Director: Phil Claydon
Year: 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Years after committing a massacre, a detective learns that a vicious serial killer dressed as a clown has orchestrated an escape from prison and brought other like-minded individuals into continuing the rampage he had started earlier, forcing the authorities to race to stop him.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly solid and likable enough genre effort. Among the better aspects to be had with this one comes from the wholly effective and involved storyline that manages to bring together some rather intriguing ideas. The whole concept of the serial killer who can inspire followers and force them into setting up a world where he can escape from prison and carry out a rampage in the community that stopped his original spree years ago has quite a lot to like. With the added benefit of carrying out the mind-games with the staff at the correctional facility, where his deranged monologues and analogies make for a lot of fun, bringing the complicated backstory into the proceedings alongside the unhinged mindset to spout off this kind of philosophical nonsense.
That leads into the fun part of this one, with the whole thing being set up for the series of chilling attacks to take place in the film. From the opening setup that shows how deranged and psychotic his background is, the later scenes involving the followers attacking others sets up the strong second act where the family that was originally attacked find themselves subject to a fun stalking scene in their house involving the followers chasing them back and getting to see him getting control of the older family and setting up the trap at the end. It has a lot to like here involving the series of encounters in the compound, where the storyline connotations brought about here give this some strong gore and suspenseful moments, leaving this with a lot to enjoy.
There isn’t much to hold it back, but it does have a few drawbacks. The main issues with this one are the lack of context surrounding why the killer allows the others to go around without any kind of intervention from others. This one makes his plan so obvious to his followers, yet there are very few instances where the entirety of the police station should’ve been more clued in as to what was going on. It is so straightforward that it would be a priority to keep him away from the others around, who could’ve potentially let it go. On top of that, the final confrontation is a bit overlong and features too many twists trying to make it feel like there’s something special or surprising about what’s going on, yet it just goes on for too long when it had no reason to, which all come together to hold it down.
Overview: ***.5/5
A rather strong and enjoyable indie slasher, there’s enough to enjoy with this one that it remains likable for what it is, as there’s not much to this one that brings it down. Those with an appreciation for this style or approach, or who are curious about it, will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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