The Clown at Midnight
Kate (Sarah Lassez) has just recently discovered she was adopted, and her opera singer mother was brutally murdered years ago by a performing clown. Now, she and six other teenagers are helping during their Christmas vacation to clean up the same opera theater that her mother was killed in. The clown, Lorenzo Orsini, was never found for the murder unfortunately. Noboby knows what happened to him, but the group of teens soon uncover what really happened. Kate's mother's past is revealed, along with the culprit who comes back in a clown suit for a bloody rampage, killing the teens one by one. Is Orsini still alive and killing, or is someone else the killer?
Most people would think this 1998 Jean Pellerin-directed film is just another slasher made to cash in on the success of the 1996 Scream. In fact, the only thing I think they ripped off is the cover art design. The film's premise actually seemed pretty new to me, except for the usual cliches, such as dumb teenagers trapped with a killer, lights going out, and many more predictable aspects. Among the more noticeable stars in this film are Margot Kidder (1974's Black Christmas and 1979's The Amityville Horror), veteran actor Christopher Plummer, and singer Tatyana Ali, who was formerly on TV's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as well as a bit part in 1998's Jawbreaker. The murders are a little gory and fun, but most of the characters are just downright annoying at some times, except for the characters portrayed by Lassez, Ali, and James Duval (1995's The Doom Generation). As a child, I was terrified of clowns, due particularly to the 1990 TV film It. Although, the killer clown in this film is barely anything compared to Pennywise from It, which was based on Stephen King's novel. The plot twist is predictable, but a bit confusing at first. The film's pretty enjoyable and recommended to any horror movie fan, so give it a look.
