After hearing of a family tragedy, a woman asks her friends to accompany her on a trip into the woods to relax before their meeting but soon finds themselves being stalked and killed by a maniacal clown-masked killer haunting the woods and must find a way to get out of the area alive.
This was a rather interesting and enjoyable entry into the franchise. Among the film's better elements is the rather fun amount of slasher scenes taking advantage of the atmosphere present. Being out in the woods and unaware of the clowns' presence other than rumors and stories allows for a nice enough time to unleash the killer clowns' antics in traditional indie-style short, shocking ambush scenes. With the opening chase through the woods ending in a wholly unexpected encounter with a clown in the woods or a double murder in a nearby tent, there are some enjoyable elements found here. This is all enhanced in the second half where the clown and the other killer get involved in a nice massacre that works quite well. As the flashback showing the original clown getting killed off and the new killer dispatching scores of victims around the woods and surrounding areas in a massive montage of stabbings, slicings, impalements, and decapitations, this is a fun rapid-fire sequence. That goes hand-in-hand with the big rampage in the woods as the clown takes them out one-by-one that has some tension with the inability to tell what's going on and mistaking the kills for pranks bringing more victims into the fray. It does have some rather big issues though. The main drawback to this one is the obvious limitations brought about by the low budget here. The overall presentation, gore effects, and atmosphere do scream low-budget guerilla-shot indie features from the get-go, which it rarely deviates from this feeling. The endless shows of the clown walking through the woods patrolling or the full-scale montage of the girls getting ready for the trip by going to the record store and then coming home to do their clothes and make-up simply screams low-budget filler. In a film this short, this type of padding at the expense of more traditional scenes sticks out quite readily. The other fact that holds this one back is the curious decision to stage the big massacre at night without anything but natural light for the sequence. This whole setup and approach, yet another factor in play due to the low-budget limitations, seems quite disadvantageous since that makes for a rough time figuring out what's going on. On top of that, the idea to feature the final chase through the woods between the final girl and the killer as a soundless montage set to blaring metal music robs this of the power and suspense it could've had as a tense, pounding chase in the woods, which combined with the lackluster speech for motivation is all rather week. These all bring the film down somewhat.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.
