‘You are a sickness…’
Horror movies have never been as popular as they are right now. In a world where cinema is struggling massively in terms of box office, films such as M3GAN, Scream VI and Evil Dead Rise have made bank whilst also attracting favourable reviews. However, not all of horror is in the midst of a creative renaissance. It is still a genre in which a bona fide hit will often be followed by a slew of pale imitations. Well, the Terrifier franchise has been another box-office success story in recent years. Those movies introduced audiences to Art the Clown – a sadistic and nihilistic boogeyman who kills with extreme malice and violence. The Jester takes this character, robs it of all menace and ingenuity and repackages it as part of an intergenerational family drama based around trauma. And yes, it’s as bad as that description makes it sound…
We begin with a man (played by Matt Servitto) being murdered in the street by a supernatural being wearing a grotesque jester mask. This is probably the best scene in the movie. Later, we meet the man’s two daughters – Emma (Lelia Symington) and Jocelyn (Delaney White) – and we are forced to watch while they attempt to reconnect by having long, tedious conversations with each other.
And this is the main problem with The Jester. It’s boring and it’s no fun. The acting is competent. The antagonist is well rendered (if derivative). The issue is that there is nothing memorable here. Nothing for the viewer to hang their hat on. I mean, it’s not as if the Terrifer films are beyond reproach, but compared to this they are a different beast entirely.
The Jester is a throwback to the slasher era of formulaic clones in place of real cinema. This is the Prom Night to Terrifier’s Halloween. A pale imitation of a much better movie.