Clownhouse
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Movie Reviews of Clownhouse
Movie Review: The most horrifying film ever made. Yet why one star?
Summary: 1 Stars
The most horrifying film ever made. Clown House does the impossible, simultaneously pedestrian and brilliant, classic and clichéd, innovative and banal, dull and horrifying, with depressively wooden performances that upon Platonic examination are agonizingly electrifying. It is as trite as an Olsen Twins montage, and as grave as a snuff film. This movie is an abomination.
And yet it must be viewed twice. Once with the innocent eyes of an esthete video aficionado, beer and popcorn at hand, watching a horror movie with its usual familiar devices. This is the first level of text, for which critical engagement is not uncalled for. And yet, the more compelling text is beneath this surface, and points to the final aporia. For this is not fictive horror, this is documentary horror.
The script takes its inspiration from Lon Chaney's assertion that "There is nothing scarier than a clown after midnight," and follows Casey, an eleven-year-old boy with an unexplained fear of clowns. Against his conscience, he joins his two unsympathetic brothers on an excursion to the circus with a partial agenda to confront his fears. That same night three psychopathic killers escape a local mental hospital and appropriate the accoutrements and twisted guise of the circus's clowns, and proceed to the boys' house to "unhinge a jack-in-the-box of nightmares for Casey and his brothers!" This formula is not without charm.
And now for the subtext. In the horror genre, there is a visual device of using "the killer's point of view." This cliché is absent from Clown House, but the predator is indeed behind the camera, for director Victor Salva's degenerate weltanschauung is the true iniquity that has been recorded. For during the entire filming of Clown House Salva was raping the child star Nathan Forrest Winters, scarring him forever, smothering his spirit, and debasing him as a piece of meat. Winters' leaden acting is a direct result, for he could no longer invoke his art through the depression. This film, therefore, is not even child pornography, for it is far worse, it is the coded diary of a monster who disguises himself and his art in the innocent thrills of a horror movie. Almost like a clown, yes? Superficially innocent fun, yet underneath a monster, unknown and disguised. John Wayne Salva: Victor Gacy.
And this is the horror from which we cannot turn away. This is the "fascination of the abomination," this is Ricoeur's archetypes of sin, defilement, and guilt all incarnate in digital images, for this is evil. All engraved in a 1:33.1 aspect ratio for your convenient viewing pleasure.
Yet there is another text at work here: Salva recorded the whole thing. It is almost as if he wanted to be caught, wanted a parent to burst in and chase the monsters away. "Look at me! See what horrible thing I am doing! I'm getting away with it!" the twisted child cries into the night, and grows to complete the circle himself.
On first viewing there is a pointlessly long shot of Winters undressing to his underwear, which only marginally contributes to the tension of vulnerability. But on second viewing, when we know that we are watching the film through the eyes of Winter's rapist, it becomes the most horrifying shot in the film, and is in fact the probably method of Salva's seduction. Is that Salva's voice calling to Winters "Let's rehearse this scene [and then I'll rape you]?"
Only Paolo Pasolini's "Salo: One Hundred Days of Sodom" approaches the debasement of this film, yet Pasolini's painful sadomasochistic abuse of children was all faked. In "Clown House," Salva's off-camera rape of Nathan Forrest Winters is real, and as the narrative unfolds we witness the light extinguished from his eyes and his depression set in. For Winters, the film's "jack-in-the-box of nightmares" was in Salva's pants. How happy Winters must originally have been to think he was going to be a movie star when Salva cast him. How abandoned Winters must of felt when Salva returned that happy trust with daily rape and depraved self-gratification at Winters expense. All this psychological horror for this young actor is captured here on film.
Dante Alighieri lacked the vision to construct an appropriate circle of Hell for director Salva. But for this film and his abuse of Winters, he is surely going there. That should give us some comfort.
Movie Review: I got Clowned...when I bought it on DVD
Summary: 1 Stars
First of all there is NOTHING scarey about this movie except the acting. Everyone sounded like they were on stage for a school play and trying hard to take their roles seriously.
The movie only goes down as being a classic because of the fact that Victor Salvo molested the young star (Casey) in real life in which he was tried for and convicted in the late 80s and the other fact that the latest DVD release of the movie from this past summer (August 2003 release) was pulled because of the Directors molestation history behind the movie; therefore whatever DVD copies that happened to be released in this time that anyone picked up was considered limited release and if you got it in time you're lucky. Between 2003-2004 this was a very RARE movie.
Now thanks to replicating technology, this movie is now easy to get on DVD via professional bootlegging (sellers with multiple copies and saying it' very rare).
I was NOT scared at all, no suspense because you already know what's going to happen before it happens. The horror music sounded like someone using that old Casio SK-1 from the 80s.
Granted this was an independent release and is considered a "B" movie so you can't criticize it much because it was not really intended to be something like a Stephen King horror movie...the TV mini series "It" was scarey...this was TAME.
The clowns were terrorizing the kids for no apparent reason, no motive, nothing.
They never spoke or utter one word through the whole movie and 90% of the movie all they do is hide in the corners of the house "peeping in and out" making the kids wonder to themselves or each other "did you see that?" "Am I dreaming?"
Casey's fear of clowns was understanding and believable to a point with him even peeing on himself and wetting the bed from nightmares about his fear of clowns.
I was hoping the movie would be more and to top it it is only like 80 minutes.
If you want to see a good movie about kids being terrorized on a long weekend when their parents are out of town buy "The GATE" with Stephen Dorff.
Movie Review: Horrible
Summary: 1 Stars
This movie was horrible. The dialogue was just awful. The acting was really horrible which suprised me because Sam Rockwell was in it. It was so bad that I actually thought that maybe they had dubbed somebody elses voice in for Rockwell. The movie was not scarey at all. I could see it being more of a movie for little kids. I appreciate that it wasn't a blood and guts slasher movie that was prevelant at the time. But it wasn't even scarey from a suspense angle either. And it was lit like some neon 80's music video. I had seen a brief clip of this movie when it first came out on VHS a long time ago and remembered it. Then I read about the directors legal problems and his being arrested for molesting the child star of the movie and convicted. So I thought I would check it out. It is pretty expensive even on VHS but I got a copy for a reasonable price. I wish I had my money back.Movie Review: WTF?????
Summary: 1 Stars
i was going to buy this movie, until i read some of the reviews. the fact that salvo molested the 12-year old in this movie is horrifying. the further fact that, after this "indiscretion" for lack of a better word, the film starts to reflect this act....as one reviewer put it, he/she wasn't sure if he/she was watching a horror movie or a kiddie porn, is horrifying. but the fact that all these reviews highlight the sickness that is apparent in the movie, and STILL recommend it for purchase just chills me to the bone. what are you people thinking??? are you trying to say that, even though molestation did occur, it's still ok for the director to profit from it??? that, despite the creepy vibe many of you picked up on, the movie is STILL worth watching???? how sick are you people, anyway???Movie Review: MORALLY BANKRUPT CLOWNHOUSE DESERVES LESS THAN 1 STAR
Summary: 1 Stars
Avoid this film like the plague. The sophomoric-homoerotic innuendo from the oldest brother to the younger two is very disturbed. I found this movie even more disturbing after I found out the director, Victor Salva, was CONVICTED of molesting the boy who plays the youngest of the 3 brothers in this film. Go to any search engine and type in "Victor Salva" and you will see the facts. This in addition to the underwear, bed-wetting, and youngest brother in the tub scene contained in the film have really made me wonder why Victor Salva is making money hand over fist in Hollywood from Powder, Jeepers Creepers & Jeepers Creepers 2. I choose to boycott any further work from a victimizer.