Even if you aren't bothered by clowns, you have to admit that a killer clown is a pretty creepy idea. I mean clowns are always around children, they have a pale face, goofy hair and bright welcoming colors, masking the homicidal tendencies underneath. I always thought it would make a good movie idea, and Clown is about the closest we get to that. It's less of a killer clown story as much as it is a possession movie. This particular clown suit does not come off. If someone puts it on, it fuses with their skin while the demon slowly possesses them. The demon is a cannibal and only eats children. 5 children to be exact: one for every month of winter, or so the lore goes. It's an interesting take on the killer clown notion and I usually like Eli Roth so I was excited to see this movie. Unfortunately, Clown misses the mark in almost every way.
It's an Eli Roth movie so of course there's lots of blood and gore, which is fine. Eating kids is also inherently disturbing, even though the killing is not shown on screen you do see a lot of children's guts, blood and body parts. The thing is, it doesn't really add anything to the movie. That's mainly because the movie doesn't build up much tension in the first place. It's slow to start - the dad is the one who puts on the costume to surprise his kid at his birthday party, but he falls asleep in it and when he wakes up, he finds that the wig infused with his hair and the costume is indestructible. The psychological aspect of this is interesting for a while, but it never goes the extra mile. Everything we see here has been done to death already. Just because the premise is cool doesn't mean cheesy dialogue and inappropriate jump scares get a free pass. They're still annoying as hell, and sadly they are littered throughout the entire movie.
This movie has every horror cliché in the book. The jump scares in particular really detract from the movie's atmosphere. It sets a dark tone at the beginning, and even more so when the psychological elements start dripping in and the dad questions his sanity as he discovers more about the suit, but every once in a while someone will pop up behind someone else and the music will be LOUD for a second as if it's supposed to scare us. No, it doesn't work like that. All the good build up in the first two acts are dampened by these cheap scares - they give no time for tension to build before throwing another one at you, and it's just annoying after the first couple of times. The dialogue doesn't help either. Neither does the acting. Peter Stormare is great as usual but he doesn't get that much screen time. It's mainly the female lead and her reactions to her husband turning into this monster, and let me tell you, she is a terrible actress. There are also a lot of kids in this movie and kid actors are almost always terrible. You just don't care about any people on screen, except for the guy being possessed but even he is only in the first half of the movie. We're just stuck following a bland wife and her bland kid trying to stop the evil clown from killing other bland kids.
The clown itself does not disappoint. It does look genuinely creepy, and the costume and make-up are very well done, but sadly that doesn't make up for a bad script and poor direction. It just has no style. It's really by-the-numbers horror with an Eli Roth tinge. The worst part is, it isn't even scary. If you're a fan of Eli Roth then you might get some enjoyment from this, but if you aren't a horror fanatic then don't bother.
