Clownstrophobia

I like clowns, I think they serve their purpose within horror as they are damn creepy and far more interesting than your generic slashers.

This however was a complete let down, bog standard slasher flick with unlikable clichéd victims who really don't exactly put up much of a fight.

The first thing that really bothered me was it's name, Clownstrophobia? Really! Because of course there isn't already a name for fear of clowns right!? Boring, lifeless, cut away deaths, a terrible side story and car wreck of a finale all bring together a truly awful attempt at horror. If you want a clown themed horror film Clown House (1989) is still the standard to be met.

The Good:

There is at least a clown

The Bad:

Everything else, even the clown

This was pretty terrible. Acting was sub-high school drama student. Gore was unimpressive. Basically a lot of teens yelling at each other louder and louder.

In the making of, the director to admits she only got a couple decent actors and filled the cast with whomever wanted in.

She also said THERE WAS NO SCRIPT.

I had high hopes. I thought maybe the idiotically incorrect title, which sounds more like the fear of being in closed spaces WITH clowns. The quote on the box IS FROM THE DIRECTOR.

Even for b movie standards, this was awful. It had a few funny moments with the terrible acting and sometimes how non threatening the clown was. If you must see every clown movie in existence, I guess its not as bad as fear of clowns and Mr chuckles.

I love a good B movie. I used to watch the Sci-Fi Channel (in its pre-SyFy days) all the time, just because I find their movies entertaining and I enjoy laughing at hilariously badly done special effects and poking at plot holes. This, however? No.

I had the misfortune of running across this movie on On Demand, and, thinking perhaps it would be entertaining, renting it for a night. It's absolutely unwatchable.

The actors are wooden to the point that they are just boring to watch--not funny wooden, just boring. They seem to have been pulled directly out of the convenience stores they were finishing a night shift in, shoved onto the sets, and told to do their best Ben Stein impression. Almost all the lines are delivered in a mind-numbing deadpan, as the characters stand around stiffly, looking as bored as I feel.

The only person who comes close to being somewhat entertaining quickly wears out her welcome by nearly puncturing my eardrums with her grating hysterics and overblown theatrics.

The entire plot is ill-conceived and incredibly cliché. My suspension of disbelief will only go so far, and it won't stretch far enough to sympathize with these cardboard cutout characters or their laughable plight. I won't get into spoilers, but I tended to cheer when the people I was supposed to care about exited the movie, since it meant I wouldn't have to watch them anymore. The ending is as predictable and stale as the rest of the movie is, and it does not justify sitting through this prolonged torture.

I suppose the special effects are neither here nor there. The movie, if I recall correctly, was not done on a large budget, so they worked with what they had. I've seen 80s slasher flicks that have worse or better effects, and it is definitely in that vein, so it wins no points on technical know-how.

My biggest beef with the whole thing started with just seeing the title. THE TITLE. It's wrong. In a case of "did not do the research", you will find that the term for an abnormal fear of clowns is "coulrophobia", not, "clownstrophobia", as the movie asserts. I don't recall this ever being addressed throughout the movie, and though it's a somewhat technical point, it really ruined any immersion the movie might have had by showing its writers' lack of knowledge (or ability to spend thirty seconds doing a Google search to find the proper term).

If I could give it a negative number rating, I would, because this movie is a crime against entertaining cinema. Save your money for something more amusing, like a bottle of formic acid to throw into your eyes so that you never have to watch tripe like this again.

The acclaimed Geraldine Winters directs this terrifying horror movie with stunning imagination and refreshing creativity. Working from her own original screenplay, Winters fills her film with plenty of thrills and electrifying jolts of fear. A homicidal clown, Patient X, and a mental hospital are much more than the clichés they may first seem. These elements are energized here and given a new twist. The atmosphere is incredibly dark and frightening, the set design breathtaking, and the imagery extraordinarily haunting. At times the story becomes overwhelming in its intensity and unrelenting in its horror, almost more than one can endure. However, the violence and graphic slaughter never becomes gratuitous and always serves to advance the plot. The cast delivers some superb performances, with Thomas Daniel a particular standout. Overall, there is no denying that this is one of the better horror films to come to theaters in the last decade.