DVD Gingerclown

This movie tries to recreate a nostalgic 80s horror look about a trio of teenagers battling monsters in an abandoned amusement park. As a result the movie looks as if it was made in the 1980s using bad animatronic effects. The result is truly awful. Not because the movie looks bad (although it does), but because it has a terrible story and even worse acting by all involved. The protagonists are unknowns who just can't act, although given the material it is not surprising that it is difficult for them. Although it has Tim Curry, Lance Henriksen and Sean Young amongst others doing the voices of the monsters, this adds nothing to the film as their involvement is minimal and the dialogue itself is badly written. The voice actors probably agreed to do this knowing that at least their faces won't be on screen.

The story itself is clichéd beyond all belief. There is the nerd who is in love with a hot girl who is dating a bad tempered jock. All of them stereotypes. The jock forces the nerd to go into an abandoned and supposedly haunted amusement park. The jock's friends who sound Hungarian cheer this dumbness on. The girl pitying the nerd goes in after him, and then the jock does the same. Then they are pursued by weird monsters such as Gingerclown, Wormface etc. The jock gets what he deserves and the other two survive. And that's pretty much it. There is plenty of profanity, and the characters make decisions which make no sense. There is nothing positive to say about this movie. It's badly written, badly acted with bad dialogue and implausible events. Best avoided at all costs.

"Gingerclown" is a film with absolutely no redeeming values whatsoever. It is a terrible film with little, if anything, positive I can say about the production. It lacks originality, is full of terrible acting, has horrible dialog, features incredibly dated special effects and made me wonder who would want to see or make such an awful movie. Is it bad enough that it might one day make one of my Worst Film lists? Read on to find out for yourself.

The film starts off behind the iconic Hollywood sign in the hills of California. So why, then, do some of the kids in this film sport Hungarian accents while others do not? Well, it's because the movie was actually shot in Hungary–and mostly in an amusement park after hours. Yes…and amusement park. I assume that aside from the abandoned roller disco and summer camp in the woods, this is the most likely setting for a slasher film–one that has been used so many times that it's become a cliché.

The gist of the film is this: a nasty jock (again, how original) dares a nerd and a sexy girl to go to the abandoned amusement park after dark. There, all sorts of hellish (and annoying) creatures hunt them. That is THE plot.

So why did I hate this film so much apart from it being not one bit original or fun? Well, the dialog is the biggie here. Rarely have I ever heard such crappy lines being uttered in a film. Sure, the movie was filled with tons of cursing and crude comments–but often this seemed to be a crutch. In other words, as the writer had nothing of value to say, they sprinkled the film with these nasty lines because that was apparently all they had. Here are a few edited examples of the thespian-like dialog in Gingerclown: '…are you a f****** retard or what?!'

'suck my b**** dude'

'what do you want wormface?'

Needless to say, the film has nothing particularly intelligent to say– even for a teen slasher film (and that is saying a lot!). Frankly, I'd be ashamed to write anything this wretched and can't see how any writer would take credit for this sort of bilge.

In addition to the horrible dialog, the characters are truly caricatures. Everyone seems like they were created by a 12 year-old who is trying hard to include all the traditional stereotypes. This, combined with the dialog, brings us characters who are simply annoying and stupid. When you also add that many of the actors cannot act and annunciate the wrong syllables, it makes for a painful viewing experience.

So is this film bad film list-worthy? I don't really know. Most of the films I've put on my previous bad films lists were terrible but unintentionally funny to watch because they were so bad. In the case of "Gingerclown", however, the movie is simply unfunny and a waste of time. The only real value I could see was showing it to young filmmakers and screenwriters to show them an example of what not to do.