''Clownhouse'' is a 1989 American
slasher film
A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...
written and directed by
Victor Salva
Victor Ronald Salva (born March 29, 1958) is an American filmmaker. He has primarily worked in the horror genre, most notably as the writer-director of the commercially successful '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001) and its sequels ''Jeepers Creepers 2'' ...
in his feature-length directorial debut. It stars Nathan Forrest Winters, Brian McHugh, and
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (19 ...
as three young brothers stalked by escaped mental patients disguised as
clowns, portrayed by Michael Jerome West, Bryan Weible, and David C. Reinecker. ''Clownhouse'' marks the second collaboration for Salva with Winters and McHugh, who previously appeared in his short film ''Something in the Basement'' (1986), and Rockwell's first film appearance.
The film premiered at the 1989
Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the dramatic category. The rights to ''Clownhouse'' were picked up by
Vision International and
Triumph Releasing Corporation, who released the film to theaters on July 20, 1990. Home media releases would be distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
in 2003.
''Clownhouse'' became the subject of controversy when Salva was convicted during post-production for
sexually abusing the then-12-year-old Winters between shoots. Due to the controversy, home media releases of the film were removed from distribution and are
out of print.
Plot
Casey is an adolescent boy whose life is constantly influenced by his intense
fear of clowns. His two older brothers, Geoffrey and Randy, are mostly disobliging. One night, the three boys are left alone so they decide to visit a local circus, despite Casey's uncontrollable coulrophobia. While at the circus, Casey innocently visits a
fortune teller
Fortune telling is the practice of prediction, predicting information about a person's life.J. Gordon Melton, Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling ...
and she reveals to him that his life line has been cut short. Meanwhile, three psychotic mental patients, who have escaped an
insane asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
, murder three clowns and steal their identities of Cheezo, Bippo, and Dippo by taking their makeup and costumes.
As the boys return home from the circus, the mental patients target their home. Casey and his brothers are locked inside their isolated farmhouse and the power is turned off. Casey attempts to call the police, but the police officer assumes that Casey's fear of clowns caused him to have a realistic nightmare.
Randy, disbelieving that clowns are after them, plans to jump out at Geoffrey and Casey dressed as a clown but he is stabbed by one of the mental patients. Geoffrey manages to kill Bippo by hitting him with a wooden plank, knocking him down a flight of stairs and breaking his neck.
Casey and Geoffrey push Dippo out a window to his death. The boys find Randy unconscious in a closet and drag him into another room. Geoffrey is then attacked by Cheezo, who chases Casey into the upstairs game room. Casey manages to hide but after the clown leaves, Casey accidentally steps on a noise-making toy, alerting Cheezo of his location. Cheezo attempts to break Casey's neck, but Geoffrey slams a hatchet into his back, finally killing him.
Cast
* Nathan Forrest Winters as Casey
* Brian McHugh as Geoffrey
*
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (19 ...
as Randy
* Michael Jerome West as Lunatic Cheezo
* Bryan Weible as Lunatic Bippo
* David C. Reinecker as Lunatic Dippo
* Timothy Enos as Real Cheezo
* Frank Diamanti as Real Bippo
* Karl Heinz Teuber as Real Dippo
* Viletta Skillman as Mother
* Gloria Belsky as Fortune teller
* Tom Mottram as Ringmaster
Production
Impressed by
Victor Salva
Victor Ronald Salva (born March 29, 1958) is an American filmmaker. He has primarily worked in the horror genre, most notably as the writer-director of the commercially successful '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001) and its sequels ''Jeepers Creepers 2'' ...
's 1986 short film ''Something in the Basement'',
Francis Ford Coppola gave him $250,000 to make ''Clownhouse''. To shoot the film, Coppola gave Salva the same cameras
George Lucas had used to make ''
American Graffiti
''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronny ...
'' (1973). The film was made, in part, at Coppola's home in
Napa Valley
Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on January 27, 1981. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier ...
. Salva cast Nathan Forrest Winters and Brian McHugh in the film, who had previously worked with him in ''Something in the Basement''.
Release
The film was shown at the
Sundance Film Festival in January 1989, and released theatrically on July 20, 1990.
Controversy
In 1988, director
Victor Salva
Victor Ronald Salva (born March 29, 1958) is an American filmmaker. He has primarily worked in the horror genre, most notably as the writer-director of the commercially successful '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001) and its sequels ''Jeepers Creepers 2'' ...
was convicted of the
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
of Nathan Forrest Winters, the 12-year-old lead actor who played Casey, during production, including videotaping one of the encounters.
Commercial videotapes and magazines containing
child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...
were also found at his home.
After serving 15 months of a three-year prison term, Salva was released on parole.
Winters came forward again in 1995, when Salva's film ''
Powder
A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and '' granular'' are sometimes used to distin ...
'' was released. Winters picketed a screening in
Westwood.
In a YouTube interview conducted by Blastzone Mike with Winters on April 5, 2017, Winters revealed that when Salva was arrested, everything but the
dubbing
Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...
had been completed, and that all of the dialogue was added in post-production due to the extremely loud noise of the cameras.
In a
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
interview with The Millennial Report, in 2018, Winters spoke about the work he had to do after the principal photography. He had spent eight to nine hours a day doing the dubbing for a month. This took place at
Francis Ford Coppola's home. During this time, he was told he would never work in the industry again, and he never did. Coppola later tried to sue Winters for breach of contract.
Critical response
Arlene Calkins of the ''
Daily Utah Chronicle
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of D ...
'' wrote that "This movie, for me, rivals anything I've seen done by
Stephen King at his best... Salva's direction is crisp and right on the mark."
''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
'' gave the film two out of four stars, writing that the film "plays cleverly on the visceral dislike many people feel for clowns and the result is often truly creepy." Joan Bunke of ''
The Des Moines Register
''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa.
History Early period
The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction ...
'' noted that the film "looks like a family-and-friends project... Salva... has cobbled together the usual outrageously phony horror flick plot," adding: "The fright-making shadows of Mortarotti's photography and the moody music underscoring the kids' horror of what is overtaking them helps blank out the irrationality of the plot."
[
The film was included in a 2017 list of the "creepiest clowns in movies" compiled by '']Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', in which it was noted: "The film’s claustrophobic setting and eerie atmosphere makes it one of the scariest thrillers on this list."
On review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds a 40% approval score based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10.
Home media
Mainly due to the controversy during its production, ''Clownhouse'' became a sleeper hit, but soon fell into obscurity.[ The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1990. On August 26, 2003, the film was released on ]DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
, but was pulled from shelves due to protest surrounding the sex abuse incident that occurred during production. The DVD has long since been out of print and any copies that are actually Factory Pressed and not bootleg are near impossible to find. Scream Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
, the spin-off label of Shout Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
, declined to release this film on Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
due to the controversy.
Notes
References
Works cited
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clownhouse
1989 films
1989 controversies
1980s slasher films
Horror films about clowns
1989 horror films
Films directed by Victor Salva
Film controversies in the United States
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Self-censorship
Films shot in California
American slasher films
Obscenity controversies in film
Sexual-related controversies in film
1989 directorial debut films
1980s English-language films
1980s American films