The Clown at Midnight
THE STORY: Basic slasher type stuff. Despite anything else about this movie though, its a lot better than the reprehensible "I Know What You Did Last Summer". (The only thing IKWYDLS had going for it was Jennifer Love Hewitt's cleavage.) It should have been scarier, though...c'mon, the killer was clown! Clowns are evil! They're agents of Lucifer! (I hate clowns!) Think about this...if you were alone at night and you came across a dishevelled man on a dark street that'd be unnerving...now think about it...if it was a clown...Thats even scarier! One of the characters said it best in this movie! Read the "Best Lines"!
Kate Williams, a teenage girl has recently found out that she's adopted. Her real mother, Lorraine Sedgewick was an opera singer that was killed in her dressing room. Her murderer? A man named Lorenzo Orsini. Orsini played the clown, Pagliacci in the opera by that name. He was never caught. The theater department at Kate's school is fixing up the now dilapidated old theater. Kate volunteers to help. The former owner of the theater, Mr. Caruthers doesn't help her already fragile mental state when he mentions the murder in front of her. The other students helping with the refurbishing are the usual gang of suspects in these kind of movies. You know they're going to die and can almost guess in what order. Theres the BWBT (Bitch with Big Tits), the OMC (Obligatory Minority Character), the BDJ (Big Dumb Jerk), and the WP (Wierd Person), etc. One by one the mysterious clown that has been hidng in the theater for years picks off the kids. The doors have been locked from the outside and they cannot escape. When only George and Kate are left the clown captures Kate. Its supposed to be a twist ending but the murderer is Caruthers. The clown, Orsini, has been hiding in the theater for years but at Caruther's urging. Caruthers killed Lorraine Sedgewick and Orsini was framed. Orsini has been trying to save the kids. Caruthers kills Orsini and is ready to kill Kate but George only played dead when Caruthers "killed" him and stops him, giving Kate enough time to free herself and destroy him!
I hate to say it but it wasn't an awful flick. Yeah, it was silly, it was bad, actually...but not awful.....why would Kate even go into the theater since she had a hard time accepting her real mother's death? (She was pretty upset about it too but dialogue suggests she NEVER knew the woman and has only been aware of her adoption for a short while) Kate also has flashbacks and visions throughout the movie about her mother's murder, but we never learn why. Indeed, they don't mean anything in the long run. So Kate may be psychic...it adds nothing to the plot! Despite the fact that this movie isn't that old it has the same assembly line plot that was made famous in the 80's. The part that made me groan was after the kids figured out a killer was loose and they were locked in...what do they do? THEY SEPARATE! Fans of Margot Kidder (The Superman films) will note that she plays Mrs. Gibby, the drama teacher. Whoopee.
best lines: "Methinks the vanquished Prince of the Pigskins is retiring for the night with his (sniff) Skanky Princess." - Marty, the flamoyant gay student character after he humiliates the Big Dumb Jerk character, Taylor. I love that. Taylor is a jerk and Marty is pretty cool. He's one gay character that isn't portrayed as a helpless girly-boy. He's probably the bravest one of the group.
"That would be as scary as hell!" - Kate. This her answer to the question of finding a clown at her door at midnight. I agree. Clowns are inherently frightening. Think i'm kidding....then hang around some clowns for awhile. They are tools of Beelzebub I tells ya!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?:
1.) Why does Margot Kidder sound like she has a mouthful of crackers when she speaks? I know the woman has fallen on hard times in the past, but for the life of me I can't see what made her famous in the first place. I thought she was annoying in the Superman movies.
2.) At one point, Ashley the BWBT character (Bitch With Big Tits...and hers weren't that big but she does get naked) taunts Kate for being being upset about her mother's murder. Monica almost gets in a fight with her about about it. Watching this I was shocked that Kate only said to her "Whats your problem?" first, Ashley must be the most cold-hearted bitch on earth to taunt Kate about her DEAD MOTHER. But Kate must be as docile as a whipped kitten. My mother died years ago and if someone taunted me about it they'd need surgery to remove my foot from their ass.
3.) YAHOO! Marty, the obviously gay character beats Taylor, the Jock character (BDJ=Big Dumb Jerk) character at fencing and humiliates him in front of the entire group. You go boy!
4.) When the clown is about to kill Monica you can see someone in the foreground walking by. I don't know who it was...I think its something they forgot to edit.
5.) HIGH SCHOOL? I thought these guys were in college!
6.) Um...no one thinks about cutting Ashley's body down after they see it hanging? Actually I wouldn't either, but I thought I'd mention it.
NUDITY AND SEX: Ashley and Taylor do the wild thing.
HUH?: In the beginning of the movie when Lorraine Sedgewick is murdered someone is banging at her dressing room door. She checks and no one is there. Then the banging starts again. the clown pops up out of her wardrobe and murders her. So who the [unwrite] was banging at the door?
How'd the clamps on the chair shut by themselves trapping Marty?
After George and Kate discover Marty's body George says "The killer was just here...theres got to be another door!" So they look for it. WHY? They can go out of the same door they came in. Isn't escape a high priority?
How did Caruthers have enough time to move all of the bodies to the audience area and set the stage up. He even redressed Kate! How long did this take!? These are high school kids...their parents would start wondering where they are after awhile! I know if my teenage daughter was late coming home I'd be kicking in the doors to that old theater looking for her!
The Tally: Its a dopey flick, but its like I said...a basic plot. Theres not really anything new here, but theres also nothing to make it really bad. A few good laughs may be had but not many. Its a shame that Margot Kidder got killed so early in the film.