Helloween (2025) Review

Killer clowns are a tale as old as time for the horror genre, and over the years they have been used to varying effects. Often, it’s the Stephen King supernatural approach that gets the most traction, but with the likes of the Joker’s 21st century incarnations courtesy of Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix, attention has somewhat pivoted back to humans donning the menacing aesthetic. Phil Claydon’s Helloween takes the interesting approach of using the brief but widespread clown sightings of 2016 as a backdrop to a horror movie that takes inspiration from the likes of Silence of the Lambs and Halloween. It doesn’t necessarily make for a scary movie, but it does have an undeniable visual flair to it and a lead villain whose presence grows on you as the runtime progresses.

The movie opens on Halloween of 1996 in a pleasant enough residential area somewhere in England, where a healthcare assistant is attacked and murdered in her home by a young boy with an axe. Flash forward to 2016 and the boy, Carl Cane (Ronan Summers), has grown into a suitably maniacal villain. You can tell because even though it’s modern-day Britain, he is chained up in a huge, dingy cell with a single, yellow neon light that flickers ominously, and despite being in maximum security prison, he is allowed to wear clown makeup. Of course, even the most dangerous criminals are not kept in such conditions, and other little touches like very American-inspired news reports and verbiage, and the fact that everybody wears their work lanyards even late at night when they’re relaxing at home, indicate that you should detach your brain for this one. Think of it more as taking place in an alternate reality.

Dr. Ellen Marks (Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott) has apparently worked with Cane for years, but failed to get through to him. We see very little to indicate that she is even a doctor, let alone someone specialising in the criminally insane. There have been sightings of people dressed in red-and-white clown makeup, and on Halloween night, the entire country suddenly shuts down and clowns go on the rampage, with Cane leading the brigade. The first act of the movie really wants to be a serious crime thriller, but with all its nonsensical little details and an over-the-top villain who rattles off evil monologues interspersed with psychotic giggling, it never achieves it. What it does manage, however, is to set the tone for a silly yet quite enjoyable movie that feels more akin to a haunted house attraction or video game. The vibe is quite heightened, but most of the performances are nowhere near the standard required to pull it all off, making for a middling horror that ticks most of the boxes but can’t be taken very seriously.

The casting of Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott is one of the movie’s biggest flaws. She is not believable as a doctor, or a psychologist, and between her minimal acting range and certain facial enhancements, her emoting stays firmly in the realm of posing for a passport photo. Even when her nearest and dearest are being attacked, there is barely a flicker of emotion. The fact that the actress’ husband, Jonathan Sothcott, is the producer and casting director probably says it all. Together they head up the production company behind Helloween, and given that writer/director Phil Claydon (whose Lesbian Vampire Killers you might remember from the late ‘00s) has something of a sparse filmography, perhaps this was the compromise he had to accept in order to get his movie made. Such is the industry, I suppose.

On the other hand, Ronan Summers as Cane delivers a performance that seems to get more comfortable as the story progresses. His earlier scenes definitely border on cheesy, with all the hallmarks of a good cinematic lunatic, such as the cooing voice, giggling and sudden screaming, present and accounted for. Once the clowns go on their rampage and he has more to do than just sit in chains taunting people, Summers really settles into the role and makes Cane a much more compelling, and dangerous-feeling, villain. Don’t look here for some thoughtful meditation on the societal causes of child psychopathy or organized criminal groups, but thanks to Cane and some colourful camera work and production design, this low-budget clown horror offers a laidback, experiential watch that you’ll kinda wish you could actually be in the middle of.

Movie Rating:

Helloween trailer