Plot:
Once a children’s entertainer but now an infamous serial killer; Jingles the clown is believed to haunt his old house where he tortured and killed his victims and was killed himself by the police. Years later, a TV production crew wants to do a special about the haunting of this infamous house. To increase their ratings they bring Angela with them, the only person to survive Jingles' killing spree. Soon they'll find out that Jingles may not be a ghost after all.
Our Thoughts:
I'm pretty hesitant when it comes to horror movies that involve killer clowns. There are a few that a love such as "100 Tears", "Klown Kamp Massacre", and "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" but most are generally pretty terrible. Most seem to ride on the notion that clowns are scary, even though a majority of people most likely don't find them all that scary but rather say they do simply because it's a popular thing to say. Because they're riding on the idea of everyone being scared of clowns it seems they don't put much of an effort into it beyond that, and are often quite ridiculous and silly. Unfortunately "Jingles the Clown" is a movie that tries to be creepy and scary but ends up rather schlocky.
When you watch the movie it seems like it's going to be your standard slasher movie with a clown for a killer, but some credit to the Brunswick brothers, "Jingles the Clown" is given a supernatural twist. The setup is that a TV crew wants to do a special on the murders down by the infamous killer, Jingles the Clown, who supposedly still haunts his old stomping grounds. Naturally, the show's producers bring the one and only survivor of Jingles, Angela, back to the house in attempt that something high-ratings worthy will happen. Crew gets to the house, everything seems normal, BOOM Jingles shows up, people die one by one, and Angela has to face Jingles one more time and results in a final showdown. Basically what you would guess when watching it within the first five minutes of it, but like I said, the Brunswick's do try to change it up with the supernatural element. Is Jingles a ghost or does he really exist? Who knows?! Actually, we do. In what is a cringe worthy reveal about Jingles and his powers that makes the movie take a hard left turn into Schlocksville. I'll just say it involves the spirits of victims, but you didn't get that from me.
Unfortunately, it isn't just a silly twist in the story that makes "Jingles the Clown" a cheesy cornball fest. Really, it's the acting that ultimately does the movie in. Now I've said it before but I'm always willing to be forgiving towards bad acting with low budget movies and horror movies in general. It's not something I expect to be quality nor is it usually something that I take into consideration on whether or not I like a movie. But here; the movie desperately tries to be a serious horror movie and scary but the acting in here will make you cringe more than the twist does. Either it seems that some of the people don't even try or they take it so over-the-top it becomes down right laughable. Which could be a good thing - it could become one of those so bad it's good kind of movies but instead it is just flat bad.
Out of everything though - the one thing that made me absolutely nuts to the point that I could have slapped the person sitting next to me if there had actually been somebody there. The movie is unbelievably dark. It's so dark to the point that you can't see a goddamn thing. I even went as far as to crank up the brightness level on my TV, hoping that was it, but no. Darkness can help set the mood for a movie or it can hinder the experience, and in the case of "Jingles the Clown" it keeps you from being able to see what's going on. Which is a real shame since it looked like they didn't hold back on the violence in the movie, but it's all lost to the darkness.
I don't want to be so hard on a low-budget project but unfortunately "Jingles the Clown" is doomed to reside in schlocky hell with the rest of the bad killer clown movies that have been produced over the years. (Though I would still take it over "Killjoy" any day.) The bad acting and the silly story could have been forgiven for the fact that it still could have appealed to those who enjoy low-budget cheese flicks. The bad aspects could also have been forgiven if the movie offered something worthwhile, but alas it does not. Though it's that damn darkness that hides so much of the movie makes it hard to say the movie is worth viewing because there isn't a point in watching a movie when you can't see what's going on.
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