Clowns, prisons, and cleavers are all I ask for in a horror movie. Add in practical effects and a punny title and you’ve got gold. And that’s where Cleaver 3: Maximum Cleavage comes in with its Southern hospitality and bloodied kitchen gear — an indie slasher fest with laughs as potent as its kills.
Locked away in a Maximum security prison, the infamous Killer Clown, Mary Beth Layton aka Lil Miss Cleaver is about to make a prison break that no one will forgot.
Maximum Cleavage, IMDB
We open on a stakeout between the local police and killer clown Mary-Beth Layton (Holly-Anne Dodkins). As she slices and dices through the cops with massive meat cleavers, she is taken down and put behind bars. After “Lil Miss Cleaver” and a group of other killers (all with hilarious nicknames, I might add) hatch a scheme to break out of the prison, they fill the rest of the runtime picking off guards and other prisoners with slapstick clown antics. Light-up noses and giant hammers fill the hidden corners and cause nothing but a raucous bloodbath.
Don’t let the low budget fool you, Maximum Cleavage actually feels bigger than its cost implies. The prison offers many rooms for carnage, the electrified neck and torso gear the crew wears looks solid, and of course, the effects are gross. There is no shortage of blood and we’re even blessed by head squishes, throat slits, and the warden’s transformation into a popcorn clown monster.
Maximum Cleavage is giving Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Clownhouse, and Human Centipede 3 all in one. It’s a sienna/sepia-toned prison break moment filled with crass jokes that are played so seriously, you can’t help but laugh. Plus, the southern accents add a nice hillbilly atmosphere that gives a little pep to the film; Maximum Cleavage isn’t heavy at all, it’s rather fun!
Now, Maximum Cleaver 3: Maximum Cleavage is in no way perfect. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty rough around the edges. But what it lacks in refinement, it makes up for in fun frenzies not to be taken seriously. A popcorn movie in every respect, Maximum Cleavage feels like a video nasty you wouldn’t see in a theater, but one you’d definitely see the frayed cardboard edges of its VHS slipcover in your local movie store.
For more Max Cleavage, visit Mycho Pictures and Asher Chan on Instagram!
