Clown Motel

Clown Motel begins with a bachelorette party out for one last hurrah, two days before Brooke’s (Elinor Price) wedding. Driving down a desolate desert road, they barely avoid a car accident, forcing them to stop at the nearby Clown Motel for the night. The other vehicle involved in the near-collision intentionally sought out the hotel. Ian (Steven Vogel), Spencer (Eric Prochnau), and Carl (Trevor Dow) are filming a ghost-hunting-type series and are excited about the prospects in such a creepily themed inn. The two groups converge in the lobby, but no employee is at the front desk. After a few minutes of waiting, everyone decides to go ahead and grab the key to the room. Yes, there is only one room available, or at least, only one key to be found. They decide to share it and even get to know each other over drinking games.

“…they barely avoid a car accident, forcing them to stop at the nearby Clown Motel for the night.”

But the next morning, everyone wakes up to see a warning written on the window in blood. Believing it to be the work of one of the ghost hunters, they don’t heed it. This proves to be a mistake. Once they leave the room, killer clowns attack the newfound friends. Now, the survivors need to figure out why the clowns are after them and escape in time to get Brooke to her wedding.

Clown Motel, which is also known as Clown Motel: Spirits Arise, was filmed at the actual Clown Motel. Joseph Kelly’s movie also plays out like it was written around the location, as opposed to allowing an organic and sound plotline to emerge. The issues crop up early and often. In one of the first scenes of the film, a little clown girl, who has only lived at the motel (which the clowns use as a base to mine the nearby caves for gold) expresses how she is sad that they are outcasts. Psycan (Ari Lehman), the leader of the group, goes on to explain that is the rest of the world who are in the wrong and that they, the clowns, are free.