Mächte des Grauens

I love killer clown movies. I love mysteries. A murder mystery about a killer clown....HELL YEAH! To be honest. I liked this film. I really enjoyed it. The movie had a lot going for it. Some well known faces, a downright scary killer, some great visuals. A good amount of humour and overall a fun time was had.

Acting:

Cameron Dye: was very good as the protagonists boyfriend, He gave an enjoyable performance and I liked him onscreen.

Lynn Danielson: I don't know really. There were moments when her dialogue felt embarrasingly forced and OTT.

Karen Black: Black doesn't really need to do much here but what she does is certainly not bad.

Tracey Walter: The guy came across hilarious as the smart alec main cop of the film. His sarcasm was a hoot.

As for the film being scary or gory the version I saw was certainly not gory apart from one scene but as far as scary goes it depends on how scared of clowns you are. The site of a clown driving slowly after you at night time may freak you out if you suffer from coulrophobia

The mystery of who was behind the clown mask was good. Though I have read reviews which claim the identity of the killer is very obvious I don't know. If I hadnt had the film spoiled for me before I saw it I am not sure if I would have correctly guessed the culprit. Bobo was cool. He had a creepy deep voice and I LOVED his clown mask! (wish I had one like that) it was just very unnerving. The copy I own is obviously heavily cut because there is only one sex scene. (Very steamy I must add)

Be warned! In no way is this film original. In fact it is very cliched and follows some obvious nods to other films (Black Christmas, Halloween.

The film does what it is supposed to. Entertains you for the time its on.

A telephone sex service named "Suite Nothings" is being tormented by an insane killer, who knocks off the beautiful woman on the other end of the phone one by one, in many brutal ways. So now, one of the women and their boyfriend who is a prime suspect of these sex-related crimes by the police try to work who is this killer that hides behind a clown's mask with their twisted sense of humour. This leads them too so many unexpected clues and suspicious suspects, which just keep on popping up.

Well, this is my second viewing of this film and it hasn't improved on my first one bit, but its mildly amusing despite we've seen it all before. What we got here is a reasonably sub-standard slasher with A LOT of sleaze, sex and added nastiness, with some very twisted humour along the way too. Although some things actually don't work, and you'll be snickering at how ridiculous certain set-ups are and how outrageous the violence is. Even the oh so many coincidences and why would you do that scenarios that crop up doesn't help either. Its main problem was that it took itself FAR to seriously in spots, making it funny in parts that it shouldn't have been. But then again, this is what really keeps you watching this particular film. I'm hoping its trying to be a parody on the sub-genre. Hold on, I almost forgot… a cheesy, but sometimes-erotic soundtrack helps you get into the 80's spirit!

The actual plot has so many twists, turns and plenty of red herrings, with certain sub-plots being left up in the air and characters disappearing from on screen. Such as one of b-grades finest Karen Black, one of the film's strong points… her character just vanishes after the halfway point. This is why certain things you pick up don't make too much sense and why at times it tries to be a moving drama, then comedy and a sudden u-turn into horror. Please make your mind up! It just seems there was too much going on at times, which gave it a padded feel. When it finally comes to the outlandish climax the killer's identity is a real let down in my opinion. Overall, the killer was just too goofy and cracked too many lame one-liners.

Fine performances from an exceptional b-cast (Cameron Dye, Bud Cort, Tracy Walter, Geoffery Lewis, Starr Andreeff, Paul Bartel, Tab Hunter). There was your occasional flat or eccentric performance and the cross dresser Divine makes a small cameo as a police detective. It's just that most of the characters were unlikeable and the dialogue that came from their mouths was shallow trite. The actual production wasn't too shabby and there were some well setup sequences. But where's was the suspense? Actually, what am I going on about? Oh right, it's a cheesy 80s slasher film.

Overall, there's some fun to be had with it providing enough nudity and cheap violence, which you expect from this type of film.

A pretty routine thriller, but competently directed and relatively well-written. At first it seems to play all its cards too early, but it does keep some surprises in store. Some intense horror sequences help, but in the final 5 minutes the film resorts into standard cliches and implausibilities (killers that just won't die, forgotten characters appearing out of nowhere, etc).

Lively thriller about a clown who stalks the beautiful ladies of an L.A. sex hotline that has a keen eye for the visual and a macabre performance from Cort, whom many may suspect as the killer...but...you must dig deeper to find the answer to that one.

In OUT OF THE DARK, a maniac in a clown mask threatens the women working for a "fantasy phone call" service. This is no ordinary pervert, and soon the girls are biting the dust one by one. The cops are baffled, and there are several suspects, some more obvious than others.

This is one of those rather lackluster, late 1980s slasher films that came along after the subgenre had mostly been played out. It's sluggish, sort of goofy, and not all that frightening. The killer is absurd, which would have been alright if this had been more of a comedy. As it stands, it's not very memorable. There's also plenty of soft core cheeeze, if that's to your liking.

It is nice to see Karen Black, Bud Cort, and Geoffrey Lewis, though their talents are wasted here. Paul Bartel produced this movie. If only he'd directed it as one of his comedies and starred in it (watch for his cameo as a be-wigged hotel manager), it might have at least been funnier...