Horror Movie Review: Clown (2014)

Kent McCoy & his wife Meg are throwing a big party for their young son, Jack. This party will have a clown or at least it should. Unfortunately for young Jack the hired clown goes to the wrong party. Desperate to please his son & wife Kent puts on a dusty, old clown costume that he finds locked up in a chest in the basement of a house he is selling.

He dresses up as a clown & entertains his son & friends for hours. Tired afterwards he falls asleep on the couch with the costume still on. When he wakes he goes to take the costume off & finds out he can’t. It’s super tight around his body & has no obvious way to get into it.

To make matters worse his hair is changing, the makeup on his face keeps coming back & he’s beginning to feel a constant gnawing hunger that no amount of food seems to satisfy. It turns out that the suit is actually the hair & skin of an ancient demon that is slowly taking over his body.

Kent tries to fight the demon but it craves human flesh, in particular those of young children. It wants & it will get. It’s up to Kent to find some way to get the suit off before it consumes him completely.

Clown’s premise isn’t as original as some might think. A few years prior (2012) a collection of shorts were released called Scary or Die. Amongst them was one called ‘Clowned’ & it is based around a character transforming into a flesh hungry clown. All in a very similar way but with much more frightening results. The only real difference is that in Scary or Die the character got bitten by an evil clown.

Still, regardless of it’s lack of originality Clown is an entertaining horror flick that has brief moments of comedy mixed with some seriously harrowing visuals. Part of its appeal is how good the acting is, no one lets the team down here. Throw in memorable characters, a story that is interesting & some decent effects & what we have here is a damn good horror.

Where it’s found lacking is with the very slow middle portion of the film. We miss out of seeing Kent’s deterioration fully as he runs away to protect his family. It feels like padding as there just isn’t that much of a story to tell. It’s a pity as this time could have used to delve into the outfits history, showing us just how it had affected others.

Thankfully it does pick back up for the finale as Kent effectively gives himself up to the demon resulting in some tense moments & nice splattering of gore. It’s an ending that won’t really surprise but it fits the tone of the movie well.

Clown is a good horror movie, well worth a watch especially if clowns aren’t your thing.