Tag Archives: Helloween

One EVIL AI Knows Our Ultimate Fears, We’re all Doomed! “Jitters” reviewed! (Reel2Reel Films / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

After being suspended for roughing a fellow detective, Collymore returns to the middle of a nightmarish case of people killing themselves within the throes of their worst fears.  Struggling through a terminal health issue and sharing his young daughter in shared custody, Collymore focuses his efforts on the case with evidence pointing directly toward a new immersive video game called Jitters that uses brain scans and artificial intelligence to infiltrate the network of the human brain.  A maniacal clown with a twisted sense of humor and electrifying headgear presents players with a riddle and if they can solve it, players will be free from his delusion-creating hold that’ll eventually send a person gravely mad to death with fear.  Collymore plays the game to try and stop Jitters from spreading across the city, protecting his daughter from being exposed, but he must investigate through a team of infected developers puzzled by their tailored riddle before they meet their fate. 

Clowns are not a new trope to horror – “Killer Klowns from Outer Space,” “Funhouse,” and we can even through in the infamous, now-mostly banned “Clownhouse” – but in the past five years there has been a reemergence of the killer clown, thanks to one Art the Clown of the “Terrified” films who put the funny bone back into the assortment of removed human bones with a bone saw.  “The Jester,” “Clown in a Cornfield,” and “Helloween” use the bright blue, red, white face paint to mask their malevolent Jokesters outside the circus tent and into our safe space to crank up the coulrophobia in “Terrifier’s” wake, and perhaps with a little help from Pennywise in the “IT” remakes.  “Jitters” is the next clownsploitation feature with a sophomore screenplay by George Wilcox (“Homeless Ashes”) and directed by Marc Zammit (“Witch”).  The 2016, United Kingdom film is an Aptitude Films production and crowdfunded by Indiegogo patrons with nearly £13,000.

In the role of a Jitters, the clown face riddler with ostentatious electro-lit up headgear, is Daniel Jordan (“Witch,” “Embryonic”) harnessing his best virtual AI assistant from Hell, infiltrating every software system to organic system with mischievous jester poise with wicked wordplay.  Jordan can be jaunty enough to make the clownish killer be mad with a “Virtuosity” spread of fear through the global cyberspace network but there’s room for terror toying improvement as the fear doesn’t carry over much to the audience.  Opposite Jordan is Fabrizio Santino (“Are We Dead Yet,” “Witch”) as the black sheep detective Collymore hot on his first case back with the investigation of a girl scared to death while playing a computer game.  Santino’s low gruff and breathy tone naturally gives me the leg up on Collymore’s terminal ailment that has the detective coughing up blood in private.  Yet, that illness never has a purpose to the story other than to garner sympathy from ex-wife Julia (Lauren Budd, “Cinderella’s Curse”).  As Jitters rival, or as another play in the Jitters deadly game, Collymore’s determination to beat the AI clown levels the playing field but the detective is hardly challenged by Jitter’s strong and influential manipulating powers others succumb so easily to in their own version of fear-induced hell.  “Jitters” supporting cast rounds out with Boo Miller (“Afraid of the Dark”), Guillaume Rivaud (“Big Bad CGI Monsters”), Jessica Impiazzi (“The Tombs”), Russell Shaw (“The Lockdown Hauntings”), Richard Wisker and introducing Chloe Hews.  There’s also Anto Sharp (“Witch”) who I follow as a comedic content creator and who did a phenomenal job as Collymore’s partner as I did not realize it was content creator Sharp, suggesting good acting to step into a less funny role. 

“Jitters” is not a direct riff on the “Terrifier” series or any other notable previous killer clown movie but adding a clown mascot to a not-so-carnivalesque AI program can seem like a bandwagon move to cash-in on clownsploitation craze that’s currently happening.  However, with the “Brainscan” edge to the story, the clown getup has unnecessary written all over it.  What Jitters does very well is the themes it tackles, such as video game brain rot, an artificial intelligence takeover, and facing one’s fears no matter how overwhelming they can be.  Jitters, the clown, toys with players’ intrinsic fears that can affect so much on a granular level that they don’t even know exactly what they’re afraid of and that gives the narrative more suspense when time ticks away toward an inexplicable runout threshold and the clown brings an end to the game in stylish fashion involving their fear.  There’re some on-screen gory bits but “Jitters,” overall, is tame on the blood and violence that leaves a few moments to the imagination but leaves just enough to sate the primal, gut-level reaction.  While the story adds a layer of hypothetical futuristic technology that doesn’t quite make sense when you think about it but glad to indulge for the sake of movie progression, I found more distracting detective Collymore’s life complexity to be a softball toss up that never challenges his being or puts his back against the wall.  Collymore evokes workplace violence against an unscrupulous, yet lawfully acquitted, officer that goes without receiving himself a severe managerial punishment for socking him in the office other than some unpaid leave, Collymore also has terminal cancer that’s a narrative non-key element that spurs no action and no conflict.  Lastly, ex-wife Julia gives him too little pushback on their former marriage and how he raises their daughter when she’s with him, and there’s an almost near reconnection between them that’s hastened toward dye to the lack of contention in what’s mostly amiable co-parenting.  Julie and their daughter Chloe never face true peril and have become also naïve or ignorant to Collymore’s pursuit of ridden the world of “Jitters” and that seems task is too big to let potential collateral damage be ignored. 

101Films and Reel2Reel’s AI-gone-bad and videogame rot thriller “Jitters” arrives onto Blu-ray home video with an AVC encoded 1080p Hi-Def resolution, BD25.  Presented in a widescreen.  Presented in a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio, “Jitters” has compressed cinematic coveralls that’s noir polished with a darker grading of blues, greens, and browns.  The digital image delineates details more than fine within the Blu-ray codec with no compression issues to note.  Textures and fabrics are tangibly perceived; there’s great detail on Jitter’s electric headgear that has a heavier appearance than it probably is in reality, and this is a testament to the fabricated work of the production and art design crew.  Surprisingly, the 2026 release only has an encoded uncompressed PCM 2.0 Stereo track and not surround sound.  The omnipresent AI infiltrator of hardware and organic hookup gives “Jitters” ample range and breadth of depth but instead of a multi-channel 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, the release is limited to a dual output between the audio of dialogue and everything else.  Usually, stereo formats are adequate, but “Jitters” requires the extra legroom as the boisterous soundtrack does insidiously creep onto the other audio layers, diluting the dialogue strength to an elucidating mumble and barely perceivable.  English subtitles are available for selection.  “Jitters” is a feature only release with only the trailer as a title menu option.  The 101 Films and Reel2Reel Blu-ray is housed in a clear Scanova case with a one-sided sleeve that’s detailed and contrast heavy of the titular villain.  The 94-minute film is region encoded B as it’s a UK release with UK certified 15 for strong horror, gore, violence, suicide, self-harm and language.

Last Rites: “Jitters” pulls off being an AI-inspired horror in another round-about of us set on destroying ourselves with our own creation but the added clown element can’t help but think the killer clown craze has struck again, this time negatively.

The EVIL Clown Takeover is Has Begun! “Helloween” reviewed! (101 FIlms / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Just in Time for the Season. “Helloween” on a 101 Films “Bluray!

October 31, 1996 – A disturbed 10-year-old Carl Cane, donning red and white lashes and slashes clown makeup, slayed his fostered before brutally axing down a healthcare social worker assigned to his case. Twenty years later, Cane has been locked away at Morton Psychiatric Prison for most of his life but still manages to be a high-risk inmate wearing the same clown makeup.  In ward of his care is Dr. Ellen Marks who endorses stringent safety protocols and has a stern bedside care for her dangerously persuasive patient.  Flash forward 20 years later during the 2016 #clownpanic craze, the mass clown sightings provide cover for Cane to mastermind his escape and influence the disenfranchised to wear his lashes and slashes maquillage and rise against all of Britain, Dr. Marks must race home to protect her daughters as they become marked in Cane’s chaos scheme of nationwide epidemic violence.  This year, Halloween is more tricks than treats in a manipulative game of incited rise against authority with a murderous madman at the helm. 

Not to be confused with the German metal band of the same name, the 2025 film “Helloween” is a UK production that’s been compared to “The Purge” meets “The Joker” from writer-director Phil Claydon (“Vampire Killers,” “Within”).  “Helloween’s” story pans briefly from 1996 to primarily set in 2016, the year when clown panic was a national news item where mysteriously scary clowns would show up in random places and projecting a menacing way about them, enough so to cause public concern.  Claydon expands upon the year-specific-craze with a killer clown motif and a coordinated attack on a nation’s infrastructure, creating national havoc while the mastermind of ceremonies stays with his bubble of motive, to completely destroy his psych ward physician in charge of his austere care.  “Helloween” is a production of Shogun Films under the producing eye of Jonathan Sothcott with Lance Patrick co-producing. 

For “Helloween” to be centered around an incitive massive violent force, one that’s purely evil, demented, wicked, etc., that character is required to be bigger than life in a show of calculated malevolence and will be ultimately the driving juggernaut key to the film’s success.  Carl Cane is that described character, an educated mental case hellbent on being a reign of chaos from the very moment his 10-year-old self, fostered and abused through the social childcare system, chops up his foster parents and social worker without blinking an eye of hesitation.  However, the 1996 boy and the 2016 man of Carl Cane showcase two different genus of the same sociopathic species as adult Carl Cane has a knack for the flamboyant flair and is a talkative taskmaster whereas his younger version is about as quiet as a calculating church mouse.  Forever the bridesmaid and never the bride, Ronan Summers finally receives his time to shine and expel his talent to the world as a prominently gaudy villain donning edgy Joker-esque clown face makeup and sporting a dirty inmate jumpsuit.  There’s always the expectations Batman will be coming down from the rooftop or creeping from out of the shadows at any moment!  Summers, who did have a small role in “The Dark Knight” as well as be a supporting actor alongside Richard Brake in “The Dare” and had numerous voice acting roles in notable videogames, such as “Dead Island 2,” “Wolfenstein:  The Old Blood,” and “Cyberpunk 2077,” has tremendous presence with a spine-shattering laugh and creates a dark arura around Cane’s ambivalent supernatural abilities.  Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott, wife of Shogun Films producer Jonathan Sothcott, goes up against the antagonist playing Summers as Dr. Ellen Marks, head of Cane’s psychiatric ward.  The “Peter Rabid” actress finds herself on the precipice of a clown barrage against her family that has its own secrets and troubles teenagers (or adult?) as there is divisive tension between the planned daughter of Leah (Caroline Wilde, “Ghost”) and the unplanned and resentful daughter Alice (Megan Marszal).  Michael Paré (“Streets of Fire”) is perhaps the biggest name, an American name, attached to the project as an investigative reporter unearthing a theorized connection between Cane and the coordinated clownpanic sightings and Paré’s about as straightforward and conventional unimpactful in performance as they come.  The cast rounds out with Shanton Dixon, Samantha Loxley (“Hosts”), and Tamsin Dean (“Everyone is Going to Die”).

Though “Helloween” borrows pieces of “The Purge” and “The Joker,” another generous portion of the inspirational pie is “Halloween.”  Not only does “Halloween” and “Helloween” share similar titling but also certain “Helloween” plot points and framed shots that resemble a clown costumed Micheal Myers expressionlessly exiting his family home after murdering older sister Judith.  Claydon’s nods may dilute the original story some but the mashup manages to curate an interesting tale of a large scale terror on a small time budget by using televised media to indicate Cane’s grandiose scheme from the confines of his impenetrable holding cell and creation tension with good, old-fashioned editing and framed shots for those jump scare and distressing moments.  One thing is for sure that hinders the large-scale scenario but doesn’t obliterate the affect it has in its entirety is the small number of locations used.  Much of the story takes place between two locations:  the Morton Prison and Dr. Ellen Marks’s home.   These two primary locations service most of the story’s core elements and, perhaps, Claydon relied too heavily on news media to spread the clown carnage rather than have it unfold in frame with not only more locations of active aggressive assaults, like we see in “The Purge” series but also hire more extras as clown faced Cane acolytes and have a number of victims suffer at the hands of clownpanic.  Set designs, colorful lighting, stark contrasting features, the rapid pace storytelling, and the performances do pick up the slack and hold onto that collapsing of society sensation in more of a localized manner rather than widespread.  The twist ending pops disjointedly with a welcomed turn of events but isn’t setup with a crucial visual or expositional detail, leaving on the table the one important puzzle piece of the considerable why rather than focusing on the exposed when and how. 

101 Films isn’t clowning around with their new Blu-ray release of “Helloween.”  AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition resolution, and stored on a BD50, “Helloween” has plenty of picture quality positives going for albeit the film’s primary color spectrum, a Spirit Halloween store amount of haze and smoke machines, and plenty of negative area shadows all of which wreak havoc of the encoding of data.  One way to judge video compression is the ability to delineate every object in the feature from inanimate to animate and there’s no questioning in the presentation as all objects have an elucidation effect that doesn’t work the mind harder than it should.  Claydon works depth to create effective highly taut moments while staying in the purge of light and hope atmospherics of omnipresent darkness.  Curiously, the Blu-ray back cover mentions the feature containing an English uncompressed Stereo PCM and a compressed English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with the extras solely being a Stereo PCM.  However, the Dolby audio icon is stamped on both back cover and DVD art.  While there’s no menu option to toggle between either feature track, my play listed the encoded audio as the PCM Stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1 which can be concurred with by the uninhibited punchiness that heightens the scares and the eerie hallmarks of lightning cracks, creaky floors, and other loud bang sounds.  Ronan Summers’s is a proper English speaker with great emphasis on his pronunciations, much like Paré’s classic westerner approach to any situation and role, but there are some UK dialects that skirt the cockney accents and though difficult to cling to, the mix greatly makes clear the intended word or sentence without any issues.  UK English subtitles are optionally available.  Special features include a commentary track with director Phil Claydon, a behind-the-scenes featurette with cast and crew interviews going through their experiences and roles, and the film’s theatrical trailer.  There is also listed deleted scenes but there’s an issue with the encoded playback as when pressed, the option glitches back to the bonus features scene, never moving forward into the deleted scenes.  The clear Amaray case with one-sided art has a less-is-more cover art with a face closeup of Summers in a sinister expressed Cane makeup with a blade silhouette just in front-right of him.  While we’ve seen a few inconsistencies with these release – the audio track conflicts and the deleted scenes bug on the encoding – there’s one more variance with the UK rating.  The case has a UK rating of 15 for Strong Violence, Bloody Images, Threat, and Language; however, the disc is pressed with a UK 18 classification.  “Helloween” clocks in at 93 minutes and is locked with a region B playback. 

Last Rites: The energy from Phil Claydon’s “Helloween” amps up and matches Ronan Summers’s intellectual madman persona with a smoke and mirrors widespread mayhem and reliable jump scares that breed infectious tension for clowns and the disenfranchised in this quaint and modern day clownsploitation.

Just in Time for the Season. “Helloween” on a 101 Films “Bluray!