Gags the Clown Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.5

Gags the Clown Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 21, 2020

Green Bay, Wisconsin is arguably best known for hosting the Packers, an on and off again dominating force in the National Football League, and kind of interestingly the only pro sports team in the United States which operates as a publicly owned non profit. Green Bay also made the news a few years ago when some photos of a creepy looking clown wandering around the town in the dead of night carrying a bunch of black balloons went viral, and as one of the commentaries on this disc kind of excitedly mention, none other than Fox News picked up the story for national coverage, which may indicate as well as anything what some media outlets consider to be “news” (fake or otherwise). It turns out the photos were part of an “underground” marketing campaign for a short film called Gags (which is also included on this disc as a supplement), and as marketing ploys go, it was evidently successful enough to launch this feature length tale about, well, a creepy looking clown wandering around the town in the dead of night carrying a bunch of black balloons. Now co-writer and director Adam Krause is also on the record as having stated his idea (both the marketing ploy and the films which relied on it) was sparked by actual news accounts of creepy clowns wandering around various towns in the dead of night, but whether or not those reports were so-called “fake news” or not is anyone’s guess.

Unfortunately, there’s not much more to this film than the fact that there’s a kind of spectral evil presence named Gags (Eric Heuvelman) who seems adept at killing people despite standing completely still and never uttering a word. The film is structured largely as a “found footage” outing, comprised of, for example, minicam sequences captured by partygoers and/or some pranksters, or frequent attempts at news coverage moderated by a pushy reporter named Heather Duprey (Lauren Ashley Carter). There are other moments that feature two cops (with footage culled from the on board camera in their cruiser) and, in what is arguably the most “traditional” footage, a far right podcaster who is convinced Gags is a sign of the apocalypse (or something like that).

The film ping pongs between these groups of people, but that in and of itself means that character “development” is pretty spotty and as such, there’s really a kind of “meh” reaction a lot of the time when various mayhem occurs. In fact almost all of the characters are kind of despicable in their own ways (the police come off as at least relatively decent), and so one might think some viewers at least will be rooting for deaths of various folks, but there’s a curiously distant feeling to the proceedings here, despite the prevalent trappings of “up close and personal” found footage clichés.

Gags the Clown does attempt to inject a bit of cheekily dark humor into things, and it’s in this element that the film probably finds its surest footing. But even here, gags (sorry) are hit and miss, with perhaps only the final fleeting joke (involving a second newscaster) really hitting the comedic (and social critique) bullseye (some may feel it's the filmmakers' pointed response to getting national coverage for what amounted to a marketing prank, and what that means for what "sells" vis a vis news broadcasts). Gags the Clown indulges in a number of stylistic conceits, including having the “video” encounter frequent problems, often at the climaxes of various scenes, which may have at least kept the special effects budget curtailed (since no real sustained CGI wonderment is ever utilized), but which again tends to create a certain distance between the events being depicted and the audience.

Gags the Clown Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gags the Clown is presented on Blu-ray by a consortium which includes Music Box Films, Bloody Disgusting and Doppelganger Releasing with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As can tend to be the case with some of these so-called found footage films, assessing the image quality by "normal" parameters can be a bit of a minefield, since things are so obviously intentionally tweaked, distressed and highly variable. A cursory glance at the variety of screenshots I've uploaded to this review will give as good an indication as any description of mine as to what's in store, but I will point out a couple of kind of weird anomalies, only because they don't pop up every time that similar shots are utilized. Take a look at screenshots 15 and 17 in particular, and notice the macroblocking and pixellation on display, which are at pretty epic levels. What's interesting is the film returns to much the same shots at other times which I have to assume were done at the same time with the same camera, and these issues are either nowhere present or not as "dramatic". There are a number of other, one assumes more intentional, "flaws" in the image, including quasi-tracking problems, complete break up of the image at times, and what almost look like refracted or broken lenses being utilized, which can give a "double edge" to the sides of objects.

Gags the Clown Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Gags the Clown features nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. A lot of the film's found footage elements tend to feature only one or two characters in frame at a time, often speaking directly to the camera, and as such surround activity can be kind of fleeting. Some of the outdoor material does have more spaciousness to afford, and dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation.

Gags the Clown Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Feature Commentary by Director Adam Krause and Producer John Pata


• Everybody Loves a Clown: The Making of Gags (1080p; 18:34) has a bunch of cast interviews and some behind the scenes footage.


• From the Green Bay Premiere (1080p; 3:19)


• Gags The Original Short Film (1080p; 16:20) is actually quite a different property than the feature film, at least in terms of some of the characters it features, though it has the same basic premise and found footage ambience.
  
  The short comes with the following optional commentaries:

  Commentary 1: The Origin of Gags features Adam Krause and Eric Heuvelman.

  
  

  Commentary 2: The Production features Adam Krause and Eric Heuvelman.

• Gags: Terror Surrounds You (1080p; 9:27) is described as a "VR short" on the back cover.


• Storyboard Comparison for the Final Scene (1080p; 1:52) offers a side by side look in what was my personal favorite gag (yep) in the film.


• VFX Comparison Scene (1080p; 2:14) proves that there is at least a little "CGI wonderment" (as I termed it above) in the film.


• Ride Along Improv (1080p; 4:38) offers some banter between Lauren Ashley Carter and Wyatt Keuther.


• Mannequin Challenge (1080i; 1:01) is a weird little piece with people (supposedly) holding very still in a stairway, with a bit of a "twist" at the end.


• Ring Doorbell Cam Video (1080p; 1:19) is guess is more "found footage" of Gags.


• Gag(s) Reel (1080p; 3:52)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:28)

Gags the Clown Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I think if Gags the Clown had emphasized the, well, gags it occasionally reaches for, things might have had a more cohesive feeling. There's some fleeting entertainment value here, but this often comes off as a well intentioned but only intermittently amusing student film. Technical merits are generally fine with an understanding that the "found footage" has been artificially tweaked at times, and encounters some other perhaps unintentional issues at other times. The disc does come loaded with some appealing supplements, for those who are considering a purchase.