Clownhouse (1989)

"Clownhouse" is a film that takes me back to my childhood. For me "Clownhouse" is a great 80's horror film. If you can put all the behind the scenes issues out of your head then the film itself is very enjoyable. It has a certain creepy feel all over it making you feel slightly uneasy the whole way through. The atmosphere really puts this one over the edge for me. Yes it looks old when watching it but that's part of the charm. The grainy look just adds an extra element of horror making this one very underrated in my opinion.Clowns have always been an interest of mine, and lately I've become even more interested. So, as a horror buff, I figured "Clownhouse" had to be the perfect flick for my evilly kooky taste. Well, while there are a few parts of the film that are certainly less than genius, I was quite impressed. Most B-movies have to take themselves lightly, or they will be a wreck. But there are a few of them that try to be full-on horror and suspense and accomplish their goal. "Clownhouse" wasn't particularly scary to me, but I thought for it's lack of comedic approach that it was executed very well. The acting isn't all that great, but it's not too distracting either. Once the psycho clowns start doing their business, you forget all about any underlying flaws. I think the atmosphere was what this was all about. Not to mention the fact that it was mostly believable. Almost every scene took a fairly realistic approach to the story. This sometimes causes a little boredom here and there, but for the most part makes the movie much more entertaining.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

I would like to start by stating an opinion; This is the worst film I've seen yet. Clownhouse has an interesting concept of escaped mental patients taking clown disguises who then follow a group of children, but it is not presented and executed effectively. This is due to the lowlights: acting; which is prominent, the writing and story. These drag down the proposed fear factor which was to be three kids in a house who are not sure if there really are clowns trying to kill them, and instead turns the creepy feeling the other way round--disrupting the flow established with the worst performances given by the script and acting. I would say that this cannot be the worst film ever as it did show some talent in the directing of scenes. The lighting was suit for the situation giving an atmosphere and the shots were good for a film without the focus on cinematography. But really, I gave this film a 3/10 which means I wouldn't watch it again and you shouldn't watch the film but if you wanted to; you could mute it for a silent film which would be better.

It is because of that terrific little cult horror film 'Jeepers creepers' that I wish to see every movie that Victor Salva made, so why not begin with his debut? It turns out to be the debut of Sam Rockwell as well, so that's a bonus. Unfortunately, there is not much else here to be happy about.'Clownhouse' starts relatively promising though, with the uncomfortable and not much addressed subject of bed-wetting. But pretty soon the clowns are sent in, and the actual evil clowns turn out to be three escapees from the local mental hospital. I can't deny the film is atmospheric in a way, but things unfold very slowly and mostly in an uninspired manner (examples: in the end there's mainly a lot of running to and fro, and that table did not properly hide Casey at all). Some of the dialogues were okay, but most of them were pretty boring, as was the interaction between the three boys / brothers.Only for die-hard horror-fans, and even then, there's not much horror to be expected. 3 out of 10.

In an era of disappointingly trashy horror flicks the unusual director Salva comes up with a movie that may lack a proper plot, but compensates in some of the nastiest horror moments that I can recall of.The technique would perhaps be referred to as "brief glimpsing": someone senses that he's not alone and looks at the door opening and then actually sees someone teasingly showing for a mere second. It's menacing, it's creepy, and it's definitely foul play. If anyone has noticed this technique elsewhere, please inform me of the movie, as I never saw it before! Besides this, this movie mainly deals with three mental patients on the run that killed three clowns, dressed up as them, and then started terrorizing three teenage boys who were home alone.