"Circus Kane", not to be confused with "Citizen Kane" (joking; of course), is a mundane and derivative piece of slasher/clown-horror, but it nevertheless features a number of effective gross moments and creepy set-pieces, as well as one genuinely nasty clown and an eerie jester. At least that's more than what I saw in many other recently released and lousy horror movies revolving around clowns ("Clowntergeist", "Clown Town", ...).
Like several fellow reviewers righteously pointed out already, the makers of this film have an unhealthy obsession with the style and persona of Rob Zombie. The lead villain Balthasar Kane, as depicted by Tim Abell, even bears a strong physical resemblance to Zombie, especially during his Hellbilly Deluxe period. The plot of "Circus Kane" also feels somewhat like a crossover between "House of 1,000 Corpses" and the more recent "Escape Room" thrillers. A bunch of annoying and disposable persons, horror cinema influencers of some sort in this case, must escape from the titular circus (which is actually a house) in order to win $250.000, but naturally the whole place is one giant death trap with swinging pendulums, barb-wired labyrinths, and axe-wielding clowns.
Everything about "Circus Kane" is predictable, and the characters are hopelessly dumb (they deliberately run into barbwire, for crying out loud!), but admittedly the sequences inside the house are quite atmospheric and the make-up effects are deliciously gory. The flashback sequences and Kane's endless monologues, on the other hand, are extremely boring. All his screen time should have been replaced with extra footage starring the clown, the jester, and the doorman who looks a lot like Angus Scrimm from "Phanstasm". The "twist" - if you can even call it that - at the end is lame, and won't surprise anyone who ever watched a horror movie before.
PS: I just learned, via this website - of course, that the director Christopher Ray is the son of the infamous 80s/90s low-budget trash director Fred Olen Ray. This surely explains why one of the characters wears a "Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers" shirt, and it is further proof of a well-known expression involving a tree and an apple.
Like several fellow reviewers righteously pointed out already, the makers of this film have an unhealthy obsession with the style and persona of Rob Zombie. The lead villain Balthasar Kane, as depicted by Tim Abell, even bears a strong physical resemblance to Zombie, especially during his Hellbilly Deluxe period. The plot of "Circus Kane" also feels somewhat like a crossover between "House of 1,000 Corpses" and the more recent "Escape Room" thrillers. A bunch of annoying and disposable persons, horror cinema influencers of some sort in this case, must escape from the titular circus (which is actually a house) in order to win $250.000, but naturally the whole place is one giant death trap with swinging pendulums, barb-wired labyrinths, and axe-wielding clowns.
Everything about "Circus Kane" is predictable, and the characters are hopelessly dumb (they deliberately run into barbwire, for crying out loud!), but admittedly the sequences inside the house are quite atmospheric and the make-up effects are deliciously gory. The flashback sequences and Kane's endless monologues, on the other hand, are extremely boring. All his screen time should have been replaced with extra footage starring the clown, the jester, and the doorman who looks a lot like Angus Scrimm from "Phanstasm". The "twist" - if you can even call it that - at the end is lame, and won't surprise anyone who ever watched a horror movie before.
PS: I just learned, via this website - of course, that the director Christopher Ray is the son of the infamous 80s/90s low-budget trash director Fred Olen Ray. This surely explains why one of the characters wears a "Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers" shirt, and it is further proof of a well-known expression involving a tree and an apple.