By Melissa Antoinette Garza
This is one of the few times, I’m happy I lost playing Texas Hold’em. I decided to sit on the couch while the rest of the gang still played on, and look at horror trailers on Youtube. It was there that I came across this flick, I had never heard of.
The preview itself sold me on it. There was an evil diabolical clown , an alien with murder in his eyes, and demons galore. It looked like it had serious potential so we sought it out and decided to give it a go.
It opens with a similar backstory. It’s Halloween and our main character Sarah (Katie Maguire) is babysitting an annoying pre-teen boy named Timmy (Cole Matthewson) and his slightly older sister Tia (Sydney Freihofer).
While going through their candy, Timmy sees that someone gave him a VHS tape without any type of label or cover. At first, Sarah refuses to put it in, but after the kids complain she agrees if they stand over in the corner so she can view it and make sure it’s nothing perverted, she’ll check it out.
At first it’s just fuzz, but then slowly the picture comes on and shows a woman sitting in a train station by herself. Across from her an evil clown (Mike Giannelli) in black and white make-up appears and honks a horn while flashing a dark and demented smile. She tries to ignore him but then in an apparent attempt at being kind, he gives her some fake red flowers. Unbeknownst to her, they’re filled with bugs. When she notices and freaks out, the clown claps in delight. Soon, she’s in a dark dungeon among other women the clown has kidnapped, only there are other evil entities among her including a demon, a birdman,a scarecrow, etc.
By this time the children snuck over to watch the movie. Sarah feeling it has gotten to intense and shuts it off. She tells the kids to go to bed, but can’t help but continue watching.
The next tale shows a woman who just moved into her new home in a quiet suburban community. Unfortunately, she isn’t alone and an alien has taken residence there as well. His intent is to murder her. She tries to fight back and eventually hides from him while he searches the house.
Sarah becomes more unnerved, yet can’t help but finish the tape. The third story is about a young woman travelling home from New York. She’s lost and stops by a gas station where the clown has returned. She sees him kill the gas attendant and jumps in her car speeding away. Miles up the road she sees the clown hitchhiking with a sign that says “CIRCUS.” She drives past him trying to escape. She picks up her cell phone and dials quickly begging the person on the other end for help.
After the last tale ends, Sarah shuts the TV off as the phone rings. On the other end, she hears the woman from the final tale repeating what she had on the cellphone when on the tape. Then she notices the TV has come back on as the clown begins to come out of the TV set.
This is a fantastic movie I had never heard of. There are creepy moments, suspenseful aspects and times when the clown as horrible as his actions are is quite funny.
The last scene is very well done and even a bit disturbing.
It’s definitely an original anthology with a cool premise and a great wraparound. The connection between all of the tales of course is Art the Clown who even makes an appearance in the one involving the alien. One has to wonder exactly what it is, as it certainly cannot be human. What demonic creature lurks behind the make-up is left unknown.
I would love to see a sequel made and for this to pick up steam as a cult classic. I highly recommend it and most certainly has made a mental note to mention it to my great friend Jamie Swimm as I think it is certainly up his alley as well. It’s available on Amazon Rental and for purchase in both streaming and DVD form.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10
