CLOWN
What if your spouse started changing? He or she becoming someone you no longer recognize physically and/or emotionally. How far would you go to save your loved one? At what point would you finally give up? This is the question posed in the Eli Roth produced Canadian/American horror movie Clown from 2014.
The story revolves around Kent, his wife Meg and their son, Jack. A clown is hired to entertain the kids at Jack’s party but there has been a mix up and the clown goes to another party. Kent not wanting his son to be disappointed decides to don a clown suit and wig for the party that he found in the attic of one of the properties he oversees for his job in real estate. Kent falls asleep in the costume and the next day is unable to remove the wig, red nose and suit no matter what he does. He ends up injuring himself multiple times in the process and eventually gives up. Kent is becoming desperate and begins trying to find out where the costume actually came from.
After finding a previous owner he learns that the costume is made from the skin and hair of an ancient demon. As you can probably imagine things go terribly wrong from here. Unlike some clown horror, this film is not a horror comedy. Clown isn’t funny. It is creepy, gory, disturbing and in some respects sad because you never at any point think Kent will find a way back to his old life.
I would place this in the sub genre of “body horror” with films like Contracted, Bite, and Burying the Ex. Clown is 110 minutes with the first 70 spent developing the story around Kent and his family. There are some extremely gory deaths including those of children that begin in the last 30 minutes. I am usually bothered when a film stuffs all the murders into the end but in this case it worked because the portion of the film where Kent’s story is developed is not boring The back story of the suit is also given during this portion.
I really enjoyed Clown. I spent most of the movie imagining myself in either Kent’s or Meg’s position and both were totally horrifying. In some ways Kent’s metamorphosis reminded me of someone who is taken over by the drugs or alcohol they are abusing and the deterioration of the relationships with their loved ones, though I am not sure the person who wrote the film meant for it to be that deep. I enjoyed being grossed out with the whole body horror aspect and horrified by the role children play in the film. If you are into clown horror this one is worth a look!
LITTLE MISS HORROR NERD’S RATING: 4 out of 5
For more Clown Horror check out my collage for suggestions:
