Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

not as good as all the hype

Absolutely the worst movie.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

It's not often that I find it near impossible to sit through a mainstream film, but this one was an exception. Obviously made to cash in on the scary clown phase of the late '80s (Stephen King's IT was doing the rounds at this time as well) the film is so tame in its approach, I'm surprised it was even rewarded the 15 certificate that it got. It is just so goddamn boring.The plot (if you can even remotely call it that) is about three maniacs who escape from a mental institute, dress up as clowns at a local circus and then terrorise three children in their homes. I've heard people say about how scary this one is, but I have to ask...where are the chills? Guys in white greasepaint can be scary, I'm sure, but these clowns don't even serve up chuckles, let alone screams. Two of the kids die but then, at the end, we find them all alive and well. I venomously hate it when they bring victims back to life again. It's just so unnecessary and feel-good and sugary that it makes me want to vomit.American child actors are possibly the only thing that will make me get up and switch off the TV (that and real-life operations...can't stand 'em). These kids are annoyingly no exception. The director of this trash was involved in a child sex scandal with the main actor before going on to direct films like POWDER, and I would try and forget this film if I was him.

"Clownhouse" is a film whose reputation will forever outlive whatever cinematic merit it may actually have. Its reputation is so tarnished that it never made it to theaters; so tarnished that MGM pulled the DVD release from shelves in 2003, and will probably never release it again; so tarnished that I had to pay a ludicrous amount of money to be able to own and watch it. Since we all know what unfortunately happened on the set of the film, I see no point in going into it. The plot is really straightforward here: it follows three brothers (the youngest of whom is mortified by clowns) who wind up being terrorized while home alone by three escaped psychiatric patients dressed up as the clowns from the local circus. The film operates as an exercise and study case in phobias and childhood fears, and expands into a full-fledged horror film in the last half, although the gratuitous violence you may expect is absent— it's a fairly cerebral horror film in that regard.As many others have noted, it is extremely atmospheric, and that may be Victor Salva's greatest achievement here. The house in which the film takes place and its surrounding settings are reminiscent of an "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" episode, but there's something irresistibly fun about that. As somebody who is not afraid of clowns, the clown aspect in and of itself did not bother me while watching this film, though I can see how mortifying it would be for someone who is afraid of them. There is some great photography of the clowns that is actually quite frightening, as well as some playful orchestration of "stalking" scenes that are as amusing as they are wasted potential for legitimate frights.The acting in the film is actually really awful overall— even Sam Rockwell is bad here, but hey, it was his debut, right? As I alluded to before though, the film has an early-'90s TV horror vibe, so the poor acting is permissible here just for the sake of enjoyment. Underneath it all though, "Clownhouse" has truly been overblown into the status of legend because of what occurred onset during its making, and the real truth is that the mythology behind the film perhaps flatters it a bit too much. It's extremely rare and MGM will probably never give it the light of day again, ever, so there's the obscurity factor that draws people to it— it definitely did me— but, when you really shake it down, "Clownhouse" is little more than a moderately fun horror film with some nice concepts and atmosphere, but a plot that is paper-thin, and ultimately a film that is far less spooky than it seems it should be. Or maybe that's just because I'm not scared of clowns. 6/10.

As soon as I heard there was a film about escaped serial killers dressed as clowns preying on an innocent family, I just had to see it.Well the whole film is about as boring and predictable as it gets.Three young brothers are predictably left alone in their big Gothic house after a trip to the circus where the clowns are slaughtered by escaped serial killers.The three brothers are extremely predictable. The oldest is a bully, the middle boy a nerd, and the youngest a scaredy cat who becomes the hero.If the clowns' goals are to scare the boys or hurt them, they fail miserably at both. The clowns aren't scary since only we the audience see them. They remain hidden from the boys. And when the clowns do attack, the last 15 minutes of the film, we get the standard silliness of a 10 old boy being able to throw a grown man through a wooden window to his death 10 feet off the ground.There is not a single redeeming fact about this film. Avoid it at all costs!

Clownhouse is one of the creepiest horror movies I've ever seen. Clowns have always made me "nervous" so to speak, but add a big scary/dark house, escaped mental patients, well done chase scenes; and you've got yourself a really scary movie. The movie is about a young boy named Casey who is deathly scared of clowns. One night, his older brothers take him to the carnival and he freaks out at the mere sight of them. We also find out that three patients from the psychiatric facility in town have escaped and supposedly in the area. The patients end up killing three clowns at the carnival and take their costumes to hide their identity. Pretty soon, the brothers find themselves in a scary game of cat and mouse throughout the house.The atmosphere and setting of Clownhouse is very creepy. The dark wooded path down to the local convenience store is freaky enough without insane clowns stalking the teens from behind. And the really scary thing about the killers is that they don't talk at all or show any emotion. They are truly insane. The music score is perfect. The cast is pretty good as well, Sam Rockwell (before he was famous) stars as the bully of the three brothers.This is one of the scariest and unsettling horror films I've ever seen. Something about those crazy clowns being so close to the brothers around every corner is very unnerving. If you like horror, this is a must watch. Clownhouse on DVD is hard to find (apparently due to some behind the scenes stuff with the director). I bought the VHS cheap.9/10 - Highly recommended