Michael_Elliott Clownhouse (1989) * 1/2 (out of 4) Three brothers are left home alone when their mother must go out of town. That night they go to the circus even though the youngest brother has a major fear of clowns. Later that night the three brothers and especially the youngest must face their fears when three mental patients escape from a local hospital, put on clown make-up and come after them.Written and directed by Victor Salva, I'm pretty sure everyone knows the incident that happened behind the cameras so I'm not going to go into any other details about that. Outside of that, I had always heard terrific things about CLOWNHOUSE but I've obviously missed something because I found the film to be a real chore to sit through. I've heard people call this movie terrifying but perhaps that will depend on whether or not you're afraid of clowns? This movie has a good cult following to it but I will gladly admit that I'm confused as to why because I didn't find too much entertaining here.I guess the best thing that could be said about the film is that Salva manages to build up an atmosphere and make the film look quite professional when you consider the budget. I'd also say that the three young actors were good in their roles. Outside of that, as I said, I obviously missed something as I didn't find a single scare anywhere in the picture. There were some mildly effective scenes of the clowns chasing the boy down a dark road but not once did I ever feel that he was really in trouble.

Mr_Ectoplasma "Clownhouse" is a film whose reputation will forever outlive whatever cinematic merit it may actually have. Its reputation is so tarnished that it never made it to theaters; so tarnished that MGM pulled the DVD release from shelves in 2003, and will probably never release it again; so tarnished that I had to pay a ludicrous amount of money to be able to own and watch it. Since we all know what unfortunately happened on the set of the film, I see no point in going into it. The plot is really straightforward here: it follows three brothers (the youngest of whom is mortified by clowns) who wind up being terrorized while home alone by three escaped psychiatric patients dressed up as the clowns from the local circus. The film operates as an exercise and study case in phobias and childhood fears, and expands into a full-fledged horror film in the last half, although the gratuitous violence you may expect is absent— it's a fairly cerebral horror film in that regard.As many others have noted, it is extremely atmospheric, and that may be Victor Salva's greatest achievement here. The house in which the film takes place and its surrounding settings are reminiscent of an "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" episode, but there's something irresistibly fun about that. As somebody who is not afraid of clowns, the clown aspect in and of itself did not bother me while watching this film, though I can see how mortifying it would be for someone who is afraid of them. There is some great photography of the clowns that is actually quite frightening, as well as some playful orchestration of "stalking" scenes that are as amusing as they are wasted potential for legitimate frights.The acting in the film is actually really awful overall— even Sam Rockwell is bad here, but hey, it was his debut, right? As I alluded to before though, the film has an early-'90s TV horror vibe, so the poor acting is permissible here just for the sake of enjoyment. Underneath it all though, "Clownhouse" has truly been overblown into the status of legend because of what occurred onset during its making, and the real truth is that the mythology behind the film perhaps flatters it a bit too much. It's extremely rare and MGM will probably never give it the light of day again, ever, so there's the obscurity factor that draws people to it— it definitely did me— but, when you really shake it down, "Clownhouse" is little more than a moderately fun horror film with some nice concepts and atmosphere, but a plot that is paper-thin, and ultimately a film that is far less spooky than it seems it should be. Or maybe that's just because I'm not scared of clowns. 6/10.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews When three brothers(with sibling dynamics that, like everything else, especially the aspects concerning the characters, are credible, developed and human) have to spend the night without their parents(both busy with work - middle class; the father is home the least), even their seemingly safe, suburban house(a lot of this is spent there, only in the company of our 3 leads, making for a very isolated and claustrophobic slasher) can't protect them.Casey(Winters, still afraid - and the theme here is how to deal with that, and whether everyone feels it), the youngest, Geoffrey(McHugh, sympathizes with him and is in general the favorite of the three - that of the parents, and aforementioned kid) the middle one, and Randy(Rockwell in his debut(and yes, you can sense his quirk in a little of it), resents having to be responsible for the other two), the eldest.What is the fear of? Vivid, pale-faced performers. What? No, not KISS... that would risk the boys' souls. They're only at risk of being killed, so calm down, Christians. Yes, your circus-variety harlequin(be honest, they *are* inherently creepy - particularly when completely silent, communicating via miming, using their vastly expressive faces, as is done here) is the threat. Or, rather, a trio of escaped mental patients dressed up as them(and before donning the three distinct sets of make-up and bright, vibrant colors, we only see close-ups of their manically staring eyes). Yes, you *will* be terrorized by the Insane Clown Posse, demanding to know how magnets work.Yes, I know of the director's crime; I will not be going into it in this review. He served his time and I feel we should separate a man's personal life from their career. Of what I've watched(the others being the first two Jeepers Creepers), this is Salva's best, by far. This is quite grounded, and a welcome departure from where horror movies were at this point in time. Rather than outlandish, it sets everything up and it all feels genuine, authentic. This is primarily build-up, low on "action". Death scenes are small-scale but effective. There is almost no blood or violence, it's usually the threat and that which is implied that gets to us, the suspense and atmosphere. What's just off-screen, what's in the dark.This does use clichés, such as the eerie fortune teller - they do tend to work, and this thankfully isn't as loudly 80's as a lot of flicks from the decade. There are few jump-scares, instead we have consistent tension(such as in the use of close-ups, often of hands). In general it's well-filmed, with the opening shots setting the mood and tone impeccably. This is tightly paced and keeps moving throughout, with no scene wasted. It's an hour and 18 minutes sans credits, an hour and 21 minutes with. There is some humor, typically in the dialog - in fact, that's about the only place where it works, as several of the "the guys are having fun" bits are completely off(each time, I honestly thought something else, entirely, was going on), as one of the only things in this. The acting is good from all concerned, with almost no "crappy child actor" curse. Score is well-done.There is some strong language and brief underage male rear nudity in this. I recommend this to any fan of this kind of film. 6/10

Toronto85 Clownhouse is one of the creepiest horror movies I've ever seen. Clowns have always made me "nervous" so to speak, but add a big scary/dark house, escaped mental patients, well done chase scenes; and you've got yourself a really scary movie. The movie is about a young boy named Casey who is deathly scared of clowns. One night, his older brothers take him to the carnival and he freaks out at the mere sight of them. We also find out that three patients from the psychiatric facility in town have escaped and supposedly in the area. The patients end up killing three clowns at the carnival and take their costumes to hide their identity. Pretty soon, the brothers find themselves in a scary game of cat and mouse throughout the house.The atmosphere and setting of Clownhouse is very creepy. The dark wooded path down to the local convenience store is freaky enough without insane clowns stalking the teens from behind. And the really scary thing about the killers is that they don't talk at all or show any emotion. They are truly insane. The music score is perfect. The cast is pretty good as well, Sam Rockwell (before he was famous) stars as the bully of the three brothers.This is one of the scariest and unsettling horror films I've ever seen. Something about those crazy clowns being so close to the brothers around every corner is very unnerving. If you like horror, this is a must watch. Clownhouse on DVD is hard to find (apparently due to some behind the scenes stuff with the director). I bought the VHS cheap.9/10 - Highly recommended