Fear of Clowns
| Fear of Clowns | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Kevin Kangas |
| Produced by |
Rick Ganz Kevin Kangas |
| Written by | Kevin Kangas |
| Starring |
Rick Ganz Mark Lassise Jacqueline Reres |
| Music by | Chad Seiter |
| Cinematography | David Mun |
| Editing by | Harvey Glatman |
| Studio |
Kangas Kahn Films Marauder Productions |
| Distributed by | SNP |
| Release dates | |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Fear of Clowns is a 2004 horror film written and directed by Kevin Kangas. It was followed by a 2007 sequel entitled Fear of Clowns 2.
Plot
Lynn Blodgett, an artist with coulrophobia, has a nightmare in which she is a young girl, and encounters a clown with a decomposing face after a car crash at a carnival. Lynn's nightmares have been getting worse since she filed for divorce from her husband, Doctor Nick Tokyo, who hit her upon getting the news, and is fighting for full custody of their son, Nicholas. One night, a shirtless clown ("Shivers") with black eyes and an battle axe gazes at Lynn's house, then walks away. In the morning, Lynn is told that a family living near where she was house sitting was massacred.
At a gallery exhibiting her work, most of which involves monstrous clowns, Lynn meets Tucker Reid, a roller coaster tycoon who purchases one of her paintings for $8000. Tuck invites Lynn to his office, and after the tour, the two are attacked by a mugger, Heston, but escape. Lynn is shaken by the attempted robbery, but brushes off Tuck's offer to stay when he drops her off at her house. Lynn answers a call from the gallery owner, who calls the police when Lynn faints while speaking with him, due to spotting Shivers standing on her patio. The police question Lynn, and are unconvinced by her story of a clown frightening her.
At the gallery, Lynn reluctantly accepts an offer of $20,000 to do a portrait of a man's father, a clown and convicted child molester. Elsewhere, Shivers is tormented by voices, which tell him that he will get better if he continues to terrorize Lynn. Lynn meets with Bert and his lawyer, who state that Bert not only wants custody of Nicholas, but also wants child support, and half the rights and profits to all the paintings that Lynn has created and sold since they married. It is also revealed that Bert has been out of work for six months, and has been lying about being preoccupied with his job.
Shivers stalks Lynn as she is on a walk with Tuck, and later murders Lynn's friend Amanda. While having lunch with Tuck, Lynn is brought home by Detective Peters, who tells her about Amanda's death, and that he now believes her story about being scared by a clown, as grease paint was found under Amanda's nails, and in a colorful pattern on one of her windows. In a parking lot, Bert meets with Heston, who he has hired to kill Lynn so he can collect life insurance. Heston successfully badgers Bert into giving him more money, due to the complications caused by Shivers, and the police. Bert visits Shivers, who is revealed to be a former patient of his named Doug Richardson, a sex offender with Leber's congenital amaurosis. Worried that Shivers will wreck his plans, Bert orders him to leave Lynn alone, and claims that he can help him.
Ignoring Bert, Shivers sends a party clown to Lynn's house to distract the guard, who he beheads, spotting Heston nearby as he does so. When Shivers leaves, Heston breaks into Lynn's home, and is shot with his own gun during a struggle with Lynn, and Tuck, who had stopped by to check on Lynn. At the Tokyo residence, Bert is murdered by Shivers, due to trying to have Heston assassinate Lynn, and thus almost ruining Shivers's chance to be "cured". While the authorities are content with believing that Heston was Shivers, Lynn is unconvinced, but decides to go out on a date to a theatre with Tuck anyway, to celebrate being paid $100,000 for the painting she was hired to do.
Shivers continues his mission of trying to rid himself of his schizophrenia through Lynn, axing her boss, abducting Nicholas after dismembering his babysitter, and breaking into the theatre, where he butchers two employees. As Shivers pursues Lynn and Tuck, Detective Peters races to the theatre, having gotten an alert about a 911 call from it, and news that the DNA under Amanda's fingernails matches Doug. Shivers uses Nicholas to lure Lynn out, and as the clown is about to kill her, Tuck blinds him from a projectionist booth, incapacitating him long enough for Peters and other officers to arrive, and arrest him.
Lynn goes home, and has a nightmare about Shivers escaping from prison, and attacking her and Nicholas.
Cast
- Rick Ganz as Tucker Reid
- Jacqueline Reres as Lynn Blodgett
- Mark Lassise as Doug Richardson/Shivers the Clown
- Carl Randolph as Doctor Bert Tokyo
- Frank Lama as Detective Peters
- Ted Taylor as Heston
- John Patrick Barry as Officer Patrick
- Andrew Schneider as Phillip
- Lauren Pellegrino as Amanda Green
- Lisa Willis Brush as Julie
- Christopher Lee Philips as Osbourne
- Judith Furlow as Gale Wroten
- Patrick T. McGowan as Endle Parrish
- Jack Porter as Nicholas Blodgett
- Darla Albornoz as Mediator
- Steven Gleich as Marty
- Jed Duvall as Happy Clown
- Rich Herard as Black Cop
- Ronald Lee Ward, Jr. as Paramedic
- Rich Henn as Cop #3
- James Fellows as Bobby
- Jeff Volpe as Jeff
- Bill Stull as Veteran Cop
- Jeremy Cavey as Young Cop
- Samantha Koehler as Young Lynn Blodgett
- Steve Carson as Cop with Children
- Kevin Kangas as Cop Who Ate Too Many Doughnuts
Reception
Dread Central gave Fear of Clowns a two and a half out five, and wrote that while the villain was intimidating and the film had "a few ambitious twists and turns" it was marred by uneven and inconsistent writing, and poor direction, though the website ultimately admitted that "For horror fans, Fear of Clowns is definitely worth a look. The film hits its mark much more than it misses and all in all is a fun ride".[1] A two out of five was awarded by DVD Talk, which stated "Although it has a few tense moments and creatively creepy scenes, Fear of Clowns runs on way too long" and "There's some good stuff tucked away in the generally forgettable Fear of Clowns -- and I'll gladly admit that it's a marked improvement over Hunting Humans -- but it's just too dry and familiar a tale".[2]
References
- ↑ Creepy, Uncle (1 March 2006). "Fear of Clowns (DVD)". Dread Central. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ Weinberg, Scott (3 March 2006). "Fear of Clowns". DVD Talk. Retrieved 6 July 2013.