Director John Watts made a strong impression with first film (here’s my review) and he’s helming the upcoming Spider-Man, so he’s a director to watch. I “watched” this new one and was moderately impressed. It’s about a man who dons a clown costume for his son’s birthday party, then discovers that it’s turning him into a blood-thirsty monster. The interesting concept becomes even more diabolical when he determines his prey. The entire film has an ominous sense that something horrible is going to happen (the heavy-handed music contributes). Unfortunately, the payoffs are always off camera, which can engender horrible imaginings, but they just don’t deliver. Some of the plot borders on absurd, but there’s a confidence to the filmmaking. Still, it falls short of his earlier promise.
(2.5 / 5)