Night of the Clown

Director - Todd Jason Cook (Evil Night, Zombiefied)

Starring - Lisa Cook (Demon Dolls, Lisa's Nightmares), Todd Jason Cook), and Chad Eubanks (Evil Night, Horrorscope)

Release Date - 1998

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "A trip WAY beyond reality"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     A few days ago I decided to check out Todd Jason Cook's S.O.V. slasher Evil Night.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.  After digging into a few other movies I decided to circle back to check out a few more of his films.  The next movie of his I wanted to see is his 1998 slasher Night of the Clown.  I had always heard this was the weirdest slasher to ever to be filmed but this only fueled my curiosity.  Nothing I had heard could prepare me for this extremely weird ride.

     The film follows a wealthy man, his four identical brothers, and his wife.  He lives a luxurious life with his wife but his brothers are mostly jealous of his success.  While he continues to find success and spoiling his wife there is a killer clown lurking in the darkness killing his family one by one.

     Strange is a word I had hear often when fans describ Night of the Clown but I would not use that to describe this one.  In fact, goofy is about the only word that properly sums this one up.  It is the goofiest and weirdest slasher I have ever seen and no matter how hard I try to describe the absurd story before me it will never do it justice.  This is one S.O.V. horror flick that needs to be seen to be believed.  The acting in this one is pretty much the same as other films from Cook.  They are fully invested in the film but their inexperience and awkward dialogue gives this oddball film a few scenes with unintentional humor.  The movie has a few jokes written into it but they do miss their marks due to the unintentional humor.  The story for this one is brilliant in a no-budget horror sense.  Cook cast himself as five characters to cover the lack of cast and it a few layers to the story.  I loved that he did that and approached each character with a different personality.  It made it fun and extremely goofy.  Now, the clown portion of the film is a bit confusing but with everything going on you still find yourself enjoying it.  Finally, the film has plenty of bright red blood and some practical effects but the kills are the least entertaining aspect of the film.  I know that's a weird thing to say about an S.O.V. slasher but the kills take the back seat to this bat shit crazy story and casting choice.  Overall, Night of the Clown is not the well rounded horror film you are looking for but if you want something VERY different and weird then this late 90s horror film is for you.  Check it out.