Can ‘Camp Blood 666 Part 2: Exorcism of the Clown’ (2023) Show Us Clowns Are Still Scary?
Clowns in horror movies often exploit the uncanny contrast between their good-humored appearance and the malevolent intent they portray. With their features tending to be overboard, colorful costumes, and painted smiles, these happy-go-lucky characters subvert the traditionally cheerful image of clowns, turning them into symbols of terror. Popularized by films like 'It' and 'Poltergeist', these horror clowns use their unsettling demeanor to evoke terror, preying on the primal fear we all feel when the unknown is lurking behind a cheerful facade. The sinister combination of laughter and horror tends to create a memorably chilling cinematic experience that transforms the once-amusing clowns into iconic symbols of the macabre.
‘Camp Blood 666 Part 2: Exorcism of the Clown’ is one of the newest horror films to terrorize some interest here at Macabre Daily. The movie stars David Perry, Julie Anne Prescott (who also wrote the movie), Erica Dyer, Andy Davis, Mel Heflin, Natalie Peri, Tim Hatch, Thomas O’Brien, and Heather Harlow. The synopsis for the movie is as follows:
“Camp Blood is under new ownership as the updated “Camp Blackwood”. Locals hope to bury the infamous clown killer’s past, and release the victims from their torment. But when a waster with ties to the previous grounds take his church group out to make contact with restless spirits, write is all they are doomed to find. The clown killer is back, and this time he has an enemy of equal evil. His former cult followers have turned, as we all as the vengeful witch who will stop at nothing to see these titans of terror collide and destroy anyone in their path.”
First things first with this movie, it is hard to know if it is taking itself seriously, or if it is intentionally parodying itself in the likes of a “Troma Movie”. The reason why that is being mentioned for this review is the fact is there is a lot wrong with this movie (and the several sequels that are a part of this so-called franchise). If it is framing itself to be silly on purpose, then it can come off campy but what it really comes off as is softcore porn meets gore (which let's be honest was only successful in ‘Tales from the Crypt’ episodes).
The writing and storyline are a big issue for this movie. There’s an amazing amount of plot holes, poorly written dialogue, and turns in the story that really don’t make sense. For example, there is a part where two killer clowns are out there and potentially face each other (one being controlled by the witch and the other by a cult member). There isn’t really any build-up or back story as to why these two are out there killing for different reasons, except for a few tossed-away lines or flashbacks that are in the mix.
Another big thing with the story is the odd way that the church group led by Pastor Stuart (portrayed by David Perry) stops into an empty bar (based on the low budget of the movie there couldn’t be extras there) and two of his followers in the group get drunk very early after their arrival. This part of the story leads to some unnecessary nudity throughout the remainder of the movie. Sure, most horror movies have unnecessary nudity from time to time, but the fact there is no part of the plot that really warrants it or sets it up to happen. It is as if the filmmakers decided “Hey team you know that popular horror movies have nudity, let's add some too in hopes people may find a way to enjoy this movie.”.
Besides the previously mentioned issues, the biggest thing with this attempt at a horror movie that just twists the knife inside the audience's brains to make this a terrible cinematic experience is the acting. Again, if this movie is meant to be a crazy parody of horror movies, then hey, you nailed it but not with the grace some horror parodies have done in the past.
The actors in this movie seemed to be randomly found from a Facebook casting post and they were the only ones that showed up. The delivery, posture, and all-around way these actors interact with each other truly is very hard to watch. The acting in this movie (and even the way this movie was shot) feels like it was a homemade movie that some early years horror fans would do after school throughout the weekend. There is no way that the director gave any direction when it came to how to set the scene. It very much felt like the script was given the day of the filming at the locations and they went with the first take.
It takes a lot of guts to peruse acting, to put yourself out there and give it the old “college try”, but there has to be some effort to make it entertaining to those who are going to end up watching it. There is a scene in particular where the head ranger for the campground is searching for one of the killer clowns and is acting as if you asked your fun Uncle Frank to be in your movie really quick. The lines are horribly delivered and then you get a random throat cut that takes him out.
Lastly, the gore in this movie is incredibly bad and poorly executed. There is a mix of some badly done practice effects mixed in with the very basic CGI blood splatters that have been done way too much in the past 20 years. One particular scene is bad is when a survivalist comes across both clowns and gets one of his arms ripped off by each of the clowns, causing a huge CGI blood-splattered effect. Not only was there that you deal with, but the arms each of them is holding are clearly those fake arms you would get at Spirit Halloween with the plastic hand and white fabric arms stuffed with cotton.
Overall, this is a movie that is hard to watch for someone who loves horror movies that are usually coined as being “so bad they are good”. There isn’t anything in this movie (or what is suspected to be in any of this movie’s long list of sequels) that is salvageable or could be something you could want to give another rewatch. A good horror movie has a certain formula to it that revolves around a good story, a good villain (the villains in this movie just have cheap clown masks), and the main characters you want to root for while the streets are running red with the blood of the movie’s victims. This of course didn’t have any of that.
‘Camp Blood 666 Part 2: Exorcism of the Clown’ is available on Tubi to check out. Stay tuned for more horror movies and horror news here at Macabre Daily.
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