The Clown at Midnight

Those who have followed Margot Kidder's career know that she got her start in low-budget horror flicks(BLACK CHRISTMAS, SISTERS, AMITYVILLE HORROR)and have undoubtably been pining for her return to the genre. Well, wait no more! Ms. Kidder returns in this flick, a rather undistinguished slasher flick concerning a group of college students conscripted by drama teacher Kidder to clean up a previously long-closed theater, owned by Christopher Plummer. The kids are the usual stock cliches(jock, tramp, gay guy, plain fat girl, loner), and their presence angers a pyscho in a clown costume who lives in the theater. Lots of killings in creative ways, which is about all you can say about this movie, except that Margot Kidder and Chris Plummer are in it.

This is a sophisticated slasher film. Christopher Plummer is fantastic! If your idea of horror is teenagers being chopped up while reciting urban legends, then this may not be for you. But, if you are a fan of "The Phantom of the Opera" or "Theater of Blood", then you will enjoy this slight but entertaining thriller. All the performances are exceptional for a made for video film and the directing is just plain creepy; especially on the dream sequences. Although some may find this slow, I liked it for what it was. Yes, there are plot holes. Yes, there is excessive gore. Yes, most of the characters are cliched. This is what horror film buffs like. Not innovation, not recreating the genre, not satirizing popular films. Just good old fashioned scares, gore, and campy performances.

For Fangoria readers, a 10.

An old opera house is donated to a high school theater program and teacher Margot Kidder brings a group of students there to help clean up the joint. Sarah Lassez has volunteered because her mother's murder by her co-star (in the titular clown outfit) was the incident that closed the theater years ago. She's been suffering from terrible nightmares since finding out and thinks spending a lot of time in the theater will sort things out in her head. (Yeah ... sure it will)

I'm sure you know what happens. The clown killer, or someone pretending to be him, is in the theater and kids die one by one. It's a pretty standard body count slasher film that makes very little sense (the personal belongings of the murder victim are still sitting in her dressing room over a decade later) and is fairly dull and bloodless. Besides Kidder, Christopher Plummer shows up as the owner of the theater, and Tatyana Ali and James Duval are among the kids. All acquit themselves pretty well ... Plummer is actually pretty great.

I'd probably be completely dismissive of the film if it weren't for the fact that it was shot in the Walker Theatre (now the Burton Cummings Theatre) here in Winnipeg. It was an opera house in the early 20th century and became a movie theater in the 1940's. It's been a music venue since the 1990's, and was when this was shot there. I know this place very well, so it was kind of interesting seeing it on film. Even better, there's some exterior shooting that shows the surrounding neighborhood. It's kind of fun to watch for people who live here.

There's one pretty great thing involving costuming near the end that I can't describe without spoiling the ending. I'll just say, the identity of the killer leads to an amusing clown related sequence.

A group of students are reopening a theater soon, so during Christmas vacation they volunteer to stay and get it into shape, but the theather was plagued with the horrible murder of its star attraction. And one of the students is that star's daughter. Will history repeat itself?

Creepy and eerie from start to finish with a nice setting for the action to take place and featuring compenent direction and good performances. What makes it work so well though is the strong characterization of its central character and the appealing supporting characters.

My rating: 8 out of 10.

"The Clown At Midnight" is an absolute Gem from the huge wave of 90's Slashers that came from the success of Wes Craven's Scream, i saw this great low-budget Slasher late one night on t.v, the Horror channel i think? Anyway i was hooked straight away from the Creepy old theatre opening & i remember thinking this is creepy & Awesome. "The Clown At Midnight" is a cheap B-movie straight to video film but it's made very well & has a dark sinister Atmosphere to it & a fantastic old abandoned theatre setting, a fantastic setting for a stalk'n'slash flick. The cast is low-key B-movie with the likes of Tatyana Ali best known as Ashley Banks from "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" & Margot Kidder from the old "Superman" & "Black Christmas" both 70's Classic films & the great veteran actor Christopher Plummer who is still going great in movies & there's some other in the small cast that are all fine like Sarah Lassez & James Duvall. The music is done well & the look & cinematography is gorgeous actually & the cold snowy winter setting outside makes everything feel more darker,rugged & grittier as this is a Canadian Slasher & not a usual Sunny American slasher, this entry in the Horror Slasher genre feels abit different due to it's Canadian winter setting & big old theatre house & i have always loved but it's a rare gem to find on dvd!!! Although the usual stalk & slash a young hot cast style is the same as every other slasher flick those other elements mentioned & atmosphere & mood make this stand out as different & exciting. Also the actual killer Clown is very scary looking & is very sinister as he appears out of the darkness!!! The characters are all fine if typical but hey it's just some fun late night entertainment & a solid well made entry in the Horror genre.

All in all "The Clown At Midnight" is a fun & entertaining late night Horror with a really nice creepy mood.