The film begins with some black
and white footage from various security cameras in a section of Green Bay,
Wisconsin, and soon takes us inside a parking garage. We are introduced to
three people who are heading back to their car, which is now filled with black
balloons. The footage at this point is taken from the cell phone of one of
them, which immediately begs the question, Why is this guy filming
them walking to their car? Soon they see a guy dressed as a clown holding a
black balloon. Creeped out, they begin to drive away, and for some reason the
one guy keeps filming everything with his phone, and you can’t help but think,
Put your damn phone away, you obnoxious prick. But then there wouldn’t be a
movie, would there? Anyway, one of them begins coughing up blood and soon, it
seems, they are all dead. Or at least one of them is.
We then meet Heather Duprey
(Lauren Ashley Carter), a news reporter on the scene. Not the scene of the
murder, mind you, but the scene of some people gathered at another location
hoping to catch a glimpse of the clown. Word of the murder has not yet leaked,
but apparently there is nothing to do in Green Bay when football season is over,
and so they are excited at the possibility of seeing a clown. While the
reporter is working, some young folks drive by, and the girl in the passenger’s
seat is filming herself and her boyfriend, who is driving. Because that’s what
people do nowadays. She also films her friend who is dressed as a clown in the
back seat. Too bad they didn’t stop; he would have been an instant sensation
with that crowd outside. Later these idiots decide to scare people themselves,
so we have footage of them doing that for a while.
In addition, we have some
police officers who are equipped with body cameras and cameras in their car. The
problem is that when the cops draw weapons, because we are seeing the scene
from their body cameras, the footage looks like one of those first-person
shooter video games. And who wants to watch that? Yet, the police stuff is
probably the most interesting material, at least for a while. And we have a
conservative podcast guy, who can’t stop talking about the clown. Remember, the
murders have not been made public (or perhaps even discovered at this point),
so all the hubbub is just about the appearance of a silent clown on the city’s
streets. Yet the news reporter promises regular updates, and the podcast guy
dedicates his entire show and all his ire to the clown, eventually deciding to
hunt the guy down himself. These people are fucking weird. And why does the
reporter’s vehicle have three cameras aimed at them while they drive?
Seriously, we get a two-shot and two singles of the reporter and her camera
man. That is absurd.
The first truly interesting
moment of the film is cut short. A police officer goes to investigate a vehicle
that is stopped in the middle of the road. The person in the driver’s seat is
dressed as a clown, but is unresponsive. The officer goes back to his car to
report what is happening, and suddenly the driver gets out of the car. It’s a
wonderfully creepy and suspenseful moment. But for some reason, the film cuts
back to the podcast guy, and we never go back to that car, which is irritating.
There is another element that is interesting, but quickly abandoned, that being
the shop owner who has an old photo of the clown and who might be able to shed
some light on his history were he taken seriously by the reporter. There are
several other good things, however. I love that cute moment when a distraught
clown is interviewed about her job being put in jeopardy because of Gags. I
also love the moment when a clown the police killed suddenly stands up. That is
a nice, creepy shot. And all the stuff about self-mutilation is great. I also
love that the conservative podcast guy ends up being reasonable, at least for a
time. He doesn’t shoot the clown when he sees him, later telling his psychotic
assistant: “I can’t just kill a guy,
Wayne, okay? You do understand that, right? It could have been anybody under
that mask.” It’s an excellent and honest moment, and also works as a bit of
foreshadowing. As I mentioned, this is a movie that gets better as it goes, and
the last section of the film does get suspenseful, scary, creative and even
intense. And the ending is quite good and satisfying.
There is, however, another
question inherent in these “found footage” movies: Who found and assembled the
footage? That question usually leads to several other questions. In this film,
for example, we have to wonder why whoever supposedly found all this footage
would bother showing us the shots of the reporter on the phone with her boss
and then her being upset at being reassigned. Likewise, why would this person
include a shot of the camera man getting upset about finding cream in his
coffee? Why does the person bother to hunt down footage of people in a bar
watching the news? That brings us to another problem with “found footage”
films, that being all those perfectly placed security cameras which happen to
capture the action. Honestly, one truly frightening aspect of this movie is all
those cameras everywhere. There is just no privacy anymore.
Special Features
This Blu-ray release contains a
lot of bonus material, including a commentary track by director Adam Krause and
producer/editor John Pata. They talk about how the film began as a short film
and a marketing stunt, that they initially had no intention of making it a
feature film. Real news stations fell for the marketing ploy, and so there was
actual news footage about Gags; unfortunately, the filmmakers weren’t able to
use that footage in this film. Interestingly, the police car they use in the
film was an actual Green Bay city police department car. They also talk about
the casting, and how two actors had to pull out just before they started
filming. It is interesting how the concept of the balloon room near the end
changed due to the budget.
The original short film is included. Like the
feature-length film, it takes place over the course of one night, and is “found
footage,” with a title card at the beginning saying “It was obtained from an
anonymous source within the Green Bay Police Department.” It is approximately
sixteen minutes. There are also two commentary tracks for the short film, both
done by Adam Krause and Eric Heuvelman.
Everybody Loves A Clown: The Making Of Gags The Clown contains
interviews with cast members Lauren Ashley Carter, Aaron Christensen, Tracy
Perez, Evan Gamble, Jake Martin, Michael Gideon Sherry, Halley Sharp, and Squall
Charlson. They talk about hearing of the marketing stunt (except one cast
member, who hadn’t heard of it before getting cast in the feature film), about
their experience on the set, and give their takes on the found footage aspect
of the film. This featurette also includes several still photos from the
production, while that delightful theme song plays. This is approximately
eighteen and a half minutes. Gags: Terror
Surrounds You is a short piece in
which a guy visits a location where Gags has been seen, and is done in the “found
footage” style. It was written and directed by Bradley Scott Sullivan, and is
approximately nine and a half minutes.
The special features also
include footage from the Wisconsin premiere of the movie, a storyboard
comparison of the film’s final scene, a piece showing how the visual effects
were added to various shots, some footage of Lauren Ashley Carter and Wyatt
Kuether improvising dialogue, a gag reel, and the film’s trailer.
Gags The Clown was directed by Adam Krause, and was released on
Blu-ray on December 17, 2019 through Dopplegรคnger Releasing.
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