The Clown at Midnight (1998)

For some people (or even a lot of people - including me) clowns are scary, full stop.One of the better lines in the movie explains that "a clown in a circus setting is normal, but imagine if your doorbell rang at midnight and you opened it to find a clown standing there in full costume" - it would scare the bejeezus out of you. And me.The plot gets going fairly quickly (it's a <90 mins one), which is a blessing - because the acting, and even more particularly the script, are dire. The direction's pretty rubbish too, but at least the 'shock' moments aren't achieved by massively ramping-up the volume.The killer is fairly effective. The deaths are swift, occasionally violent, but not really memorable. Suspense is nil - you can tell from the start who the heroes & baddies are, but a couple of the 'fodder' characters do grow on you. There's a revelation at the end which totally confused me (I understood it, but it doesn't make any practical sense), but by then you don't care.This film passes the time, and there are small a handful of shots/dialogue which are actually quite clever. And that's all.

even though this movie seemed a little farfetched... it was actually pretty scary. The clown didn't look too brilliant, but since how any clown scares me, this movie was freaky. the ending was really bad when the mystery was found out, but overall I rank this movie ***** out of **********!

The opening to this film is exceptional...It delivers a very creepy atmosphere, that continues through the first death scene...The thought of a film set in an old theater, of course, gives this the Phantom of the Opera feel, but It really doesn't feel that way when watching it. The stalking scenes, are at times, silly and predictable...and should be able to be avoided by the character, but nonetheless, people got to die in horror movies.Written by Kenneth J. Hall (Puppet Master, Blonde Heaven, Dr. Alien), it is not wonder there is some flaw to this. However, it really delivers more than one would expect from a DTV (direct to video) horror film.My big Gripe! The use of the standard Horror movie characters: The Jock, The bitchy Princess, The black girl, The gay Guy, the creepy guy no one can figure out, the weird lesbo-type girl into the paranormal, and a dim-witted teacher....and of course the basket-case main character...They follow all the stereotypes for their characters, and it tends to sway from the story, and make utter nonesense.Tatayan Ali, in my opinion is best performer in the film...Her death scene, however, leaves much to be desired (the girl just didn't Die well). Corny, predicatable Dialouge, slow, but creepy paced...the film really isn't that bad...but I disagree with one review saying this is a HOrror film for true horror fans...It is a decent slasher, but nothing we haven't seen before....The end, was no big surprise...but I didn't quite figure out everything until almost the very end....Enjoyable watch....I plan on watching it again...7 out of 10

Those who have followed Margot Kidder's career know that she got her start in low-budget horror flicks(BLACK CHRISTMAS, SISTERS, AMITYVILLE HORROR)and have undoubtably been pining for her return to the genre. Well, wait no more! Ms. Kidder returns in this flick, a rather undistinguished slasher flick concerning a group of college students conscripted by drama teacher Kidder to clean up a previously long-closed theater, owned by Christopher Plummer. The kids are the usual stock cliches(jock, tramp, gay guy, plain fat girl, loner), and their presence angers a pyscho in a clown costume who lives in the theater. Lots of killings in creative ways, which is about all you can say about this movie, except that Margot Kidder and Chris Plummer are in it.