Killjoy 3 (2010) Review – Full Moon Fever

As Killjoy, he’s the glue that binds the film, especially when sharing screen time with De Mare’s Boop. The two have the type of offbeat, psychopathic relationship common to Joker/Quinn or Chucky/Tiffany, giving the couple a strong hook that elevates them above your typical direct-to-video slasher mascots.

Punchy and Freakshow, however, don’t fare quite as well, but serve their respective purposes adequately.

Al Burke plays Punchy as a sort of mentally handicapped clown, constantly mumbling phrases like “Kittens!” or “Bunnies!” when responding to any given question. He has a fun boxing set piece that will feel familiar to fans of Killer Klowns From Outer Space, but is sort of wasted thereafter.

Freakshow isn’t given a lot to do. He’s a mime, but he doesn’t really do a lot of mime stuff. Mostly he just flashes his conjoined twin – clearly a baby dolly grafted with prosthesis to his hip – until the film’s end, where he gets a nice body horror gag in with that baby doll thing.

Though the villain characters don’t all get the same screen treatment, they do enrich the film as a rogue’s gallery reminiscent of the cenobites in Hellraiser. Yes, Pinhead is the whole fuckin’ show in those films (from Hell On Earth on, anyway) but supporting cenobites leave an impression even with the most minimal actions. Killjoy 3 director Lechago understands this and makes smart use of them and the idea of Killjoy’s minions as a whole.

Not only that, but the teen characters themselves are fairly likeable, albeit underdeveloped. While the cast does what they can with the characters, their dialogue is easily the worst part of the movie, riddled with clunky exposition.

Subplots between the teens introduced in the first act are also dropped for seemingly no apparent reason, particularly a hokey, if sweet-natured romance between the character Zilla (Spiral Jackson, who has the greatest Band-related stage name since Tim Thomerson) and Erica (Olivia Dawn Yorke). Why the screenplay didn’t follow through with this I’ll never know, as it would have given the film a nice romantic foil for Killjoy and Boop.

I may be reading way too much into character arcs for a film like Killjoy 3, but these kind of details are what separate the Full Moon weak from the Full Moon elite.

Rest assured, however, Killjoy 3 is pretty darn close to Full Moon elite despite the thinness. Production values are squeezed to their limits and the film is one of the best looking films the studio recently released. There are the usual hallmarks of Full Moon’s most frequent filmmaking foibles, particularly bad CGI and overuse of media generated for use in past films. But these flaws are minimized by a serviceable script, strong direction, a gonzo lead performance, and way, way too much clown vagina.

Seriously guys, you gotta lock that camera down above the waist for Killjoy 4, or at least give the young lady some pants. My God.

Killjoy 3

Killjoy 3 is available for order on Full Moon Direct. For a paltry $10, it easily qualifies as one of the best killer clown purchases you will ever make. Then again, if you really want to impress the ladies, you’ll throw down for the trilogy boxset for a cool $30, it let’s them no you’re a high-rolling player. Just like Killjoy.