L'arme du clown

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).

Enter the world of phone sex. Yeah, that was a thing back in the day, before the Internet.

Kristi works for a phone sex business, Suite Nothings, owned by Ruth (Karen Black). Her boyfriend is Kevin, who works as a photographer, taking sensual images of the girls working for Suite Nothings. Off course, being a film about a phone sex business AND being an 80's slasher, there's no surprise in this being sexploitation. Yup, nude girls and boobies, boobies, boobies.

Bobo, a guy with a clown mask, stalks and kills the girls working for Suite Nothings. Being a whodunit murder mystery, the film tries very hard to set up possible suspects, but it is rather obvious who the killer is. I had my suspicions from the very beginning, and I was right.

While detectives try to solve the murders, Kristi and Kevin do their own investigation as well. 'Out of the Dark' is not a bad entry to the 80's slasher repertoire, but I'm not sure I'm going to remember it by its title.

Look out for a guest appearance by Divine, whom I hardly recognized without his trademark make-up.

At a phone sex hotline called "Suite Nothings", a killer known by the alias of "Bobo" begins stalking and killing the women while wearing a clown mask. Lt. Frank Meyers (Tracey Walter) investigates the killings in order to identify and stop the killer.

Out of the Dark is a 1989 slasher film written by J. Greg De Felice and Zane W. Levitt the two were inspired to work on with the prevalence of premium 976 telephone numbers. Originally written under the title of 976-KILL, the script was acquired by Paul Bartel and produced by CIneTel Films which changed the name to avoid confusion with 976-EVIL which they had also produced. The film largely went ignored on its theatrical release making only around $900,000 against a $1.6 million budget, but it most likely did better on cable TV on video stores where this kind of film tended to thrive. While Out of the Dark doesn't strive too far from established tropes of the genre, it does get a bit more stylish and ambitious than other slashers of the time.

What makes the film work is definitely in the interesting cast of characters that are assembled who are played by noted character actors like Karen Black, Bud Cort, Tracey Walter, and even a cameo from Divine (in what was his last role before his death of heart failure). The movie has a nice air of sleaze to it coupled with a mixture of dark humor such as a sting operation where the cops are listening to the phone sex line trying to trap the killer and are clearly getting "hot and bothered" by the language the girls are using. The movie does a good job of making the phone sex operators likable characters many of whom are actresses just trying to make ends meet (one even has it on her resume that she played Ookla the Mok on Saturday morning cartoon The Barbarians). The movie is nicely shot with some visually memorable scenes that strive for a De Palma or Hitchcock feel (De Felice and Levitt even said this was their inspiration) even if the actual "mystery" probably won't surprise you especially since it relies on some pretty flimsy logic.

Out of the Dark is a fun sleazy slasher and it's definitely worth a look for fans of the genre, the actually content isn't far beyond what you typically associate with the genre, but there's some good style and sleaze at play.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs n found it to be a bit terrifying cos of the clown mask n the baseball bat n shovel scenes.

Revisited it recently on a fast forward mode.

The movie has enuff kills n nudity but the sex scene is lousy cos its shot in dim light n fast cut editing.

Tracey Walter was not at all convincing as a cop and his character barging inside a house with a shotgun and that too outta nowhere is like yo man wtf is that.

Walter got stereotyped as a comical character actor, especially aft Conan the Destroyer.

Another big wtf moment is the killer rising up after being shot as if it has some supernatural powers.

There is a very stupid scene where a guy sneaks inside an accountant's office but how he manages to get out is never shown. Like a piece of cake and that too with the accountant present.

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.