Maybe if this film had capitalized on the creep clown sightings that were all the rage last year, this film might have had something. Instead, this is a slavishly formula slasher film in the mold of "The Hills Have Eyes," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "Wrong Turn," except with clowns. Very low budget, but so were the first two films I mentioned and they are both arguably horror classics, but this film lacks Hills or Chainsaw's suspense, originality, or even good old fashioned scares. This horror film is strictly running and chasing and creepy clown imagery. The creepy clown imagery was enough to hold my attention, but just barely.

A group of friends find themselves stranded in a small abandoned town. Come nightfall the group are stalked and terrorized by a gang of vicious psychos made up as clowns.

Director Tom Nagel relates the enjoyable and engrossing story at a constant pace, ably crafts a spooky and unsettling atmosphere, generates a good deal of nerve-wracking tension, and delivers a handy helping of graphic gore. The solid acting by the capable cast keeps this movie humming: Brian Nagel as the eager Brad, Lauren Compton as the sweet Sarah, Andrew Staton as the easygoing Mike, Katie Keene as the perky Jill, Jeff Denton as the rugged Dylan, Greg Violand as helpful old coot Frank, and Maryanne Nagel as the unhinged Myrtle. Moreover, the clowns are genuinely creepy while the moments of brutal violence pack a savage punch. Ken Stachnik's sharp widescreen cinematography provides an impressive polished look. Holly Amber Church's shivery score hits the shuddery spot. A cool little fright flick.

Killer clown films are not done quite as often as ones centred around sharks and zombies. Those that do exist are wildly variable, with good ones like 2017's 'IT' and really bad ones like 'Clowntergeist' (which made 'Killjoy' look like a masterpiece). When featured clowns are scary, they are the stuff of nightmares, a prime example being Tim Curry's Pennywise.

Not so with 'ClownTown'. It is certainly better than 'Clowntergeist' (the recent killer clown film seen, so sadly very fresh in my head, hence the comparison), as lame as its execution was there was nowhere near the same amount of the feeling that it was not trying. 'Clowntergeist' was an inept film all round and looked as if it didn't even try to do anything with its limitations, 'ClownTown' didn't have anywhere near as bad a problem.

The good news is that 'ClownTown' was not too badly shot, some of it is atmospheric and didn't look anywhere as uncomfortable-feeling/looking or haphazard as other low-budget efforts recently seen. An effort was also made in making the clowns menacing.

Sadly the clowns themselves were not very threatening and came over as silly at times. They were not well served with what they were given, with a lame opening, a lot of cheese and a complete lack of suspense and chases and kills that one expects to be disturbed by but were nowhere near brutal or tense enough for that to work. On paper, their action seemed disturbing, in execution it was pretty cheesy and somewhat tame.

For any disappointment that was had with the clowns, they are nothing compared to the rest of the characters and acting. The characters are bland and obnoxious, either or and in a few cases both, with truly dumb illogical decision making that makes them and even the viewer stupid and make one endear to them even less (and you don't even like them in the first place). The acting is a bad mix of over-compensating and disinterested.

Despite the photography not being bad, the rest of the production values were not so good, looking drab and choppy. The obvious and over-bearing sound really annoys and hinders the impact of any scares or suspense when they are telegraphed when being built up that they become predictable.

Script constantly sounds stilted and even cheesier than a large cheeseburger. It tries to include horror film references but they don't come over as affectionate or clever, they are random sometimes and too often are clumsily done and completely lack the impact of what is being referenced. The story is dull, lacking in any kind of atmosphere and due to trying every cliché in the book and having a not particularly original concept is very predictable. The direction is barely competent.

Overall, not appalling but very bad. 2/10 Bethany Cox