Killjoy 3 (2010) Review – Full Moon Fever

Yell! Magazine’s review of Killjoy 3:

I have a lingering fear of clowns. Not an overt one or anything – I can experience and enjoy the Ringling Bros. Circus, Stephen King’s It, Lon Chaney Sr. in Laugh, Clown, Laugh, and the Insane Clown Posse’s seminal 1997 album The Amazing Jeckel Brothers like any normal, red-blooded American male. Yet the clown as a concept will always creep me out. They are obscured, ghastly caricatures of human frailty symbolized in powder, grease paint, red noses and pouffe wigs. They are tragic because they are funny and vice versa. They’re unpredictable, violent and most of all, horribly unsexy.

Which brings me to clown porn. Is there anything scarier than clown porn? Two clown bodies united as one, thrusting in and out, noses and other body parts honking and slapping, fluid and scarves emerging from mouths and out of orifices. In the deep, dark wilderness of modern pornography, there is surely no erotica more godless or abominable.

Killjoy 3, while not clown porn, certainly has some of the hallmarks of the genre: minimal sets, amateur young actors, and, oh yeah, clown breasts and vagina.

The privates in question belong to Victoria De Mare, an appealing, attractive actress who is clearly aware of her best features and not shy about nudity. To her credit, she spends the majority of Killjoy 3 Full Monty. It’s just too bad that her sex appeal is rendered terrifying thanks to her character’s clown appearance, thus proving that there is nothing more unsexy than clown vagina. Okay, maybe clown penis.

De Mare plays Batty Boop, a succubus clown conjured by the titular demon clown (Trent Haaga). She’s accompanied by a brick shit-house hobo clown, Punchy (Al Burke), and conjoined twin mime, Freakshow (Tai Chan Ngo). The quartet of killer clowns target a professor (Darrow Igus) who cheated them out of a deal. Instead, a group of college students house sitting for him get the brunt of their ridiculous wrath. One by one they’re transported into Killjoy’s own private hell. When the professor finally arrives, he must lead the survivors against Killjoy to destroy him once and for all. Goofy, gory set pieces and clown nudity ensue.

Okay, you’re probably getting tired of me harping on about the adult clown content riddled throughout the film, but I refuse to just get over it. There is nothing, absolutely nothing sexy about a clown. Ever. The closest we’ve ever gotten to the idea is Batman: The Animated Series character Harley Quinn, of whom Batty Boop is clearly modeled after.

The main difference is where Quinn is a cartoon character, Boop is brought to full, live-action life. De Mare’s makeup is impressively detailed and her performance hits the Harley Quinn-esque notes adequately. It’s clear writer/director John Lechago is a fan of comic books, as the entire relationship between Killjoy and Boop is highly reminiscent (if not totally lifted) from that of Joker and Harley Quinn.

This is not a complaint, rather, it is exactly the sort of thing this franchise seemed to need. I admit to having overlooked the original Killjoy and its sequel during my explorations into Charles Band territory. While I was always intrigued, the trailers seemed to be your basic, hood-bound slasher films with a colorful villain and Pumpkinhead-esque revenge plot lines.

The first film especially had none of the hallmarks of your typical Full Moon joint, lacking high production values, decent acting, strong attention to detail, and a sense of world-building mythology producer Band normally strives for.

While I can’t vouch for Killjoy 2, Killjoy 3 stands out from its predecessor as a full-fledged Band outing and in the process explores the world and mythology of the titular character to great effect.

Killjoy himself is cut from a mold, sharing personality traits with Pennywise The Clown, The Joker, and Freddy Krueger. He’s fun, goofy, scary looking, and shit tons of fun to watch. Haaga has long been a penultimate “scream king” in the realm of microbudget horror films and one of the few actors to cut his teeth in the realms of Full Moon and Troma alike. As years have passed he has emerged as an absolute fucking beast of an actor, the type of guy who elevates titles like Bonnie and Clyde Vs. Dracula into thoroughly watchable Friday night fare.

Continue reading the Killjoy 3 review after the jump…