Clownhouse (1989) - Victor Salva

I for one am kind of afraid of clowns. At least I used to be. This movie would have scared the crap out of me back in '89. It still did a good job today. It wasn't spectacular but it did the job. My friends Grandmother had a series of pictures in her house that were about 10.5 x 13. The pictures were half mirror and half picture of a Norman Rockwell type clown's face. They were terrifying. At night, you would just see clown faces floating in the hallway. It was really disturbing. This movie was kinda like that.

The film is about an escaped group of disturbed mental patients that murder an entire circus. Assume the identity of a group of clowns. Then proceed to terrorize the one kid that is deathly afraid of all the clowns, and his brothers. The clowns actually seek to murder these boys that are staying alone in a really big house. It is an Old Dark House film that uses the clown style really well.

Sam Rockwell, Nathan Winters, and Brian McHugh had a really good amount of screen time. It helped develop their characters really well. Everything happened so naturally and nothing seemed forced. If your going to make a B-Movie at least make it a good one. The film is really practical, in that the murders and plot all practically move forward at a believable pace. It is a good example of a scary flick that needs very little blood.

The film has a strange overtone knowing about the disturbing acts that took place on set. However, I am trying to review this movie strictly from a unbiased standpoint. It is a shame that what happened, happened. But this is still a horror movie and I need to treat it as such. That being out of the way. This movie was really scary. It was surprising really.

Clownhouse is a unique movie. It feels like an episode of Goosebumps that went a bit far. It doesn't have that much blood. It's actually pretty tame. But damn is it scary. It's funny it attempts to almost explain itself with an odd little thing at the end that says;

"No man can hide from his fears; as they are a part of him, they will always know where he is hiding."

I always thought it was convenient that the psychopaths knew where to find Casey. The boy thought he was safe with his brothers but the clowns knew just where to find him.

I recommend this movie to those that want to watch it. Without the controversy we have a really good movie on our hands. Think of it like that when your watching it and I guarantee that you will have a good time. Or you'll be scared. It depends on your level of fear based in the clown horror genre.

Director: Victor Salva
Country: USA
Style: Clown Slasher Horror

Did ya know...

The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1990, and on DVD in 2004. This was Sam Rockwell's first film. On the door to one of the older brothers bedroom is a poster for Something in the Basement (1986), the first film/short by Victor Salva, which also starred Nathan Forrest Winters and Brian McHugh.

The Human Monster (1939) - Walter Summers

Bela Lugosi turns in a fantastic performance. It is right on par with the exact same films that had made him famous like Dracula . My personal favorite being The Black Cat . Like the latter, this film suffered from poor circulation and lack of advertisement. Either that or the public wasn't interested in seeing Lugosi in anything else other than his famous bloodsucker. This film has a broad and well acted plot that was rich with detail. Lugosi has two sides in this picture. His well loved and compassionate side. The other is a strict, brutal lone shark that acts as a sinister villain to blind and handicapped people. He really brutalizes his victims. It's a macabre message to pay your bills. The film is slow moving and plagued by the usual setbacks from its time. Most of the nation wasn't really that concerned with horror at the time. But studios knew that they would always have an audience. This film is a prime example of that. It's sad because it's

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Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t

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Inseminoid (1981) - Norman J. Warren

What can be said for mindless schlock pictures like this one. They were pumped out in droves during the eighties. Inseminoid !? give me a break! It sounds like some pre-pubescent teenage boys came up with the title. On the plus side the movie isn't horrible to look at and it has a decent amount of gore. If you can separate yourself from the political incorrectness, then you might have a perfectly decent Sci-Fi Monster Feature. A research team exploring caves on Jupiter accidentally awakens an ancient alien that rapes and impregnates one of the team members. She suffers from terrible shock and trauma, leading to a complete mental breakdown as her pregnancy accelerates faster and faster. Feeling threatened she decides to kill anyone she deems a threat. Can the rest of the research team survive or will they all become victims of INSEMINOID! Apparently this movie had a million dollar budget. That's really shocking considering the outcome of the picture. The acting

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