both, with truly dumb illogical decision making that makes them and even the viewer stupid and make one endear to them even less (and you don't even like them in the first place). The acting is a bad mix of over-compensating and disinterested. Jonathan Lipnicki with this film has fallen such a long way since his adorable child actor days.

Overall, very lame and does nothing with something that could have worked. 2/10 Bethany Cox