Director: Damien Leone
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Killer Clown
Plot:
After being released from custody, the lone survivor of the previous rampage by the killer clown tries to get her life sorted out and back to normal, but when she starts to suspect the killer clown has returned stalking her and others around her must band her strength to stop the madman.
Review:
Overall, this was a solid enough addition to the franchise. One of the brighter spots with this one is the general style and approach that gives this one a fun touch of a fantastic holiday atmosphere. The central massacre taking place with the two figures going around toying with people on Christmas Eve makes for a solid idea for generating a demented festive atmosphere seeing these deformed and bloodied creations going around tracking down random, innocent bystanders in settings filled with wreaths, lighted garlands, twinkling lights, and various other decorations leaves a fantastic impression especially as it goes along with the encounters coming across taking full advantage of the seasonal imagery to its advantage.
That enables the film to spearhead many of these aspects by tackling the expected carnage and bloodshed usually featured here. Going for the over-the-top route with how the carnage is dished out involving heads being pulled apart, repeatedly hacked apart with multiple axe strikes, constant stabbings with just about any sharp object in the vicinity, being clubbed with hammers, and shoving random objects into assorted body parts. These are immaculately realized with a slew of jaw-dropping practical realization that provides incredible blood flow and creativity for the sequence that goes along nicely with the centerpiece sequence that matches the previous installments in terms of blindingly cruel torture and creativity he usually displays.
However, that highlights the first major issue with this one in that the blatant hero-worship of the main killer here borders on the psychotic. Going around a series of random encounters with faceless, and oftentimes nameless, individuals he happens across and gleefully dispatching them in outright cruel and barbaric torture sequences to dish out a kill for the brutality unleashed is a rather bizarre and unnatural choice for a killer. The silent mime act doesn’t bring about the type of charisma that warrants following this type of killer for the kind of status it does as just this seemingly random kind of encounters with no rhyme or reason beyond the carnage on offer so this leaves a shocking disconnect from the type of behavior exhibited in these films where cheering it on rather than being grossed out is the wrong message here.
On top of that, there’s also the grossly exaggerated running time spent on trivial matters like taking forever with the carnage and brutality rather than spending time trying to establish the rules and lore of everything. We get only a brief bit about his demonic status and how the familiar works in regards to operating in the real world while fearing more time is spent on those hero-worship moments with the killer which are quite unnaturally disproportionate to each other. That makes the cruel and graphic massacres far more of a centerstage showpiece for this one rather than trying to learn more about what’s happening so not only is the pacing immensely disjointed offering the wrong kind of impact on how the storyline plays out. These are what end up bringing this one down the most.
Overview: ***.5/5
A graphic if generally troubling addition to the franchise, this one continues on from the same style and tone that the previous entry had which makes it a generally hard one to recommend. Those who are fans of the franchise or these more violent modern slashers will have the most to like here while those who are turned off by these issues or aren’t fans of the franchise should heed extreme caution here.
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