Le bouffon de l'horreur

Disregard the many negative reviews of this film below. It is actually an odd little hidden gem. The story is about a man who wins a card game against Christopher Lee, who then gives him his large old house. The man moves into the house with his family, and they soon discover a sinister jester who resides there, the Funnyman.

This pesky little guy kills people in different ways; some of them are outrageously gory and over the top, and a little bit like Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. The joker also speaks in a variety of British accents, and takes on different personas, such as a club owner, a footballer, and a few other weird guises.

The film is low budget and very English, and may not appeal to overseas audiences; but it's a worthy effort considering its budget. If you want a horror film with comical gory scenes, dark humour, sprinkles of English silliness, and something different, check out the Funnyman. You might like it.

I was suprised to see how low this film has rated. I guess it's been watched by a lot of people that either don't like horror at all or are too caught up in a particular genre to get this.

It's very tounge in cheek, which many simple people won't get. However it has the distinction of being one of the few horror comedies around that is both funny and eerie/disturbing.

The Thelma (from scoobie doo) character was hilarious, especially when she died, and I couldn't help but think of that when that awful Scoobie doo film came out. They should have hired the woman from funny man.

The relation between Christopher Lee's character and the fates of those in the house reminded me a lot of Hammer Horror. But then you can probably drop Chris Lee into any cheap horror and immediately raise the standard. His minor involvement worked for me. Tim James was brilliant as the killer. His Yorkshire accent along with some of his lines had me convinved it was Shawn Bean right up until the end credits. He is the kind of movie bad guy that you could see spawning endless sequels, and while he may not be on the level of a Fred Krueger he's way above the level of a Chucky.

The effects, the set and the sound track are all quite cheap, but you don't need a big budget to make a good movie and this demonstrates that.

This movie is both hilarious and quite nasty. Some of the deaths in the movie are shocking; they are both gruesome and very original. It will more likely be liked better by the brits than the americans just because of the sense of humour but believe me if you can see this then do cause it is very funny:D

If your mansion house needs haunting, just call... the Funnyman. Undecided about whether it's a comedy or a horror, it tries to be both and ends up neither.

The Jester would scare the pants off you if you were eight years old. However, you're not eight any more. Freddy Kruger dressed as Mr Claypole is less scary than Mr Claypole dressed as... er... Mr Claypole.

There is some witty banter, a few funny exchanges of dialogue and some top-drawer 'just nodding' acting. The Club Sexy sequence (up until 'Hardman' meets his end) is the highlight of the film.

With the Jesters big rubber head, I'm reminded of Bo' Selecta – Series 3. Just like Bo' Selecta – Series 3 it could've been good… but it's not.

A truly brilliant movie. The Monty Python Meets Hammer Horror caption explains it well. The brutish killings and murder make it truly a masterpiece. Two thumbs up.