WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
WATCH THE FILM HERE
First, the Recap:
It was a dark and stormy night, and there came a rapping upon the door. Isn’t this sounding a tad familiar? Should this general scenario not be one where those who would choose to answer the knocking might have thought twice about their decision? On such an evening, a girl (Noelle Hanson) quietly sits upon her couch, alone, watching TV when an unexpected knock at her home’s door is heard.
Upon investigating, there is discovered a package, which after opening it, reveals a most disturbing clown puppet with a note indicating its name, written as if by a child. Dismissing it out of hand, the initial results still only cause minimal, if not simply confused, reaction from the girl. Continuing to toss aside this oddly mobile object, it soon becomes more than freakishly apparent she is dealing with no ordinary doll.
Next, my Mind:
One must set aside any notions of true, abject fear when launching into director/co-writer/co-producer/editor Carlos Omar De Leon’s 2 1/2 minute horror short and instead embrace the ultimately tongue-in-cheek ode to both the “Child’s Play” franchise and the myriad of horror film clichés the project intentionally displays when it comes to its lead character’s dreadful decision-making skills in the face of evident creepiness and danger that would put most people to flight or otherwise initiate decisive, unbending, and necessary action to rid themselves of potential doom. Utilizing the always entertaining “clown cam” perspective to follow the pint-sized antagonist on its campaign of fright against its hapless victim, it becomes an object lesson in all the things one does NOT do when dealing with voraciously relentless and obviously evil-intentioned toys! Plus, it is one decidedly ugly puppet seen here as well, begging for quick disposal.
Hanson very much entertainingly and accurately portrays the typical, overtly gullible girl (aka: prey) for said tormentor to pursue with perfectly executed screaming, running around, and senseless choices that stick out to such great degrees in so many a horror effort. It effectively entreats the viewer to berate the character’s naïveté, but again, intentionally so, hence performed wonderfully by Hanson who must have had a blast getting to play a character like this in a more non-serious way. KAL himself, or itself I suppose, likewise does a superb job at being as mentioned above–one nasty looking, diminutive killer with a face alone that should knock most people out. His constant scurrying around when his quarry is choosing poor options is quite hilarious actually, and KAL wastes no time taking full advantage of her mistakes. KAL embodies people’s fear of clowns well, but the execution of the role is simply too silly to take seriously.
In total, “KAL the Clown” is indie horror at its campiest perhaps, but that’s the actual beauty of it when you’re willing to NOT try and make it into a full blown diatribe against how stupid people are in horror movies. Rather, take it for the fun, humorously scary romp that it is and appreciate the fact that more so than mainstream films, indie filmmakers actually know HOW to make fun of the genre and yet still be solid in their presentation in using what they have to work with, adding more heart and sincerity to boot. Oh, always be aware for the pitter-patter of diabolical little feet!
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
