jamie_likeskylie I had wanted to see this move for awhile and finally found an old VHS copy for 50p. It started out as quite a promising cheap thriller with some interesting cameo appearances promised in the main titles (Divine, Tab Hunter, Lainie Kazan, etc -- all from the movie Lust In The Dust). The first two thirds of the movie were good but the last part really spoiled it with a ridiculous ending and a poorly handled twist. That said i'll probably watch it again one of these days. Incidentally, the 1992 cable movie Intimate Stranger starring Deborah Harry totally 'borrows' the beginning to this film, virtually scene for scene/word for word too. If you like this movie, you'll like that one too.

lost-in-limbo A telephone sex service named "Suite Nothings" is being tormented by an insane killer, who knocks off the beautiful woman on the other end of the phone one by one, in many brutal ways. So now, one of the women and their boyfriend who is a prime suspect of these sex-related crimes by the police try to work who is this killer that hides behind a clown's mask with their twisted sense of humour. This leads them too so many unexpected clues and suspicious suspects, which just keep on popping up.Well, this is my second viewing of this film and it hasn't improved on my first one bit, but its mildly amusing despite we've seen it all before. What we got here is a reasonably sub-standard slasher with A LOT of sleaze, sex and added nastiness, with some very twisted humour along the way too. Although some things actually don't work, and you'll be snickering at how ridiculous certain set-ups are and how outrageous the violence is. Even the oh so many coincidences and why would you do that scenarios that crop up doesn't help either. Its main problem was that it took itself FAR to seriously in spots, making it funny in parts that it shouldn't have been. But then again, this is what really keeps you watching this particular film. I'm hoping its trying to be a parody on the sub-genre. Hold on, I almost forgot… a cheesy, but sometimes-erotic soundtrack helps you get into the 80's spirit! The actual plot has so many twists, turns and plenty of red herrings, with certain sub-plots being left up in the air and characters disappearing from on screen. Such as one of b-grades finest Karen Black, one of the film's strong points… her character just vanishes after the halfway point. This is why certain things you pick up don't make too much sense and why at times it tries to be a moving drama, then comedy and a sudden u-turn into horror. Please make your mind up! It just seems there was too much going on at times, which gave it a padded feel. When it finally comes to the outlandish climax the killer's identity is a real let down in my opinion. Overall, the killer was just too goofy and cracked too many lame one-liners.Fine performances from an exceptional b-cast (Cameron Dye, Bud Cort, Tracy Walter, Geoffery Lewis, Starr Andreeff, Paul Bartel, Tab Hunter). There was your occasional flat or eccentric performance and the cross dresser Divine makes a small cameo as a police detective. It's just that most of the characters were unlikeable and the dialogue that came from their mouths was shallow trite. The actual production wasn't too shabby and there were some well setup sequences. But where's was the suspense? Actually, what am I going on about? Oh right, it's a cheesy 80s slasher film.Overall, there's some fun to be had with it providing enough nudity and cheap violence, which you expect from this type of film.

FieCrier Someone calling himself Bobo makes short creepy calls to a "phone fantasy" line. One of the women working there walks home alone through a park, and encounters a man wearing a slightly over-sized clown head mask. She doesn't make the connection to the called named Bobo, for some reason. They play mimed baseball together, and then he kills her with the baseball bat saying "you're out!"A wisecracking killer clown is stalking the women of the phone sex line. How original (sarcasm).Police suspicion falls on Kevin - the boyfriend of one of the phone sex workers. He is also in charge of photographing the other women, and he had worked for the estranged husband of the operator of the phone sex company. There are a number of other suspects for the audience, including ones played by character actors Bud Cort and Geoffrey Lewis (the estranged husband) but he's really the only one the police pursue. There are a lot of other character actors in the movie like a detective played by Tracey Walter, and a gratuitous Tab Hunter cameo.More of the women from the company are killed. There's some gratuitous nudity, though relatively little overall. One scene is a slow-motion photoshoot with a smoke machine and colored lights, set to instrumental music, like a bad 80s music video. Lame. Some of the murders are not particularly graphic, though there are some scenes featuring some blood.There are some rather stupid scenes, like the fact the characters twice enter Bud Cort's office just after he has left, twice bump the lights, and twice the blinking lights are noticed by Cort. At another point, a character has an alibi for a murder (though it is one he'd used before), but inexplicably rushes away blowing the alibi, only to be caught shortly thereafter. You'd expect for a character to have a good motivation to blow an alibi, but this one doesn't.Actor Divine shows up towards the end as a male (!) police detective who'd been mentioned a few times throughout the film. The film itself is dedicated to his memory.The ending of the movie is practically stolen right out of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), though I think it's safe to say at this point there won't be a sequel for Out of the Dark. If anything, a prequel, not a sequel, was hinted at by brief mentions of murders the clown committed while working for the circus prior to the events of this movie.

the_asylum666 I love killer clown movies. I love mysteries. A murder mystery about a killer clown....HELL YEAH! To be honest. I liked this film. I really enjoyed it. The movie had a lot going for it. Some well known faces, a downright scary killer, some great visuals. A good amount of humour and overall a fun time was had.Acting:Cameron Dye: was very good as the protagonists boyfriend, He gave an enjoyable performance and I liked him onscreen.Lynn Danielson: I don't know really. There were moments when her dialogue felt embarrasingly forced and OTT.Karen Black: Black doesn't really need to do much here but what she does is certainly not bad.Tracey Walter: The guy came across hilarious as the smart alec main cop of the film. His sarcasm was a hoot.As for the film being scary or gory the version I saw was certainly not gory apart from one scene but as far as scary goes it depends on how scared of clowns you are. The site of a clown driving slowly after you at night time may freak you out if you suffer from coulrophobiaThe mystery of who was behind the clown mask was good. Though I have read reviews which claim the identity of the killer is very obvious I don't know. If I hadnt had the film spoiled for me before I saw it I am not sure if I would have correctly guessed the culprit. Bobo was cool. He had a creepy deep voice and I LOVED his clown mask! (wish I had one like that) it was just very unnerving. The copy I own is obviously heavily cut because there is only one sex scene. (Very steamy I must add)Be warned! In no way is this film original. In fact it is very cliched and follows some obvious nods to other films (Black Christmas, Halloween.The film does what it is supposed to. Entertains you for the time its on.