Signature Entertainment | Release Date: March 15, 2018
7.7
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 78 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
53
Mixed:
19
Negative:
6
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand
Review this movie
VOTE NOW
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Check box if your review contains spoilers 0 characters (5000 max)
2
xs-addiction-13Jun 8, 2019
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. **A Brief, Complex, and Honest Review**--

Words cannot describe how terrible this movie is. It pays homage to classic 70s and 80s horror movies like Jason, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and even Silence of the Lambs. But it is exactly this mash up of genre villains that is probably the biggest downfall of the movie.

At the beginning of the movie you're led to believe the villain (Art the Clown) is just a crazy serial killer, but then he turns into a sadistic torture killer like from Saw or Hostel, then he starts wearing his victims skins (for no reason) and a wig making you think of Buffalo Bill, and then he starts eating his last victim like a cannibal (again, for no reason). At the end of the film Art is believed to be dead and is then taken to the morgue where (surprise) he comes back to life (making you think of classic Jason and Freddy), and then the movie ends.

I mean, what?! It's fine to end the movie that way, but make up your mind what Art is. A serial killer? A cannibal? An immortal death machine? It's disappointing that they couldn't just pick one of the above and stick with it for the whole film. Instead they chose to try to make Art a combination of everything, and the result is that it feels like a different villain every 15 min.

Next let's talk about how bad the plot/writing is. It's barely there. This is something I would expect from a high school kid writing their first screen play. The movie starts with the "survivor" of the events of the film being interviewed on a 60 Minutes like tv show. Her face is horribly disfigured. Then it cuts to the lady doing the interview talking to her boyfriend over the phone and she's telling him how hideous the survivor girl she just interviewed is. Then she hangs up, thinking she heard something, only to be attacked and killed by the disfigured girl she just interviewed. The survivor girl then starts laughing and the film fades to the past when the actual events of the movie start. Weird, but ok. Maybe they'll tie it all together.
Nope. As the movie goes on, 2 friends (Tara and Dawn) are trying to go home from a Halloween party when they start to be stalked by Art the Clown (villain). Events ensue and Tara ends up calling her sister (Victoria) to come and pick her and Dawn up. While waiting for Victoria, Tara and Dawn eventually get separated.
So you think you can predict where this is going and that the maimed lady from the beginning of the film will turn out to be Tara, because the film is from Tara's point of view (and because the maimed lady is a brunette and Tara is also a brunette while Dawn is a blonde).
Nope. Dawn is killed first and then Tara is killed at the halfway mark of the movie. So you think, ok? Then the film switches to the pov of Victoria who has now arrived to pick Tara and Dawn up, but can't find them anywhere. Events ensue and Victoria is now the victim being chased.
The film ends with Victoria having managed to elude Art and lock herself in an empty warehouse/building where he can't get in. Then you hear sirens and see the lights of police cars and Art disappears. Victoria then runs to the door to look out and see how close the police are until she's rescued. Suddenly a truck's headlights in the parking lot turn on to reveal Art behind the wheel. He drives the truck through the door, hitting Victoria in the process. Art then gets out, goes to her "dead" body, and starts smelling her face. A few minutes later the police run in to find Art eating Victoria's face. They tell him to put his hands up and turn around or they will shoot. Art pulls out a gun, turns around to face the police, but then shoves the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger.
Fast forward a year and you see a lady in a wheel chair being released from a hospital. The Dr. releasing her is telling her family how amazing and positive and upbeat she has been while there and that she was a great patient, etc. They then say goodbye and the wheelchair is turned to reveal the now horribly disfigured Victoria, and the lady being interviewed on the talk show at the beginning of the film.

It's just so dumb. What was the point of making her go crazy and kill the talk show host? It has no purpose to the plot. And again, the attempt at trying to make Art multiple different types of homage villains was very poorly executed

Finally, the one positive that I found was that the character of Art was a great concept. He looked creepy as hell. He didn't scare me, but I definitely felt creeped out by him. His design was so simplistic, just black on white, but oh so well done by the makeup department and definitely chill worthy. If they just would have settled on a specific villain type for Art and had a decent writer who knew how to compose a compelling script then this could have been an average movie, or maybe even a hidden gem. Sadly, this was another good concept that could have been great but was ruined by horrible execution.
Expand
1 of 3 users found this helpful12
All this user's reviews
2
KaraLNov 2, 2019
The funniest comedy I’ve seen in a long time. Watch with drunk friends and you’ll have a great time
0 of 2 users found this helpful02
All this user's reviews
0
yys3rtJan 28, 2023
Horrible script, bad scenery, horrible everything.
A really bad movie
They think violence is the greatest virtue of the horror movie
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
All this user's reviews