SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

lathe-of-heaven Firstly, I was quite surprised that this was made as recently as 1999! Going by Christopher Plummer's age I could tell that it was a lot more recent than the content and style made it appear. You would swear that this was right out of the Classic Slasher period of nearly 20 years earlier, such was the mood and setting.The story is pretty straight forward, but has a few mild twists and turns. If you can put up with the usual personality types in a 'Teen' Slasher film like this, then you should enjoy it somewhat. You have your common character types that you would expect in a classic Slasher film; the dialog is pretty lame in many parts, but grading it on the very common curve of the Retro Slasher film, it's certainly average and not as awful as many of them where the acting literally makes you want to kill them yourself.Another reviewer scornfully criticized this film saying that it took itself 'too seriously'. Well, if you are like me, you pretty much have had your fill of 'cute', self-referential Slasher films; I sure have. And when a simple, obviously low-budget effort like this opts to 'take itself seriously' I find it a HELL of a lot more entertaining because it is frigg'n TRYING to be a true Slasher film. Now, that is not to say that I don't like a well made Comedy / Horror movie; those can be great! And there are a few really good ones out there. But, mostly, I really like my Horror to take itself seriously, just like the old Universal or Hammer films did. That is what Classic Horror is SUPPOSED to be (well, MOST of the time) And, especially in this case with this story, I feel that a serious approach worked rather well. IF you are going to go the Comedy / Horror route, then you need to start with a much better and more clever premise. This one has 'Retro' and 'Serious' written all over it. One reviewer mentioned that he thought everything was great except the last 20 minutes; I disagree with that. I feel that the mood and atmosphere picked up quite a bit as you progress through the film and as others have said here, the director did a pretty decent job considering what he had to work with. Nothing stunning, but decent...So, I would say that if you like simple Killer Clown movies, and your expectations are appropriate, and you can be forgiving of some of the REALLY Cheeeeeezy lines, you should find this movie fairly entertaining.

acidburn-10 The plot = A group of teenagers spends they're time after school fixing up an old theatre, where years ago a young woman got murdered by a clown and now the teenagers start to get picked off one by one.One of the better straight to video slashers to come out of the post scream boom of the late nineties and strangely enough never been released on DVD but yet crap like (Do You Wanna Know A Secret and Lover's Lane) has, odd in my opinion. Okay it's not perfect it does have a few flaws like the acting is a bit ropey and the plot is rather thin and rather muddled at times especially when multiple characters tries on the clown outfit, but however though fun characters the film has ability to win the audience. The teens make up the film, who make a change where it is the jock, not the usual nerd, who is getting made fun of in the film. There is almost a sense of sadness when a majority of the likable teens die.Mainly a cast of unknowns apart from screen veterans Christopher Plummer and Margot Kidder neither has enough screen time, especially Margot Kidder, her character I rather like but every time she's in a horror she dies (Black Christmas and Someone's Watching Me) and this one's no different, but she dies way too soon in this. And of course Tatyana Ali (Fresh Prince Of Bel Air) of course and Ryan Bittle (Todd from Sweet Valley High). But the rest of the cast are unknowns and even though they are typical stereo typical characters such as Walnut the geek, Marty the gay one, Ashley the bitchy cheerleader, Taylor soulless jock, Monica the black girl fodder, George the rebel and Kate the final girl and also doing her best Neve Campbell impression.The death scenes aren't ultra-gory but the directing of Pellerin provides enough suspense, colourful atmosphere and jumps in them to make the gore take a back seat. But sadly the ending was a bit of a disappointment, it didn't go off with bang like I hoped for more of a whimper.All in all a fun entertaining little movie that won't turn anyone in this into big stars, I mean where are they all now, but never the less still a fun waste of time and should be released on DVD.

HumanoidOfFlesh "The Clown at Midnight" is an enjoyable slasher,which owes a lot to Michele Soavi's brilliant "Deliria"(1987).It has some genuinely creepy moments,a scary looking clown killer plus a pretty gruesome death scenes.It's well-acted and competently made,unfortunately any traces of originality are completely gone.There's also not enough gore for my liking.The mystery element isn't spectacular either!All in all,I still enjoyed this one-it's certainly better than such crap like "I Know What You Did Last Summer","School's Out" or "Urban Legend",but I wouldn't go so far to call this one a masterpiece.It's a solid piece of horror-nothing more,nothing less!6 out of 10.

thomandybish Those who have followed Margot Kidder's career know that she got her start in low-budget horror flicks(BLACK CHRISTMAS, SISTERS, AMITYVILLE HORROR)and have undoubtably been pining for her return to the genre. Well, wait no more! Ms. Kidder returns in this flick, a rather undistinguished slasher flick concerning a group of college students conscripted by drama teacher Kidder to clean up a previously long-closed theater, owned by Christopher Plummer. The kids are the usual stock cliches(jock, tramp, gay guy, plain fat girl, loner), and their presence angers a pyscho in a clown costume who lives in the theater. Lots of killings in creative ways, which is about all you can say about this movie, except that Margot Kidder and Chris Plummer are in it.