Clowns are so in right now. Bringing Slasher vibes to the circus is Charlie Shaw’s Revenge, the tale of a wronged theme park performer wreaking havoc on a grand opening of the place he was supposed to headline.
A group of workers preparing for the re-opening of a remote adventure park on the brink of bankruptcy, find themselves stalked by a silent killer. Cut off from any form of rescue, the survivors must band together to fight for their lives.
Charlie Shaw’s Revenge, IMDB
Marion (Cerys Knighton) rules over a newly-acquired attraction with an iron fist, rubbing the performers the wrong way. In her attempt to try and revive the bankrupt adventure park, emotions run high, prompting a mutiny. But before anyone can leave, sightings of prior proprietor and clown performer Charlie Shaw lead to disappearances and deaths across the grounds. Not all is what it seems, and no-nonsense Marion may have a couple tricks up her sleeve after all.
Charlie Shaw’s Revenge, being a clown-based Slasher, has some pretty big shoes to fill (pun intended). The movie started off rather humdrum, focusing on rising tensions between Marion and the various circus workers. There isn’t too much by way of explanation, just shitty attitudes. But that all subsides rather quickly when we see clown apparition Charlie Shaw start his killing spree.
There’s no lack of bloodshed as the crew is hunted down, being gutted to all hell. Surrounded by glowing lights and a striped Big Top, the atmosphere read both otherworldly as well as nostalgically frightening — as if a place we hold near to our hearts had suddenly turned violent. While I didn’t particularly care for the dialog and backgrounds behind the carnival crew, the circus aesthetic was shown off with brilliant production, highlighting acts like the Aerialist, moving effortlessly through the air on flowing silks. Charlie Shaw’s Revenge was, in a way, dreamlike, switching back and forth from graphic kills to beautiful performances.
And then there was Charlie Shaw himself. His backstory is revealed toward the end of the film, but I won’t be spoiling that here. What I will say is that actor James Payton managed to turn a pretty clean-cut clown into a nightmare. Charlie Shaw’s Revenge could have gone the route of a serial killer plainly dressed in a mask and wig, but instead, our title character was a demonic, pantomiming menace with true supernatural leanings. Charlie Shaw was closer to Pennywise than John Wayne Gacy or American Horror Story‘s Twisty. Not only was he terrifying, but had a look and feel of his own.
Charlie Shaw’s Revenge was definitely a step in the right direction for carnival creep-outs. A paranormal Slasher culminating in an unexpected resolution was a fantastic change of pace from the ultra-violent, human-based clowns we’ve seen the past few years. Charlie Shaw brought back the magic in more ways than one.
For more on Charlie Shaw’s Revenge, visit the film on web and Instagram. Charlie Shaw’s Revenge is showing in UK cinemas this October, arriving on Amazon Prime Video (US and Canada) the same month.
