Neither people nor horror films need to be dressed in any particular way to be creepy and elicit particular reactions, but it doesn't hurt. There have been no shortage of movies made about evil clowns, or movies capitalizing on the trend in the past several years of people in clown suits deliberately provoking with bizarre performance art, and the fear of clowns is a very common one. It's fair to ask if titles jumping on the coulrophobia bandwagon aren't taking a cheap and easy road to making a buck or two, but by the same token, none of this means that a title can't be deserving of its own merits. I like the approach that director Adam Krause and co-writer John Pata adopted for 'Gags the Clown': instead of one discrete narrative, the picture presents a scattered portraiture of people around Green Bay stumbling into the titular figure, investigating them, trying to live their lives despite them, or reacting to the phenomenon. A few consistent and slowly converging threads give loose structure to the proceedings, while apparent attacks dot the length throughout. This perhaps isn't the most groundbreaking or essential flick in the world, but it's duly entertaining, and I'd say better than I'd have assumed sights unseen.
While the production values are frankly bare-faced, glaring almost to the point of hurting one's eyes, I appreciate Krause's direction, and Pata's editing, as the picture bounces back and forth between concurrent scenes and various camera perspectives. With these aspects in mind, any variety of visual or special effects employed at one time or another all look great in helping to build the tableau. Specific scenes, moments, and inclusions are decidedly unsettling as the loose story shows there's more to the clownishness than first meets the eye - though the feature as a whole struggles to build any atmosphere as it swings between eerie goings-on and weak attempts at humor, to say nothing of swinging back and forth between disparate threads. For that matter, many characters are plainly unlikable such that we start cheering for Gags at least in part. The cast all perform admirably with the material they're given, though no one especially stands out except perhaps Lauren Ashley Carter; having loved her in anything I've seen her in, I admit it's possible I'm just predisposed to favor her anyway.
The uneven tone and naked production values are somewhat wearing on one's patience, but at large this is pretty well made. There are still other flaws to note, however, and the one that sticks out most to me is that characters as they present are seemingly written with intelligence that comes and goes. This is to say, for example, that even though Gags maintains the same appearance at all times, some characters emphatically seeking or worried about them loses their composure whenever anyone at all wearing a clown suit appears - even when it's an obviously different one. And while the various elements of the climax are done well, there's so much going on at once (including story ideas that are introduced for the first time) that, at what should or perhaps needs to be the film's strongest point, it instead comes across as unfocused. As if to accentuate the point: when the end credits start rolling, following the violence of the climax, and we're treated to a tongue-in-cheek theme song that is the first unequivocal effort to provide comedy just for the fact of the contrast, the sudden leap is aggravating instead of fun.
I think there are good ideas here, but there are also undeniable flaws and shortcomings that act as proportionate counterweight. I don't think 'Gags the Clown' is altogether bad - I did enjoy myself while watching, at least to some extent - but by no means is it anything special, either. The result is a feature that has its ups and downs and ultimately just kind of languishes in the unremarkable middle. It's satisfactorily enjoyable if you come across it, but unless you're a major fan of someone involved or, why not, movies about clowns, then nor is there any one reason to go out of your way for it. It's alright; would that the writing were just tightened a bit more to keep the picture centered.
While the production values are frankly bare-faced, glaring almost to the point of hurting one's eyes, I appreciate Krause's direction, and Pata's editing, as the picture bounces back and forth between concurrent scenes and various camera perspectives. With these aspects in mind, any variety of visual or special effects employed at one time or another all look great in helping to build the tableau. Specific scenes, moments, and inclusions are decidedly unsettling as the loose story shows there's more to the clownishness than first meets the eye - though the feature as a whole struggles to build any atmosphere as it swings between eerie goings-on and weak attempts at humor, to say nothing of swinging back and forth between disparate threads. For that matter, many characters are plainly unlikable such that we start cheering for Gags at least in part. The cast all perform admirably with the material they're given, though no one especially stands out except perhaps Lauren Ashley Carter; having loved her in anything I've seen her in, I admit it's possible I'm just predisposed to favor her anyway.
The uneven tone and naked production values are somewhat wearing on one's patience, but at large this is pretty well made. There are still other flaws to note, however, and the one that sticks out most to me is that characters as they present are seemingly written with intelligence that comes and goes. This is to say, for example, that even though Gags maintains the same appearance at all times, some characters emphatically seeking or worried about them loses their composure whenever anyone at all wearing a clown suit appears - even when it's an obviously different one. And while the various elements of the climax are done well, there's so much going on at once (including story ideas that are introduced for the first time) that, at what should or perhaps needs to be the film's strongest point, it instead comes across as unfocused. As if to accentuate the point: when the end credits start rolling, following the violence of the climax, and we're treated to a tongue-in-cheek theme song that is the first unequivocal effort to provide comedy just for the fact of the contrast, the sudden leap is aggravating instead of fun.
I think there are good ideas here, but there are also undeniable flaws and shortcomings that act as proportionate counterweight. I don't think 'Gags the Clown' is altogether bad - I did enjoy myself while watching, at least to some extent - but by no means is it anything special, either. The result is a feature that has its ups and downs and ultimately just kind of languishes in the unremarkable middle. It's satisfactorily enjoyable if you come across it, but unless you're a major fan of someone involved or, why not, movies about clowns, then nor is there any one reason to go out of your way for it. It's alright; would that the writing were just tightened a bit more to keep the picture centered.