Gags the Clown

Director - Adam Krause (Goodbye Ernest, Home Sweet Home)
Starring - Lauren Ashley Carter (Jug Face, The Woman), Tracy Perez (The Strain, The Junkie), and Aaron Christensen (Dead Weight, A Haunted House)
Release Date - 2018
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The joke is on us"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (Out of 5):

     It was bound to happen.  I've had it good for too long and all good things must come to an end.  The last week or so I've seen some very entertaining sexploitation, gangster, and horror movies but there is always one apple to spoil the bunch.  A few days back I received the 2018 horror film Gags the Clown for review.  The artwork was fucking awesome so I was excited to check it out until a few friends of mine that review for other sites said that it was extremely messy and difficult to watch.  This did damper my excitement but I still tossed it in only to discover that it was exactly as they said.

     The film follows the residents of Green Bay who are being terrorized by a man dressed up as a clown.  The police is on the look out for anyone dressed up as a clown but are only monitoring them due to it not being illegal.  The local news stations are running puff pieces on the clown and dubbed him Gags.  Also in the mix is a right-wing gun activist who hosts a podcast and is riding on the clowns popularity to drive up his numbers. What the town brimming with excitement doesn't know is that Gags is carrying around balloons full of a substance that turns those that are exposed to it into suicidal maniacs that are under Gags control.
    I went into this one hearing mostly bad things but the artwork still pulled me in.  Sadly, this one is exactly as I was told.  It had an interesting story but could not pull it together into something worth while.  The acting in this one is decent but there is a few times where the cast was extremely underwhelming.  The characters are not fun and it seems like the cast is struggling to get into these characters.  Honestly, I was hoping most of the characters would die because they were so unlikable.  The story for this one is a very interesting one but every time something intriguing would happen it would get lost in the style in which the movie was shot.  If the film was shot in a more traditional sense it would have been an extremely fun horror film but having the story split up amongst the different character made it difficult to follow and lose impact.  Finally, this one does have some blood but those looking for a gory good time will not find what they are looking for. The deaths in the film are pretty forgettable and the effects are pretty minimal for the most part.  Overall, Gags the Clown has promise but fails on several levels.  The style of the film takes away from the story and the cast lacks dedication.  I would say skip this one.