The Clown Murders

The only reason why this dud of a film hasn't disappeared into complete obscurity just yet is because it features an early role of John Candy; - the proudly Canadian actor/comedian who would become very popular throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, and die at the far too young age of 43. Fans of John Candy shouldn't bother to track down "The Clown Murders", though. In fact, nobody should bother to track it down, because it's one of the single most boring, uneventful and inept thrillers of the entire 70s decade. Four pathetic losers, including Candy, joke about kidnapping their attractive friend Alisson, simply because they can't accept that she's now married to a successful businessman and busy selling the farming estate where they all played whilst growing up. They execute their plan during a Halloween party, dressed as clowns, and lock her up in her own farm. The opening sequences and character introductions were already tedious, but the actual kidnapping and hostage situation are downright dreadful. Absolutely nothing happens, except for arguing between the four losers mutually and shots of John Candy shoving fast-food down his throat. The plot promised another mysterious clown killer coming after them, but he only pops up during the finale and doesn't do a lot of murdering, neither. One to avoid at all costs, that's the only sane and righteous recommendation I can make.

In THE CLOWN MURDERS, a prank goes wrong, resulting in madness and death.

While this may sound exciting, don't get your hopes up. This is an unexciting, non-entertaining, and fairly silly movie. Worst of all, it commits the unpardonable sin of being extremely boring. The viewer will wait, pray, beg for something, anything even remotely interesting to happen. All for naught.

It takes until the midway point of the movie for the maniac to -finally- put on the clown mask and get down to business. By the time anyone meets their maker, you'll be ready for death yourself!

Astonishingly, the final 10 minutes are pretty intense. If only the other 86 minutes had been this good it might have been endurable!

Co-stars John Candy as Otis. Beware the Otis "love scene"!...

A revenge plot which was supposed to be a prank turns deadly in 'The Clown Murders', a film that saw the debut of legendary John Candy.

A group of young professionals decide to play a practical joke on one of their ex-grilfriends named Alison who ended up marrying a rich man instead of him (Alex). The professionals learn that the rich guy is a about to close a major real estate deal. In order to mess up the deal, they come up with a plan to kidnap Alison. As the kidnapping prank turns unexpectedly violent, the men are forced to deal with the fallout of their actions ... and forced to deal with someone in a clown costume stalking them.

'The Clown Murders' is a very silly film with very little direction. It doesn't make a lot of sense as to why three of the four men would want to kidnap Alison, and the movie never does it's job to explain why either. The dialogue is also very simple and generic, with tons of fat jokes being slung the way of John Candy's character for example. The only parts of the movie that were enjoyable were about 5-10 minutes when they first kidnapped Alison and the mysterious clown showed up. It looked like the movie was heading somewhere, and then bam - nothing. The ending made very little sense on top of all that as well.

I would skip this one despite the cool VHS cover art and intriguing movie title. Those are the only redeeming things about the film.

3/10.

Another early film role for a then-unknown John Candy in this psychological drama/horror film about a kidnapping prank gone horribly wrong. If you're expecting Candy to be funny, look elsewhere. His character is a pathetic wuss who is caught in the middle of the situation, but his acting is pretty good in a non-comedic role. The film itself is decent, but goes in several directions, throughout.

This movie is really quite pathetic. It is a movie about a murderer. The plot is confusing and jumps around so much it is hard to follow. The only reason to actually watch this movie is because John Candy is in it. It is his first of only two dramatic roles that he ever did. There is an embarrassing scene where John's character has a nervous breakdown, and he is seen rolling in the mud in his underwear, blubbering like a baby. The movie aside, I thought John pulled that scene off quite well.

At any rate, if you are a real John Candy fan, then you have probably already seen this movie. If you are not a fan, don't waste your time.