Director – Minh Collins (Rocking the Couch, Hit List)
Starring – Augie Duke (Exit 0, Blood Craft), Elissa Dowling (Tales of Halloween, We Are Still Here), and Randy Wayne (Hellraiser: Judgement, Paranormal Island)
Release Date – 2020
Rating – 2.5/5
Tagline – “You’ll die laughing”
I hit a slump with some of the movies I’ve recently watched and reviewed. After I revisited The Vineyard I decided to toss in a few zombie flicks that I had never seen before. Sadly, these two films, The Hoard, and Dead Earth, were not entertaining. With those movies behind me I decided to check out a few other indie productions.
With so many sitting on my shelf collecting dust I decided to toss in the new release of the killer clown film Clown Fear. The artwork and title was a little off putting but I still wanted to give it my full attention.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows a bridal party as they make their way through the desert when they have an accident. They abandon their car and walk until they meet an isolated hotel that embraces a clown theme. They spend the night and attempt to find some fun around the hotel the following day but soon find themselves surrounded by a community that worships their clown lineage to the point it’s become a religious cult. **Spoiler Alert**
The film’s artwork and title is a little cringy if you want my honest opinion but the trailer was very interesting. The film had a few cool moments throughout but at the end of the day it’s just another Wal-Mart horror flick. Generic in every way.
The acting in this one is solid for what it is but it’s damn near impossible to like any of the characters. The bridal party, the clowns, the locals, the groom to be and his groomsmen were all very unlikable characters that were painfully cliched. They work with what they have but the performances fit the film.
The story for this one is one we have seen thousands of times by this point. We follow a group of beautiful people in the desert as they stumble across a community of killers. I’m not saying this is The Hills Have Eyes with clowns instead of inbreeding radiated folk but it’s hard not to make the connection. Similarities aside, the film does give us a cool little back story about the clown cult that I really enjoyed but it was not explored enough to truly impact the film like it should have.
Finally, the film has a few surprising kills with solid practical effects but the kills are never really the center of the scene. The viewer does not get to really enjoy all the hard work put into the kills. Overall, Clown Fear wasn’t a bad watch but the unoriginality and lack of compassion makes this one generic and forgettable. If you are looking for something new as a late night watch this might fill the void but this one will not be making any top ten list.
