[yasr_overall_rating]
A loving father finds a clown suit for his son’s birthday party, only to realize that it is not a suit at all.
When loving dad Kent (Andy Powers) is informed by his wife Meg (Laura Allen) that the clown they ordered to attend his son Jack (Christian Distefano)’s birthday party, cannot make it, Kent is determined not to let it ruin Jack’s special day. As a real estate agent, he discovers, in the basement of an old house he is trying to sell, an antique chest, complete with a perfectly-kept, pristine clown costume, red nose and wig. He puts them on and heads home, giving jack a birthday party to remember but the next morning, when Kent tries to take off the costume, it cannot be removed. He puts it down to adhesive that must have lined the old costume’s fabric and goes on about his day, giving customers and workers a chuckle but as time goes on, Kent starts acting strange.
Having tried feverishly to remove the costume, he manages to detach the red nose but not without pulling a clump of skin off with it. He tries to contact the previous owner of the house, only to find out that he is deceased. With a quick search, he locates the owner’s brother Karlsson (Peter Stormare), and informs him about the costume. When Karlsson asks him to meet at his house, upon arrival, he tries to decapitate Kent but Kent gets the upper hand and immobilizes him. Karlsson proceeds to tell him that the costume is not a costume but that it is in fact, the skin and hair of an ancient Northern European demon, which time has forgotten. When told that the demon would kill five children, so that it could survive the five coldest months of the year, Kent takes off, refusing to believe what he just heard, and disappears.
But with every passing hour, Kent’s insatiable appetite, not for food, but for something else, causes him to gradually transform into the incorporeal being that Karlsson mentioned. With children disappearing from the neighborhood, it is up to Karlsson and Kent’s wife Meg, to try and track him down, before their own son is put in danger.
The premise for “Clown” is intriguing but unfortunately, that is about the only aspect of the film that is. With the combined talents of producer and horror maestro Eli Roth (the “Hostel” series) and director Jon Watts (the upcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming”), I was expecting a much better movie. When Karlsson starts to talk about the ancient demon from Northern Europe, originally called a “Cloyne,” the film is momentarily elevated, at the thought of it being inhabited by a somewhat inventive and visionary mythical being, but originality quickly gives way to conventionality, and we are left with a stereotypical screen demon that we have seen a million times before.
While Andy Powers does a credible job as the distressed titular character, Laura Allen, who plays his afflicted wife, does not fare much better. Towards the end of the film at a children’s amusement parlor, while trying to break through to Kent, whom she believes can still hear her, the demon informs her, after having already devoured four children, if she brings him one more child, he will leave Kent’s body and they can be a family again. Initially reluctant, she increasingly begins to search for another child and eventually finds one but naturally, she cannot go through with it. The fact that she is a mother herself, and deep down, knows that Kent is no longer alive, makes the whole scenario totally preposterous. When she battles the demon in her home in the movie’s finale, she shows very little emotion after dispatching it and throughout the entire film, she shows no natural ability for expressing emotion, instead, she just goes through the motions and the film suffers as a result.
In the end, “Clown” is just another quintessential monster movie with a forgettable storyline and disposable characters that undoubtedly sets up the inevitable sequel. Had the movie ended with not so much as a hint to a follow-up, I would have had more respect for it but then again, this is Hollywood, and here, money talks.
Available on Blu-ray & DVD August 23rd
