Three young boys VS three insane clowns in this 1989 thriller!
I still remember the first the time a clown show scared me. It was a circus my dad took me to, and they had this skit about "pulling teeth", and for some reason it bothered me...made me feel really uncomfortable. But, I do not have a fear of clowns now. Nor would I say that I really ever did, it's just that at the time, the act they were mimicking seemed so dang violent. But I understand that a lot of people are creeped out by clowns, especially the one in Poltergeist. And i'm sure that this particular film gave clown-o-phobes, a reason to check their closets before going to bed at night. The only thing creepier than seeing clowns in the big top, is to have them running around inside your house trying to murder ya, as these unfortunate young men find out.
Casey Collins (Nathan Forrest Winters) is afraid of clowns, very afraid. So much that he has nightmares about clowns that cause him to wet the bed, much to the delight of his oldest brother Randy (a very young Sam Rockwell). Much nicer to him is his brother Geoffrey (Brian McHugh), who seems to sympathize with Casey's phobia. Indeed, he really does take up for him quite a bit..standing between Casey and Randy at times. So, a carnival is coming to town and the boys are going to go, even to watch the circus. Then an unfortunate incident involving a clown disgraces Casey in front of "the whole town" (Randy's words). Meanwhile, three mental patients have escaped the ward and are headed that way.
So before you know it, the three mental patients have killed the three clowns and donned their attire. They spot Casey and follow him back to his house. And since it's near Halloween (and mom and dad are not home), the boys decide to tell ghost stories which spooks Casey, who then goes to the window and sees all of the inmates. This sets off a series of "cat and mouse" chase scenes, involving Casey, the murderous clowns, and his brother's who don't believe him. The clowns are always just right out of sight, and only appear when Casey is looking. And then...the clowns get inside the house! What follows is a fight for survival as they are stalked throughout their home by the clowns. Can the boys band together and defeat the clowns, or will they become their latest victims?
I kind of liked this flick. This is not one of those films where you just have helpless victims being victimized...these boys fight back. At times some of the scenes reminded me of Halloween, and the soundtrack done by Michael Becker and Thomas Richardson, really ups the creep factor. However, if you are looking for copious amounts of gore, look elsewhere. This film is about as tame as they come in the blood department. I enjoyed all of the young actors. Sam Rockwell is the annoying, jerk brother to a tee...but at the same time he doesn't have a problem holding Casey's hand when he gets scared. And when the stakes get high, the boys pull together in order to get out of deadly situations. I have to say this film reminded me of the movie Halloween in several instances. Especially all of the stalking that the clowns are doing, hiding in the shadows, and yes...in the closet! But, as I have stressed before, this is pretty tame fare for a "slasher" flick. I can't argue that it's not well done though, because I did enjoy it.
This is a pretty entertaining blast from the late 80's past. It relies less on blood and gore than it does just pure suspense. Probably a lot scarier to people that are actually afraid of clowns though. In fact, it might terrify them. Victor Salva does a pretty good job in his first feature film. Difficult to find this, but just do a google search and you can find it streaming for free somewhere. Not bad...not bad at all.
7.5 out of 10
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