Clown (film)

Clown
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jon Watts
Written by	Christopher Ford Jon Watts
Produced by	Mac Cappuccino Eli Roth Cody Ryder
Starring	Eli Roth Laura Allen Christian Distefano Andy Powers Peter Stormare
Cinematography	Matthew Santo
Edited by	Robert Ryang
Music by	Matt Veligdan
Production companies	Cross Creek Pictures PS 260 Vertebra Films Zed Filmworks Method Studios Dragonfly Entertainment
Distributed by	Dimension Films
Release dates	November 13, 2014 (2014-11-13) (Italy) June 17, 2016 (2016-06-17) (United States)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million
Box office	$2.3 million

Clown is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by Jon Watts in his feature directorial debut, produced by Mac Cappuccino, Eli Roth, and Cody Ryder, and written by Watts and Christopher Ford. It stars Eli Roth, Laura Allen, Andy Powers, and Peter Stormare. Visual effects for the clown monster were done by Jagdeep Khoza, Alterian, Inc., and Tony Gardner. Principal photography began in November 2012, in Ottawa. The film was released in Italy on November 13, 2014, in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2015, and in the United States on June 17, 2016, by Dimension Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Kent McCoy, a real estate agent, loving husband, and father, hosts a birthday party for his young son, Jack. Unfortunately, the hired clown is unable to make it. Kent finds an old clown costume in the basement of a house he is preparing to sell and tries it on. After the party, he falls asleep while wearing the outfit. The next day, Kent discovers he cannot take off the costume. He is forced to wear it to work and attempts to remove it again. When he returns home, he complains about the problem to his wife, Meg. She removes the fake nose, accidentally wounding him in the procedure. Meg also discovers that the wig has become his natural hair. Shadow, the family dog, eats the seemingly usual red clown nose. He starts exhibiting strange behavior and experiences a deep hunger, eating all the food in the house.

Kent decides to enlist the help of Herbert Karlsson, the previous owner. He begs him not to touch the costume. However, after learning that Kent is wearing the costume, Karlsson urges him to see him at his old costume warehouse. At his old warehouse, he discovers that the outfit is the hair and skin of an ancient Icelandic demon called the Clöyne. He drugs Kent, revealing that dismemberment is the only way to prevent the metamorphosis and possession, but he fights back and subdues him. 

While Kent is driving him to the police station to report the assault, his fingers and toes started to grow excessively, causing him to crash the car. Karlsson, who has gotten injured, warns him to kill himself before it is too late. 

Kent flees into a forest and then discovers a camp with children. One boy wanders away and then stumbles across him, begging for food, but he ends up biting off his fingers. Kent decides to try to kill himself and goes to one of his properties. 

A little boy named Robbie tries to befriend Kent as the demon tries to get to possess him, despite warnings to go away. He later shoots himself in the mouth, spattering the wall with rainbow blood, but quickly regenerates and survives. Kent then attempts to decapitate himself with a pair of buzz saws. Robbie bursts in at the last second, causing an accident where the saw blades shatter apart, killing him. Kent suddenly feels the urge to eat the child after tasting his blood and does so before Meg finds him. 

Once they are at home, Kent tells her to chain him up in the basement, telling her not to let him out. He learns from Jack that one of his classmates, Colton, had picked on him at school. Kent finds and then eats him.

Meanwhile, Meg gets nearly attacked by Shadow, who has become possessed after eating the nose earlier. But Karlsson saves her and decapitates the dog. He tells her the wearer can remove the suit only after eating five children. 

She also learns that Karlsson put on the costume to amuse the terminally ill children at a hospital where his brother Martin worked years ago. To free him from the costume, Martin smuggled five terminally ill children to feed the demon. The brothers then attempted to destroy it but to no avail.

Kent fully gives in to the demon and sneaks inside a local Chuck E. Cheese, where he consumes one child in the ball pit and another in the tube slides. Blood and a severed arm flow down the slide, causing panic, and soon, the children evacuated because of the attack of the two children.

Meg finds Kent as Karlsson attempts to decapitate him with an axe. Before he can annihilate him, Meg tries to speak to the Clöyne to spare her husband. Instead, the demon urges her to find one more child and feed it to release him. She must bring the fifth child to their special place. Otherwise, he will track down and consume their son. Yet, she refuses.

Meg rushes home and meets with her father. The demon sneaks into the house and kills him. Meg fights against him, but the demon attempts to devour their unborn child from her womb. She yells out for Jack to run, distracting the demon. The Clöyne leaves to search for him, but she slits its throat. The Clöyne throws her into a wall before he takes off again to search for Jack. He finally tracks him to the basement, where he is hiding under the stairs. 

Once the demon finds Jack, he attempts to devour him, but Meg arrives and chains his neck to a water heater. She then knocks his head off with a hammer and apologizes for everything that happened to Kent. 

However, due to a muscle still attached to the body, the Clöyne revives. Meg ultimately rips off the head, killing both the monster and Kent. While embracing Jack, she watches in horror as its skin melts away, exposing a decapitated Kent. 

The film ends with the costume, along with Kent’s possessions, being packed away by the police as evidence during an autopsy.

Cast

• Andy Powers as Kent McCoy
• Laura Allen as Meg McCoy
• Eli Roth as Frowny the Clown / Clöyne
• Peter Stormare as Herbert Karlsson
• Elizabeth Whitmere as Denise
• Christian Distefano as Jack McCoy
• Chuck Shamata as Walt
• Robert Reynolds as Dr. Martin Karlsson
• Lucas Kelly as Colton
• Michael Riendeau as Robbie
• Matthew Stefiuk as Detective
• Miller Timlin as Camper

Production

Eli Roth was the film's producer and had a brief cameo as Frowny the Clown

In November 2010, Jon Watts and Christopher Ford uploaded a fake trailer to YouTube that announced Eli Roth would produce the film; Roth was not involved at the time. Roth spoke about the film, saying: "I loved how ballsy they were, issuing a trailer that said, 'From the Master of Horror, Eli Roth.' Some people thought I'd made the movie, or that it was another fake Grindhouse trailer... I really felt these guys deserved a shot, and that people are truly freaked out by evil clowns. It's new territory to make this a version of The Fly, where this guy can feel himself changing, blacking out only to find blood all over his clown suit. You're sympathetic toward a monster until the monster actually takes over."

Principal photography began in November 2012 in Ottawa. Roth joined as a producer, and Watts directed the film based on a screenplay co-written with Ford.

Music

Matt Veligdan composed the film's score, which also featured eight songs.

Clown
Soundtrack album by Matt Veligdan
Released	December 27, 2014
Recorded	December 27, 2014
Genre	Movie soundtrack
Label	Epic Records
Producer	Matt Veligdan

• Benjamin Dickinson – "Frowny the Clown"
• Brian McKenna – "Mexican Lindo"
• Jared Gutstadt – "Taste of Mexico"
• Gods of Fire – "The Long Walk"
• Matt Veligdan – "Sonata La Squarzona"
• Neil Sedaka – "King of Clowns"
• Matt Veligdan – "Hardship"
• Nirvana – "Everybody Loves a Clown"

Release

In September 2012, Dimension Films and FilmNation Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released on November 13, 2014 in Italy. The UK premiere was February 27, 2015, in Scotland at FrightFest Glasgow 2015, followed by the DVD and Blu-ray release March 2, 2015. The film was also released in the Philippines on March 25, 2015 and in Mexico on May 22, 2015. After being delayed, the film was released in the United States on June 17, 2016.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Clown holds an approval rating of 46% based on 28 reviews, and an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's consensus reads, "Clown tries to bag a stylish, gory thrill, but good practical effects can't save this circus of mediocrity."

Dominic Cuthbert of Starburst rated it 7/10 stars and wrote, "Clown may be formulaic and filled up to the guts with familiar tropes, but it is tremendous fun and an effective body horror." Howard Gorman of Scream magazine rated it 5/5 stars and wrote, "With Clown the filmmakers have created an all-new monster of demonic proportions and it's a concept that certainly deserves to spawn a sequel or two as the sky really is the limit." Jeremy Aspinall of the Radio Times rated it 2/5 stars and described it as "efficiently put together if a little sedate in pace". Anton Bitel of Little White Lies wrote that the film doubles as an equally harrowing story of "a family man's losing struggle with his own paedophiliac impulses". Brad Miska of Bloody Disgusting rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "Even though it's mostly a bore, there's still some really cool and fun stuff scattered throughout." Keri O'Shea of Brutal as Hell wrote, "Neither frightening nor funny, here's another lesson to prove that fake trailers are often fine just as they are." Joel Harley of HorrorTalk rated it 2/5 stars and wrote, "What could have been one of the few great killer clown movies winds up as yet another disappointment, being too uneven in tone and pace to be considered a success."

External links

• Clown at IMDb
• Clown at Rotten Tomatoes