Movie Review: The Curse of the Clown Motel (2023)
Synopsis: College student Alma returns to Tonopah, Nevada and the world-famous Clown Motel in search of information that will help prove the land rightfully belongs to her Native American tribe, which had the land stolen in a massacre. While there, she ends up in the middle of an attempt at revenge by the remaining natives as they raise a spirit, the Chindi, to hunt down a group of bankers who prevented them from purchasing the motel while it was for sale.
Who's in it? The movie stars Tobin Bell, James Chalke, Jonathan Champ, Juliana Destefano and Randy Couture.
Review: My wife and I were scrolling through movies on Amazon Prime earlier today and came across The Curse of the Clown Motel. It looked interesting, so we flagged it for later and ended up watching it this evening.
It was not a good choice.
The best way to describe this movie is it was something that wasn't even close to what you'd expect from a supernatural horror film that takes place in a motel filled with various clown exhibits. In other words, if you watch this movie expecting the clowns to have any role at all, you'll be seriously disappointed.
In fact, I'm still very confused about what exactly the point of the film was. There was a Native American spirit (Chalke) seeking a violent revenge, but that revenge seemed to have nothing to do with the Native American tribe reclaiming its land, just murdering a bunch of bankers. In fact, if we were to believe the various conversations about the matter, the tribe either seemed perfectly content not owning the land because they were making money or just forgot to have the spirit go after the motel's owner (Bell).
Then there's the movie's main protagonist, Alma (Destefano), who just didn't seem to have a place because, while I think she was supposed to be the good guy, she certainly was being treated like an intruder by her own family. Mostly though, she was just there and had zero impact on the plot until the very end of the film, in a way that honestly made less sense than the rest of the movie.
Oh, and did I mention the clown action was seriously lacking in this movie about a clown motel? There were a couple creepy clowns that moved around a bit but that was the extent of it. I'm not even sure why they are in the movie to begin with since they don't do anything of importance. Were they related to the ritual to revive the Chindi or were they just there to convince people the motel (which is a real location) is haunted on its own? It was a real headscratcher from a movie in a genre that doesn't do very well when you need to think about it too much.
Final Opinion: There are a lot of ways a movie about a supposedly haunted clown-themed motel could go. A story about how the land was stolen from the Native Americans and a supernatural revenge plot that doesn't even include the clowns wasn't the way to go.
My Grade: F
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Here are some reviews of other horror movies with clowns:
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