Is this movie worth watching?

It mainly depends on your horror taste and what you look for in horror films. I personally don't think that "Clownhouse" is all that it is cracked up to be. I think it is an overrated dud of a film. After seeing it I was quite let down. It certainly is not as scary as fans of this film make it out to be. Maybe if you clowns give you the creeps to begin with. There are a couple of jump scares that only startled me just a little. The bottom line is you are not going to be so scared that you sleep with the lights on.

The script was defintely not anything special. You see, Salva was just starting out his career here (his first full feature film) and was wet behind the ears when it comes to this screenplay. The dialogue is very flat and is only interesting once in a long time. The dialogue is so flat here it makes his "Powder" film look like a quality film. I was not a fan of "Powder" by the way. The young boys are not very well developed and are mostly one dimensional. Especially Randy, the oldest boy, who is portrayed as a jerk throughout the film and takes delight in making fun of Casey's (the youngest) phobia of clomns. Casey is a big whiner who does not win you over in any way with his fear of clowns. The only person who is remotely likeable (emphesison remotely) is the middle boy. If I was to grade this using the traditional American system, I would give this film a very low C- and a film that is a very low two stars out of four stars. The bottom line is don't expect this script to blow you away.

This film does get some bad fire for the director's pedophiliac tendencies shown in the film. Don't worry about it. They are exaggerated and blown out of proportion. The kiddie porn like scenes are very brief and about four scenes about the most. They are not constantly throughout the film. The infamous butt shot by the lead was about half a second at the most. You do not see the lead naked in bed either. It is just alluded to. Basically the only people who complain about this are really touchy people about this subject. No need for this to be a concerin in viewing this film.

Don't expect to see any cool deaths and gore in this film. This film was originally made for T.V. and it shows. All the deaths are pretty much offscreen and even the gore on the dead bodies is pretty weak. So do not view this film expecting to see some gnarly deaths and cool gore. This film is very lacking in those two areas. When the boys do confront the clowns, the chases are just o.k. and not that suspenseful. The clowns do not seem that menacing during the chases.

Films to compare it to; well this film is a few tads better than "Valentine." It is on par with the "Urban Legend" series. I guess you could also say that the stalk sequences are similar to the good "Friday the 13ths." To me personally, it is a little better than your average run of the mill slasher/horror film. As to whether you will like it, I am not sure. If you think script is the most important thing in a film, then you should probably skip this film. But if you love atmosphere and groovy directing style, then you might want to check this film out. Hope this post helps you out. Good luck finding it. All I know is ever since the scandal was exposed about what happened backstage, this film is hard to find in video stores. I had to drive thirty minutes away to rent this dud of a film. Take care.

Whoa! 2003!

Halloween Filming Locations 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBS0YQZJ6kY