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Clownhouse |
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Three patients
escape from a mental hospital the same
night that the carnival is coming to town. Casey and
his two brothers are home alone so they decide to go
to the carnival even though Casey's afraid of clowns.
His brothers keep on telling him that clowns are nice
people but as the night goes, the three brothers will
learn that this is not always the case for the three
mental patients have dressed up as clowns and they're
coming for the brothers.
First I want to say that I both love and hate this film.
The film itself is really good and considering that it
was made in the 80's, it's really scary, it can even
measure up to today’s movies with all the scares even
if the movie's only got a mono track. Today’s movies need
surround sound to make you jump. The reason that I hate
it is due to the fact that the director, Victor Salva
ruined the boy playing Casey's life by raping him after
the set, rumours goes that it was every day during the
shoot. I think it's awful and the way that the movie
was directed makes you feel even more disgust towards
Mr. Salva. The boys are often walking around half-naked,
spitting out sexual comments that feel very out-of-place.
Now, poor Nathan Forrest Winters is a really good actor
and it's such a shame that he did not continue his
career after this movie, though who can blame him right?
He had actually starred in a short horror movie made by
Salva two years earlier but I don't know if he was
molested then, one would assume that Nathan wouldn't
have agreed to star in yet another one of Salvas movies
if this was the case.
If you can get past this fact, the movie itself is a
really good one. It doesn't need a high bodycount to
keep your interest. It's full of scares and even if
the directing feels somewhat offensive, Salva manages
to create some really great and unforgettable scenes.
He does know how to scare his audience, I'll give him
that. MGM released this on DVD but were forced to
stop production after a while, I'm assuming it was
due to what Salva did. If you can get your hands on
a DVD copy of this though, it is worth it, the mono
sound is just as good as your average 5.1 sound and
the anamorphic widescreen transfer is crystal clear.
A guy gets an axe in the back, not gory enough to
be rated R in my opinion.
This soundtrack was very popular in 80's horror movies
but it really stands out as something special here,
it really works on many levels. No complaints here.
lownhouse is a really good flick but I refuse to give
it a rating of four just due to the fact of what Salva
did to the young boy. This movie doesn't deserve any
credit at all in my opinion but if you're unaware of
what happened on the set, this is a damn good movie.
Check it out if you get the chance.
Review By: AnthroFred
