Killjoy Review

6/10

One the fears that people have is clowns.  I've never understood this, because I've always found them to be quite humorous if anything.  This 2000 movie horror film makes my point even further proven, because it is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It is so cheesy, and low quality, but it is enjoyable as can be. 

This movie starts off in a rough neighborhood where two girls are walking home from school. As they make their way to their house, they run into a boy named Michael, who asks one of them on a date. The girl Jada is taken already, and she turns him down. As they stand there, a car full of a gang beats up this boy, because the leader Lorenzo is the boyfriend of Jada.  After everybody leaves, the film takes us to Michael's room as we see him trying to conjure up a spirit named "Killjoy."  He is then called down from the house by one of the gangsters from before, and they kidnap and murder him.  This whole beginning is very entertaining, and quite intense. 

The film skips forward a year, and we see Jada on a study date with a different boy named Jamal.  He is much nicer than Lorenzo, but she still has some feelings for him. Jamal convinces her of how dangerous this is for her, and they end up making love.  In the other side of the story, we see Lorenzo and his friends all smoking and drinking together.  They then hear a ice cream truck, and go out to buy something. In the truck, they see a clown that is also claiming to be a dealer.  This clown lures them into the truck, and teleports them into his lair. 

This special effects in this film are hilariously pathetic. They look like they were done on a cheap movie app, and they obviously took no effort at all. This isn't exactly terrible though, because it made me laugh more than cringe.  The funniest scene was when Killjoy shoots bullets out of his eyes, and as they hit Lorenzo, little digital dots hit off his body.  The props used were also super fake, and the knives look like they were bought at Dollar Tree. 

This film is one of the first horror flicks I've ever seen with an all African American cast, and it gives a whole different feeling to the genre.  I think this was cool, because it isn't common, and it made a very urban vibe.  The acting was absolutely terrible though. The cast members have no sense of delivery, and they portray little to no emotion at all.  I spent so much time laughing at this, because the way they act seemed like the biggest spoof ever.  The only actor that I could ever see being a different film was Michael L. Johnson(Lorenzo), because he at least did a good job of portraying a gangster. 

Killjoy is not a scary villain whatsoever. He is creepy, but any potential of being frightening is dogged by his constantly hilarious antics. He dances around, says funny things, and does nothing at all to make himself brutal at all. He is basically an evil Barney.  I laughed at almost every part he was on screen, and for that reason I could say he was at most enjoyable. 

The best part of this whole film was the ending, because it really did leave the viewer at a "what the heck" moment. I do give props to this, because it's the best way to end a horror film, and the directors at least figured that out. 

Overall, this film is one of the biggest disasters I have seen.  There is nothing in it that could be called close to quality in any standards.  Regardless of this statement, the film was one of the most fun horror flicks I've ever watched.  Some movies are bad, and are unwatchable, but this one was so bad that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.  For this reason, I will give the film a good grade, because if it hadn't been so funny I would've given it zero stars.  Don't expect a masterpiece in any standard, but watch this film for a laugh that you can't get anywhere else.