This horror film has an anthology vibe to it with the connection featuring a very sinister clown very creepy with an excellent performance by Mike Giannelli as the crazy Art the Clown.
On Halloween night, Sarah is babysitting the sibling duo of Timmy and Tia. Timmy is a big horror film fan where Tia likes to dress up like an emo goth. When Timmy receives a mysterious VHS tape in his bag, Sarah instantly has reservations about viewing the tape. When Timmy convinces Sarah to pop the tape in the VCR, it is revealed to be some sort of horror movie featuring a crazed maniacal clown named Art.
The first tale finds Art meeting a young woman at a train station who forces her into a world of Hell to be the next sacrifice. The second story involves a young woman who upon moving into a countryside home, finds herself at odds with an unearthly force. The final story involves a woman who arrives at a gas station and finds herself the target of Art the Clown himself as he has something in store for her. As she watches the stories, Sarah finds herself both shocked and at the time very intrigued by the mysterious tape. However, what if there is more to the tape that she expects?
Perhaps the character of Art the Clown, a maniacal psychopath, is best known as the Terrifier these days. However, a mere three years before David H. Thornton would take on the role of Art in that film, creator Damien Leone cast Mike Giannelli as the notorious clown, who smile alone brings chills down your spine. While the film can be seen as somewhat of an anthology, as it spliced new footage along with two short films from Leone and crew, the film can be said to be a prequel to the more famous Terrifier.
Katie Maguire churns out a very distressing (in a good way) performance in the role of babysitter Sarah, who starts out as the stern caregiver who soon finds herself intrigued and disturbed by the mysterious VHS tape given to one of the kids she is hired to watch. While she watches the first tale of the tape with the two kids, played by Sydney Freihofer and Cole Mathewson, she watches the remaining two solo. To see her reactions in between the tales has that genuine feel to it.
As for the stories themselves, they are taken from two short films, The 9th Circle in 2008 and Terrifier in 2011 (five years before it became a full-length feature film). Giannelli’s connection as Art the Clown is quite very intriguing as well as the second story, an original tale that features Art in a different way. The stories themselves bring quite the scares with The 9th Circle showing Art abducting a woman and forces her to enter a literal Hell to become the next Sacrifice. Kayla Lian churns out a magnetic performance as the new victim of Satan himself, making it clear that Art the Clown is some sort of minion to the King of Hell himself.
The second story is an original tale about a woman whose new home seems to be invaded, resulting in her fighting for her life against an alien force. Catherine Callahan is wonderful to watch as Caroline, the woman who finds herself in constant danger. It is this segment’s final moments that have the connection, giving it a sort of Creepshow-vibe with Art being like the Creeper. As for Terrifier, Marie Maser, like Lian, is great to see as the woman who witnesses Art killing a gas station attendant and finds herself well, “terrified” on a consistent basis by Art himself. It is here where we get a taste of things to come for the future feature length film and if that’s not crazy enough, watch for the big finale of the entire film itself.
All Hallows’ Eve can be seen as an anthology-esque prequel to Terrifier with Mike Giannelli’s take on Art the Clown quite intriguing and very haunting. Horror fans should definitely enjoy this one.
WFG RATING: B+
RLJE Films presents a Ruthless Pictures production. Director: Damien Leone. Producer: Jesse Baget. Writer: Damien Leone. Cinematography: Christopher Cafaro, Christopher Eadicicco, George Steuber, and Marvin Suarez. Editing: Damien Leone.
Cast: Katie Maguire, Mike Giannelli, Sydney Freihofer, Cole Mathewson, Kayla Lian, Marissa Wolf, Minna Taylor, Anna Maliere, Catherine Callahan, Brandon deSpain, Marie Maser, Michael Chmiel.
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