Review: ‘CLOWNTOWN’ is as frightening as it sounds.

clowntown-final-dvd-artThanks to the likes of Stephen King, Poltergeist, and American Horror Story clowns are not cool. Lately, in fact, people dressed as clowns are attempting to lure small children into wooded areas in middle America. Why? That’s just sick! In Tom Nagel‘s new film CLOWNTOWN, a group of friends is stranded in what appears to be an abandoned town, until crazies dressed as clowns try to kill them. clowntown-still-8There is good, bad, and ugly about this film. We’ll start with the bad. The story is missing just enough explanation to bother me. The back story does not go  far enough into the connection of why. That’s all I’ll say for now, because I do think the film deserves an audience. The ugly, while I’m being relatively nit-picky at this point, is as follows. The film runs long. It could have been much tighter getting to the “good stuff”. That’s basically all in that category. And now, for the good or I should actually say, the great: the acting. I have to say, with the exception of one character, this film has exceptional performances. I have to give our leading ladies a shout out for the level of terror portrayed on their faces. It reads completely genuine to me. Our clown friends are beyond unsettling. On the whole, I was impressed on this front. My favorite part of the entire film has got to be the opening scene. It harkens back to classic horror tropes featuring a babysitter and the creepy kids, brief gratuitous nudity included. It was a fantastic intro  to a story that had all the potential in the world. Also, high five for the homage final shout. I’ll let you discover that fun gem on your own.clowntown-still-12

Clowntown  opens in theaters tomorrow, September 30th.

TITLE: CLOWNTOWN
IN THEATERS: September 30, 2016
DIRECTOR: Tom Nagel
WRITER: Jeff Miller
CAST: Brian Nagel, Lauren Elise, Andrew Staton, Katie Keene, Jeff Denton
SYNOPSIS: A group of friends get stranded in a seemingly abandoned town and find themselves stalked by a gang of violent psychopaths dressed as clowns.
GENRE: Horror
DISTRIBUTOR: ITN Distribution