Rent Cleavers: Killer Clowns (2019)

I felt like I was the one getting tortured - Cleavers: Killer Clowns review by AER

Flat, amateurish Welsh horror movie. This a sequel to an unreleased movie called Cleaver - Rise of the Killer Clown. This has an amateur cast strangling Kansas accents who have a talent for sucking the air out of any scene that ended up in this unfinished s**tfest. Awful acting which required everybody to speak really slowly - like broken autocue slowly - and move even slower. Packed with more cliches than a James Cameron film festival, this is a sub-student film workout which was probably fun to make but was an absolute chore to watch. Viewing films like this is a lonely experience and I really should stick to films I know are gonna be good. I should be able to sniff t**ds like this a mile-off. Two of the cast are regulars for director Andrew Jones who is similarly bad. There must be something bad in the water in South Wales as there aren't any good films coming out of South Wales these days. Sad, unscary, unfunny clown slasher flick. If you want a bad clown movie that is at least a little bit watchable seek out Clown Kill.

Nice low budget clown-fest. - Cleavers: Killer Clowns review by NP

‘Cleavers: Killer Clowns’ is a Welsh production, with the cast putting on decent American accents. Director MJ Dixon’s cast also includes a couple of names often associated with fellow countryman Andrew Jones’s prolific North Bank Entertainment. The cinematography, either coincidentally or by design, reminds me of the style used on an early Jones’ project, 2014’s ‘Theatre of Fear’. Lots of tight close-us and a sickly colour palette don’t just obscure the limits of a low budget, but also give the film a feel all of its own, a claustrophobic atmosphere which is good for horror.

Dixon’s writing isn’t quite as successful, with some fairly repetitive dialogue. The storyline meanders a little too – but on the whole, I enjoyed this.

There seem to have been a lot of films recently similar to ‘Killer Clowns’; names like Jones, Louisa Warren and MJ Dixon can be found behind the growing list, and this is one of the better ones. Of course, it won’t impress those who are eager for fast-moving CGI and a few more bangs and whistles, but I’ve seen a lot worse.

Slow moving it may be, but it’s competently made and has a certain queasy atmosphere which is pretty unnerving at times. 7 out of 10.