Clown

Eli Roth's name is all over promotional materials for Clown, but his fingerprints aren't near as prominent. The love-him-or-hate-him filmmaker, best known for his ultra-gory-for-gore's-sake pictures like Hostel and The Green Inferno, doesn't exactly concern himself with story, content to simply smear the screen with as much blood and violence as is possible. "Torture Porn," his films are commonly called. Clown isn't that. It's a bit gory, but not at Eli Roth standards, either for violence depicted or story ignored. Roth, who served as producer on the film, gives way on directorial duties to Jon Watts, the helmer behind one of 2015's best under-the-radar movies, Cop Car. His Clown is more dark psychological study and creepy transformation film and less an intensely visually horrific film. It's moody and well constructed, stumbles through a more procedural second half but elevates beyond typical Roth drivel into a well-made chiller with very dark and, yes, occasionally very violent overtones.Kent (Andy Powers) is a real estate agent trying to rush home to his wife Meg (Laura Allen) and to his son Jack's (Christian Distefano) birthday party. Before he leaves the latest home he's listed for sale, he receives a call from Meg: the hired clown has canceled, and the children will be disappointed. Fortune smiles on Jack when, in the house, he discovers an old, dusty trunk, inside of which is a clown outfit. He hurriedly puts it on, throws the multicolored wig on his head, and affixes the nose. He's a hit. But when the party dust settles, he can't get the clothes off. Not the suit, not the hair, not the nose. Even the makeup won't wash off. Attempting to pry it off only makes him bleed. His frustration gradually turns to anger, fear, and depression as the clothes grow ever more tight and fuse with his body, transforming him into something too horrific to imagine.Interestingly, Clown was born from an idea that first appeared in a fake fan-made trailer on the Internet, claiming to be an upcoming Roth film. Roth loved the concept, and the trailer, so much that he got behind making the movie. And good thing, too, because Clown turns out to be a rather good Horror film, one that's emotionally draining, endlessly creepy, extremely uncomfortable, eerie, and very weird. It's original, too, something that's far too often absent from the Horror movies of today that feel like they're cranked out of a factory rather than carefully put together with new ideas and concepts at their hearts. Clown impresses with the uniqueness of its central concept -- clothing that becomes, essentially, a cursed "second skin" -- as well as the exploration of the wearer's slow descent into self-pity, doubt, fear, darkness...and something else. The film's most interesting question is whether Kent will continue to fight the transformation -- if he can, physically and emotionally -- or if he will succumb to the darkness, either by choice or by forces beyond his control. Andy Powers is excellent in the role, never allowing the makeup and costume to do the work but instead finding a seriously dark side of himself throughout the entire ordeal as he undergoes a deeply and personally horrific trauma through no fault of his own.The film does stumble through its second half when it becomes less the horrific, detailed look at Kent's transformation and deteriorating mental state and more a dark mystery film that follows his wife in search of answers. Through this stretch, and on through the fairly straightforward ending, the movie loses some of its intensity and allure. The first half is strong enough to keep the viewer interested in how it will play out -- if Kent can be saved, if the transformation completely consumes him, if his family can remain safe from his increasingly vile and violent ways -- but never does it find that same creepy, gut-churning draw. Still, the movie satisfies, on the whole. It shies away from overdoing the jump scares and instead frightens the audience with honest psychological fears, matched with just the right amount, and intensity, of gore. Visual effects -- particularly Kent's gradual transformation -- are impressive, and the movie oozes a slimy, stale, grotesque feel that enhances its better qualities.Clown's 1080p transfer isn't a laugher, but it's not quite perfect, either. The digital source seems of a lower grade than other top-tier films. Textural details are often a little smooth and flat, where even roughly formed surfaces, like bricks outside the family's home, appear as smooth as they do rugged. Clothing detail, even the cruddy, yucky clown suit, never quite extends beyond basic definition. Ditto faces. Color saturation isn't remarkable, and the movie appears to be shooting for a somewhat reserved, darker, desaturated look. Beyond the very beginning where cake icing and birthday decorations offer a fairly punchy presence, the palette grows ever more fatigued alongside Kent's deterioration. Black levels hold fairly dark without straying to pale, purple, or crush. Flesh tones are a bit desaturated with the palette, at least as the movie progresses. Light noise and mild compression artifacts appear, but rarely to a distracting level. Though hardly the best looking movie on Blu-ray, Anchor Bay's release at least appears proficient and rather faithful to its source.Clown laughs it up -- or scares it up -- on Blu-ray with a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film's first act plays out more sonically reserved than the rest. Music is light, support details and ambient effects gentle, and there's not much surround spread or low end accompaniment. Things get significantly more robust as the film progresses. Music opens up to a deep, full-throated experience, whether heavy, pounding notes or shrieking highs. Spacing is terrific, enveloping the rear channels as well as pushing far to the front edges. Low end effects are tight and potent, but never overpowering. Buzzing electric saws, screams, crashes, and other key effects are appropriately dynamic. There's not an overflow of deep, detailed ambient effects, however. Dialogue plays with strong prioritization, excellent intelligibility, and unwavering front-center positioning.Clown contains one featurette. Making 'Clown' Featuring Producer Eli Roth (1080p, 6:24) takes a quick look at the story, Roth's love of the original fan-made trailer for the film and his decision to make it into a feature film, the clown's mythos and the character's evolution, the film's structure and noir inspirations, crafting key visuals, performances, and more. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.Clown starts strong and ends rather conventionally, but it's very well done and convincing in look, tone, and execution. Violence compliments, not dominates, the film. The lead performance is strong, and the movie's ability to honestly make the skin crawl and breathe fresh life into the Horror genre come most welcome. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray is unfortunately absent a more thorough supplemental department, but video and audio presentations are fine. Recommended.

A great blend of spooky, silly, and gory - I loved this movie and would recommend watching it for some good horror entertainment!

For the record, I am not a fan of Eli Roth's work at all. Cabin Fever was disgusting, Hostel was just torture porn, and all of the characters were awful. I've never even seen The Green Inferno and I don't plan to. But since he was only the producer of this movie, I had a glimmer of hope that this wasn't going to be all that bad. And boy I was glad to be proven right! This was a pretty decent movie: the characters are likeable, which is an improvement over the obnoxious ones in Roth's other films, the makeup and practical effects are really impressive, the backstory of the clown costume is ridiculous and imaginative ( it reminds me a bit of Goosebumps ' The Haunted Mask) and even though it relies heavily on jump scares, which I don't mind, it does good at building suspense. The movie does rush a bit at the beginning with it starting immediately with the son's birthday party and the dad having to be the birthday clown really fast, which kind of prevents us from seeing what he was like before wearing the clown costume. Also for a movie about a man who slowly transforms into a clown demon it takes itself way to seriously. Of course there were some funny bits, but sometimes I couldn't tell if some of them were intentional or not. But still it's a pretty creepy horror movie that has a demonic clown eating little kids before 2017's It did...even though the 80's miniseries did that before both of them...WHATEVER!

I thought this movie was excellent. Eli Roth is a horror master, and this movie really proves it. The movie puts a new, original, and entertaining spin on the age-old clown movies. The plot was creative, the story well developed, and the content itself very scary and disturbing, which is just what you want in a horror movie. The actors and actresses were phenomenal, especially Andy Powers (Kent) and Peter Stormare (Herbert Karlsson). I also really liked the special effects. I don't know who/what company did them for the movie, but the clown appearance, clown blood, and gory scenes (Colton's, for example), were really creepy and well done. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie overall. However, I gave this movie four stars instead of five for the following reasons: 1. I found Meg's (Laura Allen) emotional responses to be underplayed and not always believable. I don't feel the emotions were fully shown, developed, or felt by the audience. Your husband is wearing the skin of a demon, turning him into a murderous clown that's killing and cannibalizing children, and that's your reaction and response? I don't buy it. Also, the scenes where Jack (Christian Distefano) was in trouble didn't seem emotionally realistic to me either. Your son is in serious danger of being murdered and eaten by your demon clown husband.... I feel like most mothers would react WAY more emotionally to that situation. It's just one of those horror movies where the mother-child instinct/protection seemed phony. Other than those two critiques, I have nothing but good things to say about Clown. I would definitely watch it again/buy it on DVD, and I would also recommend to friends. 4/5 stars overall. Worth the watch!

I've watched quite a few clown horror movies that were bad, this one was pretty decent tho.

I really enjoyed watching this horror movie just one thing that Irritated me > MEG < she was willing to sacrifices every other child to get her husband back! I don't know how many times Kent had to kill to make Meg realize her husband was on a Killing spree for children.

Delivery was fast. Shame it is Italian!

Let's face it, we've all had that moment when we see a great ''fake'' trailer on Youtube and immediately think: ''Whoa, this would make such a cool movie!'' Despite our initial excitement, the reality of the matter is that very few of those online clips actually have enough material do be turned into a feature-length effort. The perfect proof of this is the movie version of ''Clown''. Yes, the faux-trailer was creepy and interesting. But does the 90-minute version live up to the viral hype? In a word - No.The plot remains thread-bare throughout and the ''I can't take it off'' storyline gets old really, really fast. The acting of ''The Clown'' is ok at best and the direction and photography really makes you wish you hadn't paid $20 to insert this in your Blu-ray player. Furthermore, the lack of any interesting Special Features reinforces my non-recommendation if you are looking to purchase this release. Thankfully, my Blu-ray player could get rid of this disc faster than the main character could take off the clown suit!Thank you for reading.

Eli Roth brought a variation of clowns from different movies and incorporated his own uniqueness to this flim. It had plenty of blood and gore which for most viewers is a must. Overall it was a well done movie and I'm glad to obtain this to enjoy over and over again when I'm needing a clown fix lol. Happy Shopping!!!

Il film Clowm mi molto piaciuto come film horror per la trasformazione di un clown a un demone che mangia i bambini come storia mi molta piaciuto sia al inizio che questo uomo a dovuto mettere questo costume di clown per salvare la festa di compleanno di suo figlio e dopo che non riesce più ad togliere questo abito da clowm e dopo si vede che fa tanti sforzi per non diventare il demone ma il protagonista si deve arrendere e si trasforma in questo demone. e la sua famiglia che al inizio cerca di aiutare a cercare una soluzione dovrà dopo vedersi da lui che dopo che sie trasformato in questo demone gli vuole uccidere tutti!!!! secondo me un film horror da vedere.lo acquistato con il venditore Da Boemiurgo ad un ottimo prezzo ad 8 euro con la spedizione la spedizione e stata veloce e mi è arrivata in tre o quattro gioni dopo il pagamento in un pacco chiuso bene.quindi chi cerca un film di horror vi consiglio di acquistare questo film.

ES von Stephen King brachte uns Angst vor Clowns (mit Hilfe eines Aliens... naja).Eli Roth bringt uns mit Clown eine nordländische Legende, die mit dem Clown spielt.Nachdem der engagierte Clown für die Geburtstagsfeier seines Sohnes nicht erscheint, schlüpft Klint in ein Kostüm vom Speicher. Das Problem: es geht danach nicht mehr ab. Während er Hilfe beim Bruder des letzten Besitzers sucht, übernimmt die dämonische Haut mehr und mehr die Kontrolle über ihn. Clowns sind nicht immer lustig - und dieser Eli Roth Film bringt den Beweis.