Hot Take: Never a big fan of clowns, Clown doesn’t help. Sick, twisted and more serious than expected. Fitting for a movie about a clown.

Can you judge a horror movie by the premise? Considering the way Clown starts — a father stumbles across a clown outfit in a house he is selling on the day his son’s birthday party is nearly ruined because the clown scheduled to perform cancelled — it’s almost expected for the film to be campy and silly.

However, what happens with the Eli Roth-produced Clown is it becomes serious. Way too serious. The sick and twisted story of a man stuck in a possessed clown costume isn’t one for campy horror fans. There are a few moments of camp but this movie is 90% dark horror. Clown isn’t for the faint of heart even though it’s not full of scares. Like the costume itself, the darkness of the movie seeps into you rather than getting to you right away and just how dark this movie is doesn’t really hit you until after the credits roll.

The real question though is, “Is Clown any good?” As someone who finds horror films tough to watch and has an even more difficult time evaluating them, the merits of Clown are even more difficult to weigh than your typical horror flick. This isn’t your typical horror flick. While it is nowhere near as amped up as the Eli Roth-directed films of the last few years, it definitely has that Rothian aura about it. If you are an ardent Roth supporter, this might be the film for you. Otherwise, enter Clown at your own peril.

“Spoiler Free” Pros

  • Andy Powers
    As Kent/Dummo, Powers does a very good job of portraying the torment of man stuck in a costume that just won’t come off.
  • Throwback to Modern Monster Horror
    It doesn’t dip back into the monsters of the classic film era but it does evoke memories of the ’80s monsters.

“Spoiler Free” Cons

  • It’s A Little Too Sick
    Some of the scenes are tough to take. The transformation of Kent to Dummo leaves a horrorific trail of dark imagery that is very unsettling.
  • And A Little Too Twisted
    What starts out as seemingly pure schlock and morphs into a more psychological horror becomes a dark and twisted tale with some pretty brutal dilemmas for the main characters.