L'arme du clown

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.

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.

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).

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.

This was more of a thriller/mystery than a horror. Don't get me wrong, it does have its horror and slasher elements, but these come in more towards the end. There was a lot of unnecessary padding by the way of sex scenes which seemed to drag forever. The best parts are at the end when the killer is unmasked. And there's also the classic Haloween style ending which is quite cool. There are moments of tension when the woman is being stalked down a flight of stairs too.

Overall though this film is nothing special and I wouldn't say it lives up to how good it sounds (ie. phone sex workers being stalked by a killer in a clown mask). Watch it if you love clown type killers, but this is not essential viewing if you are a horror/slasher fan.