By Kyle Laugh
Headline: "The clown craze may still be going strong, but this is one circus you may not want to mess with."
Directors:
Sean Haitz, Chris Potter (co-director)
Writers:
Stars:
Taryn K. Bechard, Brooke Bolte, Patti Bretzman w/ an appearance by Bill Moseley
Five disparate youths, lost on a road trip to the location of the infamous 'mangrove slasher,' end up being pursued by a cadre of cannibal clowns.
As we are all well aware of, clowns have been big business these last few years. From the IT films through Terrifier and beyond, the embodiment of a killer sporting the look of a loveable, laughable, family-pleasing jester, has seemingly taken over all aspects of the horror genre in one way or another.
But what happens if you take this film aspect, multiply it many times over and give them a taste for human flesh? Well, my friends, you get yourself a film called Big Top Evil.
Under the laws of full disclosure, I must admit that the entire "clown" sub-genre had worn out it's welcome with me about a year or so ago. However, I admittedly do not give up so easily thanks to the mere fact that you never know when you'll find something you can really sink your teeth into which could essentially reinvigorate my thirst for creepy clown films.
Unfortunately, this film did not hit that mark for me.
While there are a few redeeming factors to the film including the excellent use of practical effects (up until a specific action scene that is), a fun cameo appearance by genre legend Bill Moseley where he gets to use a wide array of insulting verbiage towards a couple of his lesser circus counterparts, some cool action scenes featuring real sideshow performers and the acting of one Jisaura Cardinale who is easily able to outdo and outshine every single one of her co-stars.
From start to finish, Cardinale is easily the shining light in what some would consider, a disaster of a film.
From the start, I noticed that the dialogue was very poorly pieced together. This specific issue was seemingly corrected as the movie advanced which is a plus but these issues mixed in with the unfortunate acting provided by most of the main cast was almost too much to come back from which will likely leave the notorious "one star IMDB complainers" to state they had to shut the film off within fifteen minutes of viewing it as they "couldn't bear to watch for another moment".
The worst of it all, in my opinion, had come from the character of Donny. He was way too over the top, behaving way too goofy and silly, taking me right out of the film.
I don't like to spoil movies at all (spoilers), but his early death made things much more tolerable for the remainder of my viewing experience.
Otherwise, quick cuts, short moments filled with the use of the old shaky cam trick and small filming inconsistencies are scattered throughout various places which may or may not affect your experience. But this likely depends on how nitpicky you are.
Finally, the last thing I must mention is the story itself. It has the makings of a solid story but crashes and burns in the end with no real explanation for how our "hero" made his way to safety, at least not the first time around. This is something that really bothered me as a writer due to the fact that it's a cheap way out that doesn't allow for any explanation. This leads me to wonder if they started running low on funds and had to find a quick way to end the story or if the writers were unable to plot out a clever way of piecing together a solid ending.
This also leads me to a confusing problem as it looked like some scenes were added in to expand the runtime due to the fact that they seemed out of place as compared to the actual storyline. Maybe they were placed in there as an artistic or stylistic choice by the directors.
No matter what the issue is or was, they were able to get their idea created and made into a film and they deserve credit for being able to do that!
Even if this film isn't for you. I can see it easily inspiring yourself into getting your own project off the ground. If they could do this and you think you could do better, then get out there and do your thing!
Big Top Evil (2019) Is available for rent on Amazon HERE!
3 out of 10
Trailer:
Have you listened to our HORROR Podcast? This week on Beyond The Void Horror Podcast. We got in the Halloween spirit with The Amittyville Horror Trilogy. Rebecca Rinehart joins to talk about The Amittyville Horror (1979), Amittyville 2 The Possession (1982) & Amittyville 3-D (1983). It was a fun episode! Check it out! Listen on iTunes Here or on Spotify here!