Fear of Clowns : Release Year - 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Overall Rating : 7/10 Directed By : Kevin Kangas Mark Lassise Jacky Reres Rick Ganz (Hunting Humans) Supplied By : Marauder Productions Film Reviewed By : Rick Blalock -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLOT An artist with coulrophobia ("fear of clowns") is stalked by a murderous clown resembling one of the ones she paints. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE REVIEW I will first start off this review saying I really loved this movie! Writer/Director Kevin Kangas in this, his second offering as a film maker has seemed to do it again with "Fear Of Clowns". I first had heard of this film a year ago, ago it may have not been quite a year ago but it sure feels like it! I was drawn to the film because I love clowns, the whole point of the movie is the fear of them, but I love them, especially killer ones. When receiving this, Mr. Kangas had forewarned me that the film's running time was approximately 2 hours....he warned me that parts of this may be slow because of it and that the studio that acquired the film(who we cannot reveal right now) would be cutting down some of its run time in the final cut. To me the 2 hour run, doesn't really bother your interests because what you are being fed here is the ultimate killer clown story. To all of the other journalist out there that see fit to complain about this film's length, you just need to reinsert your pacifiers for a second, sit back and enjoy what the film has to offer. This story follows a young female named Lynn that has an undying fear of clowns, Lynn is an artist whom seems to use painting the objects of her worst fear, meaning clowns as a way of dealing with her coulrophobia. Despite her fears, it seems that not everything is right at home as well, as Lynn is divorcing her wealthy shrink husband, whom are also in a custody battle over their only child Nicholas, Things just seem to get worse for Lynn as her dream will soon become a reality as she is being stalked, by a homicidal Clown named Shivers - Shivers also suffers from a mental disorder and he confesses that killing is his only cure. I have seen both of Kangas' features and as the case in both, the directing is phenomenal. Kevin really knows what he wants out of a film and he gets it. The films overall appeal and appearance, does not suggest that FEAR OF CLOWNS is a low budget film at all. The Clown design for Shivers is simply badass, now that might not be a "Journalistic" word......but it does say "Reviewed by Rick Blalock" doesn't it? Well I am that man and that's how I choose to describe it!:) If I ever saw Shivers the Clown in person... not Mark Lassise, but rather Shivers, i'd be liable to shit my pants! Highly effective. The acting here is mostly bad as they do appear to be less experienced that the others. Without a doubt the film's best performances came from Marauder member Rick Ganz and Mark Lassise. I said this in my HUNTING HUMANS review and i'll say it again.....Ganz is amazing, he truly is.... FEAR OF CLOWNS as well as HUNTING HUMANS, would have not been the same films without Rick Ganz, that is just my opinion. Speaking of not being the same, Shivers the Clown, would have not been pulled off any better than the way Mark Lassise did in the film. Jacky Reres, as Lynn did, I think a fairly good job, often at times good but some points into the movie when she needed to be scared...I feel that she didn't give it her all and could've fared much better. The rest of the cast, well most appeared to be all one timers, lucky the good acting out weighs the bad. This film was exciting and very easy to watch and possesses all of the elements to classify itself as a potential cult classic! FEAR OF CLOWNS even outshines Kangas' acclaimed HUNTING HUMANS, as it has already became one of my favorites! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GORE METER 5/10 Not as much gore you'd imagine but you do get a decapitated head as well as a severed hand -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MUSICAL SCORE 7/10 I really enjoyed the film's score...though mostly instrumental it really sets the film's dark tone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL FEATURES RATING Now this was the limited edition DVD and does not contain all of the special features. From what I understand there are more to come in the major release, so I have chosen not to to rank.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OVERALL IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Like I said, FEAR OF CLOWNS, never fails to disappoint and I think Shivers will likely one day be in the same category as Freddy and Jason! Fans of movies such as "IT" and "CLOWNHOUSE" should really enjoy it. I do recommend FEAR OF CLOWNS to anyone! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STILLS

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