If you don’t like clowns now, then Clown isn’t the movie to change that. Pennywise has got nothing on this demon clown!
I really love this kind of story, where someone is shit out of luck, and through some divine intervention – or more likely, the opposite – a chance presents itself to save the day. And then of course, it all goes to Hell, because it’s a trick and the moral of the story is that there are no shortcuts or easy fixes.
Yeah, that’s basically Clown, but of course – and this is our luck – the real story starts when the poor “lucky guy” has to try and get out of the mess he’s in.
Already from watching the trailer, Clown reminded me of Tom Holland’s Thinner (which is an adaptation of a Stephen King novel), and since that particular movie always seems to be in the back of my mind, this is a very good thing! FYI: Thinner is about an obese lawyer who gets cursed by a gypsy to lose weight and then simply cannot stop losing weight, so he withers away.
In Clown, a father finds a clown costume just as his wife has called him to say that the clown booked for their son’s birthday party – which is in full swing – has canceled. So, the father puts on the clown costume only to later find out that he can’t take if off again. Not the costume, the wig, or the nose. Or actually, he does manage to get the nose off, which I wouldn’t really consider a spoiler since it’s part of the trailer and most of the promotion images.
For me, Clown works so well because it’s simple. The story is very basic, so you find yourself wondering “What would I do?” both if you were the guy caught in the clown suit, but also as his family. And of course, when the story is simple, the acting and special effects (make-up mostly) have to be on point.
That’s why it’s great that Clown stars Andy Powers (who I recognized from the prison TV drama Oz), who really just looks like the sweetest guy next door. His transformation into an evil clown – and his struggle fighting against it – is fascinating, sad, and scary.
Laura Allen (Ravenswood) is perfect in her portrayal of the wife, who fights for her husband but also wants to protect the world – and their son in particular – from him. And then Peter Stormare (Prison Break) plays the man with all the answers since he has already battled this clown demon once before.
There’s a great story behind the movie itself since it was made when Eli Roth saw this fake trailer for Clown and decided it was good enough to actually make:
Clown was directed by Jon Watts, who is about to direct the latest Spider-Man reboot Spider-Man: Homecoming. He also co-wrote the script with Christopher Ford. The two previously worked together on the script for Cop Car which is an awesome thriller (starring Kevin Bacon) that Watts also directed.
I know Clown has been out for a while in various countries, but it keeps resurfacing with every new release date, so that’s why we had to do a review now. Also, it’s produced by Eli Roth and we’ve already established we tend to like the crazy way his mind works with movies like Knock Knock and The Green Inferno, so we couldn’t really leave this one out!
For the record, the only reason we’re not giving it a higher overall rating is the fact that it’s a bit too long, and the plot stalls a bit towards the end… but if you get the chance to watch this at a movie theater, I would definitely jump on that!
Clown is out on Blu-ray and Digital in lots of countries, and will be out in theaters on June 17, 2016, in the US.
Details
Director: Jon Watts
Writer: Jon Watts & Christopher Ford
Cast: Andy Powers, Laura Allen, Peter Stormare, Christian Distefano, Chuck Shamata
Plot
A loving father finds a clown suit for his son’s birthday party, only to realize that it is not a suit at all.
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