Why not have Toth kidnap Davy after finding a suitable shrub to hide behind to do his business? This would make Davy less of a selfish jerk and give a better sense of urgency to everyone’s search for him. Not that this change would improve the other characters. Austin is cookie-cutter and bland, but at least he isn’t an outright imbecile like most everyone else. Jillian is also not entirely dumb, but that doesn’t mean she has much of a personality.
Every other non-killer character is so brainless one questions how they made it this far in life. While searching for Davy, Chuck and Marcus stop what they are doing to take the most self-indulgent, dumb-looking selfies with an old, beat-up truck. This is an inexplicable thing to do for a few reasons. First off, it is just some truck, nothing fancy or special about it. Secondly, how is this helping to track Davy? To be fair, their constant stupidity does ensure that the audience is actually enjoying the deaths, once Toth begins his rampage.
“Klec brings a fantastic physicality to the role which adds to the menacing horror.”
It should be noted that Toth is a very well realized villain. His motivations make sense, and he is as creepy as anything. Plus, he integrates traditional clown antics into his torture process, which gives the deaths a unique feeling. Klec brings a fantastic physicality to the role which adds to the menacing horror. The rest of the cast is capable, despite their characters’ idiocy. A few line readings sound unnatural, for the most part, though, the cast is fine if forgettable.
But what makes Clown more enjoyable than not is the direction. Forsberg is able to keep the tension and frights high throughout. The editing by Jeremy M. Inman and Jose Montesinos creates a nice parallel between the current survivors and those being eviscerated by the maniacal clown. This enhances the steadily mounting sense of dread. Toth’s backstory is revealed piecemeal throughout, and while a tad predictable, it does add some weight to the proceedings.
Clown is scary, and the villain of the title is fearsome. The cast is fine, if generic, save for Klec as Toth the clown, who nails the role. However, the predictability of the plot, coupled with the insufferable feeble-mindedness of the characters drags the whole affair down. Fans of The Asylum will enjoy it, but all others should enter a different spooky funhouse.
"…haunts, tortures, and slaughters anyone unlucky enough to come too close the funhouse."
For an ultra low budget Asylum film that was shot in eight days, this was a very fair review. Klec was brilliant as the Clown – and believe me, his best stuff was left on the cutting room floor. I Know: I almost cried when it didn’t make it into the movie.