Jungle
Gingerclown

Gingerclown

Movie
Studio(s): 
Director(s): 
Genre: 
On DVD: 
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Grade:
D
Running Time: 
83 minutes

GINGERCLOWN:
The year is 1983 and Sam (played by Ashley Lloyd) is not the most popular kid around. When trying to impress Jenny (played by Erin Hayes), the girl who is dating the high football joke and is the prettiest girl in his school, Sam finds himself in a touch of trouble. On a dare by Biff (played by Michael Cannell-Griffiths) to go into an abandoned amusement park, Sam figures that if he accepts this dare then Jenny would see how brave he is and that she should be with him. Not wanting Sam to go into the park, Jenny chases after Sam but the two instead end up wandering around the amusement park thinking that they are alone. When the lights come on the monsters and evil clown come out and begin to terrorize Sam and Jenny. Now the two of them have to find a way out of the park without dying.
WOW:
That title caption of "Wow", that's not because I was so amazed by this movie that all I could think of is the word wow. Hmm, maybe I'm a little off base on that because I was so amazed by this movie that all I could think of in terms of description is wow, but also continued with, what a horrible movie this is. Gingerclown is supposed to be a horror movie, I think. I'm not really sure if this can be a horror movie when I was never scared. Maybe if I were a 8 year old kid who had never seen a horror movie before and Gingerclown was my first attempt into watching one, then I would be scared by this movie. Being that I'm an adult that has watched multiple horror movies in my life, I've come to the realization that this is not real, and in fact, when I walk into a park it won't come alive with crazy puppets that want to kill me. Still, even with knowing this, I can still be scared if a horror movie is done right, that's how you know it's a good horror movie. To be scared while knowing all this is fake, now that's what I'm talking about in a good horror movie. Which is not what Gingerclown is.
I would have thought that it would be for one reason alone, Tim Curry. He plays the voice of Gingerclown and after seeing this movie I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he never did more than read the script, go into a recording booth, and then read the script again because I really don't think he would have stuck around if he was on set watching this being filmed. This movie is just plain old bad. I will give it points for trying, it really does do that. I even have to give more points to director Balazs Hatvani for using puppets instead of CGI monsters for his movie. Normally I enjoy the real look of a puppet over the obvious look of CGI monster, especially when it's a low budget film that I'm talking about. Problem with Gingerclown though, is that the low budget CGI that looks about as real as a cartoon would still have been better than the slow, stumbling, and cumbersome look of these puppets. Not only did the realism not take hold with them but you can easily tell they are puppets that aren't getting moved in a realistic manner.
Those points that I give it for trying and using puppets over CGI, well, that's the only good points this movie has. The acting is just as bad as the plot and the puppets. Every character is a cliché stereotype of characters for horror movies, the nerd that's picked on by the jocks that likes the pretty girl, the jokes that pick on the nerd, and the pretty girl who dates the jock yet somehow seems to be made of have feelings for the nerd but still is with the jock. It's all there, but what's not there are these characters having any development beyond the stereotypes. They are boring, they are lame, and I couldn't stand any of them, even the nerd who you're supposed to feel for, he's just annoying. Yet so is the girl who does a lot of screaming in this movie. Maybe it should be a screamer movie instead of horror movie? I just did not like this movie, the acting is bad, the plot just seems to be there with no explanation, and is it supposed to be a spoof, a comedy, or a horror comedy? I just don't know but what I do know is that I won't ever be watching this again.

Lee Roberts
Review by Lee Roberts
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