Clownhouse Movie Review

Trailer here.

Clownhouse is a 1989 horror movie directed by Victor Salva and starring Sam Rockwell, Nathan Forrest Winters and Brian McHugh.

Casey(Winters) is a young boy who has a fear of clowns since a visit to the circus, years before. He has two brothers called Randy(Rockwell) and Geoffrey(McHugh). Their parents go out and leave them alone for the night. They go to a local circus and they encounter a fortune teller who tells Casey that his lifeline has been severed on his hand. She warns him to beware. Casey happens to see some clowns. The clown is called Cheezo. He picks Casey out of the crowd and Casey runs off. Something is happening at the circus later. The three clowns are all murdered by three escapees from the local mental institution. What are the odds? Of course, you get an idea of what will happen next.  The three lunatics dress as the clowns. They show up at Casey's house. Such a coincidence that they target the house of the one boy in town who is scared of clowns....

Randy and Casey go to the local shop but they get separated. Casey meets one of the killer clowns, who chases him. He tells Randy, but Randy doesn't believe him. They arrive home and the power goes out. Oh no. The killer clowns are outside. The rest of the film is cat and mouse between the brothers and the three psychopathic clowns. The boys manage to kill all three clowns and they survive. This film was okay. I didn't love it. Clowns are always creepy so there were some moments in it to creep you out but nothing amazing. I know there was controversy over the director and all that, but I just want to include this as a creepy clown film. It is worth a look, but there is nothing that great about this one. It is worth a look to see a young Sam Rockwell, though. I will give it a 4/10.