Clown

This hurts to say – Eli Roth is no longer a 'go-to' name for me in horror. Ouch. Go back a decade ago and I didn't think that possible. I was present when he brought Cabin Fever (2002) to Toronto and again in 2005 when he introduced his Canadian audience to Hostel. I met Eli a few times since and I think his knowledge and enthusiasm for horror is outstanding.

But since 2007, Eli has focused himself more on acting (Inglorious Basterds) and producing (The Last Exorcism). Since then, the quality of the projects that bear his name on the film's one sheet has been sub-par. The Man With the Iron Fists (2012), The Last Exorcism II (2013) and The Sacrament (2013) were all throwaway entries on an ever expanding filmography. And don't even get us started on Netflix's timewaster series Hemlock Grove.

So when I saw the DVD cover for Clown with Eli Roth's name above the title, it was hardly the seven letters in the actor/producer's name that had me walking out of the market with the disc under my forearm.

Clown has an intriguing premise. A demon possesses a clown suit and morphs anyone who dons the outfit into killer that preys particularly, yet not exclusively, on children. Andy Powers plays Kent, the unlucky son-of-a-bitch that adorns the found garment to appease his son Jack who is awaiting a cancelled clown at his backyard birthday party. But after applying the suit and make-up, Kent finds the outfit impossible to remove. He also finds an increasing appetite that is appeased when a child is devoured while straying from his campgrounds.

Kent attempts to remove himself from his family life and seclude himself to where he may be a lesser threat to those around him. But as the demon begins to take hold, Kent's cravings for violence extended outside his given will and even the help of someone who has history with the suit, Karlsson played by the always reliable Peter Stormare, might not be enough to help stop the demon's rampage on the youth of his stalked community.

I was intrigued by the idea behind Christopher D. Ford and Jon Watts' screenplay and the idea did feel fresh and at times inspired. Jon Watts does double duty behind the camera and executes the fine line of dealing with a serial killer of children with diplomacy. But it's the diplomacy that grounds the film from really taking flight. Unfortunately, the kills are largely off-screen with only the bloody after affects represented after the deed is completed. I am sure this was done to keep censors edit happy but if the gore was to match say, Eli Roth's Hostel II, in this format, we might be talking about Clown being the horror movie to see if 2015. A particular chapter where our morphing demon ends up at a ChuckeCheese was a particular waste of a fantastic opportunity to showcase unmuted violence in an extraordinary setting.

Still, Clown was an above average horror film for its ilk. It follows some of the horror film handbook 'To Do's' that are as aggravating as they are accepted, but there is enough freshness and commitment to the overall goal to keep Clown's head above the recommendation waters.

And now back to Mr. Roth. Although Clown is hardly Silence of the Lambs it does provide a definite upswing on the Roth career chart that was beginning to resemble my investments circa 2009. Let's hope the momentum continues and I can update the first sentence of this review in short time.

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I was really looking forward to Clown after seeing the trailer, the concept seemed pretty original and interesting and I liked what I saw. If you felt the same way, I would highly recommend that you give this film a watch. In the end it surpassed my expectations and left me feeling pretty disturbed.

The acting from the leads is solid, Andy Powers especially is fantastic as Kent and carries the earlier parts of the film with a really good performance. Laura Allen is also very good as Kent's wife Meg whose journey through the film is in some ways as interesting to witness as his own. Some of the supporting cast are admittedly not fantastic, but that doesn't detract from the movie as a whole.

The film is generally well-paced but suffers a little during the middle where it seems to stall, don't worry if you feel this way because it soon gets going again and when it does, it really does. Some of the scenes towards the end will stay with me for a long time.

Clown is dark, disturbing, original and striking. One of the best horror films of recent years.

I was expecting a boring, typical horror movie, instead I was really surprised, in a good way, by this film. The script is not that bad,pretty original, and it keeps you wanting to see more, to see how it will end. The acting is good, great performance from the main actors. Better than the score, I saw a lot of worst horror movie this last year. It was fun and worth watching. Not a masterpiece but highly enjoyable. I was thinking oh, no, another clown horror movie, but actually is one of the best horror movies I've seen in a while. Highly underrated on IMDb, I recommend you to watch it, you will not be disappointed.

There aren't too many clown films but this ranks as one of the finest in that subgenre. It has a really original and interesting take on terror origin of the clown and makes it something entertainingly creepy to watch. The storyline is well executed and follows the other trends that make Eli Roth films great fun to watch as a horror fan. There's plenty of gore and twisted violence, but it's always managed to be incorporated into a context that adds rather than just distracts from the plot in some way. There's enough films out there that offer nothing but violence in place of a storyline, and this one manages to harness violence in a very creepy and effective way towards the tone of the film.

As horror films go, this is one of the most memorable that I've seen in a long, long time and as I write this I am unable to think of any other recent horror titles that were as memorable as this, in terms of the overall scare factor and anyone that manages to somehow find an original take on anything in the horror genre deserves points.

I saw this film about a month or so ago and as I've only just signed up to IMDb felt that this should be one of my first recommendations as it really has stayed with me and I've recommended it already to plenty of people via word of mouth.

If you hate clowns, this film will do bad things to you But if you love horror then get all over this! It's amazing and since seeing it I've been checking out other works from the director and am loving them.

An interesting film about a man slowly turning into John C. Reilly.

Why when the man was in A&E for his clown nose did he not think to ask the doctor to try and remove his outfit? He would've become a medical marvel.

There was an awful lot of children approaching adults. Like the small boy rapping at the door with a bag of lucky charms.

I enjoyed it.