Trash or Treasure Thursday

The Clown at Midnight (1998)

"A clown may be amusing in a circus ring, but what would be your reaction to opening you door and finding that same clown on your front step at midnight?"

Creeped out to say the least. A character in the film says this to explain what makes clowns scary.

I saw the beginning of The Clown at Midnight a long time ago but then I fell asleep. And I never knew what it was called so I never got to see the ending. Until it was on T.V. last week.

In The Clown at Midnight, a group of teenagers is restoring an old opera house. One girl's mother was an opera singer who was killed years earlier by a clown. As the legend goes, the clown fled the country and was never caught. But when the teens are picked off one by one, they start to think maybe the clown is still around.

This is one of the better low-budget slasher movies featuring a killer clown that I've seen (never EVER watch Mr. Jingles).

It had an interesting plot, different from other evil clown films where a clown goes around killing teens for no reason. And even though it starts off slow, the story was compelling enough to keep me watching. The ending also surprised me. I thought I had it figured out for sure, but I wasn't even close. There were a few creepy scenes and some gory deaths.

The dialogue was pretty good, being funny at times and poking fun at horror films like in Scream. Here's an example:

"I felt like a bimbo in a slasher movie screaming like that."

But at times the film was so corny I couldn't stand it. Especially the cornball ending. I don't want to spoil anything, but that would never happen after all of your friends were brutally murdered. You would be calling the cops.

The acting wasn't bad. A couple of the teens were pretty awful, but they're not in the film for long. It stars Tatyana Ali (from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), Margot Kidder and Christopher Plummer, but the latter two were barely in it.

Overall, I would say The Clown at Midnight was not bad for a low-budget slasher, but it's a bit too corny. And it would've been better if Margot Kidder had a bigger role and lasted more than a half hour.

Rating: 3/5