by You know, I really don’t think it would be THAT hard to make a good clown based horror film. It basically writes itself; few things are as creepy as a painted face glaring through the darkness. Why then do so many aspiring directors fail at this feat then? It’s hard to say, but in the case Michael A. Simpson’s low budget 1987 horror film, Funland, it’s actually pretty easy to see where things went astray. Funland is a horror film with almost no horror; the only person who bites the dust is by accident, and it takes place almost exclusively during the day in a bright cheerful theme park. That’s a recipe for disaster, and to make things worse the comedic elements fall flat on their face. You’re better off watching just about any other horror film, and today I’m here to tell you why.
Funland centers are the goings-on in the titular theme park. The main character is the hired clown, Bruce Burger, who represents the nationwide chain Pizza Burger advertising their gut busting junk food in the park. The clown is played by a man named Neil Stickney, but the park has been rethinking his employment as he seems to be losing touch with reality. He thinks he’s the real Bruce Burger, and even goes so far as to get his name changed on his paychecks to reflect this. The staff is wary of a meltdown he once had that almost turned violent, but they don’t really seem to notice that he’s losing touch with reality. Things take a turn for the worse when the owner, the only person protecting Neil’s job, dies in an apparent suicide.
Funland is taken over by a bunch of mobsters, or at least, that’s my best guess. The actors all seem to be doing their best impression of characters from the Godfather. Their first plan of action is to save money by making lots of cuts. Neil Stickney is the first on the chopping block as he is replaced by the national version of the beloved clown on opening day of the park. This shatters his already delicate mental state and he only plummets further into insanity when he is disrespected by park attendees. Worse yet he begins imagining that he’s seeing the former park owner, and even goes so far as to have meetings with him and his puppet Peter the Pepperoni as they try to figure out how to save the park from the aforementioned mobsters.
This movie falls flat on its face. Funland isn’t sure if it’s supposed to be a black comedy or a horror film and rather than focus on one angle it fails at both. It does have some slapstick elements but at no point did I laugh or even smile. It’s just not funny, and the same jokes repeat over and over again. The writers apparently wanted to make sure you got it so they kept repeating the same tired banter over and over again. He thinks the Pepperoni is really alive, and he thinks he’s a real clown. Yeah we get it, it’s just not very funny. You even have specific characters devoted entirely to a single joke, and these too fall flat on their faces.
As far as the horror angle goes they weren’t even trying here. The cover, and movie description promises a murderous clown. What we get is a depressed man playing a clown who is losing touch with reality. It’s more sympathetic than it is creepy except maybe for the finale when he and Peter Pepperoni are discussing their plans for the park, but even then it feels very forced and unoriginal. As a matter of fact the clown’s body count strikes in at just one. Yes, one, and it’s by gunshot and purely accidental. That’s hardly befitting a ‘killer clown.’ Funland feels like a schlocky, low budget, and sleazy outing but with none of the advantages of those.
If there’s one thing Funland does right it’s in the theme park employee exposition. It explores this a fair amount following a few characters as they start working at Funland and realize how awful it really is. Unfortunately there’s no payoff and all of the exploration of this theme is quickly forgotten to focus on the clown instead. There was a fair amount of opportunity here and it’s sad that they relegated this aspect of the film to a few slapstick jokes that fall flat on their face. It’s where the majority of the sleaze comes from, and with none of these employees turning into victims it’s a big question mark as to why they even bothered to build backstory for them.
This is a remarkably unfunny and not scary horror comedy. It’s pretty tough to mess up a horror film about a clown; most of the work is already done for you there. The filmmakers wound up blowing it by forgetting they were making a horror film, and including tons of juvenile humor that almost no one besides children is going to find entertaining. The clown simply isn’t scary, his murderous rampage is limited to one incident of manslaughter, and even his talking puppet sidekick fails to propel this one above complete and utter mediocrity. The sleazy theme park angle at first seems like a great idea for a grindhouse film but this is used for a few throwaway gags rather than anything worthwhile. Funland is extremely boring, unfunny, not scary, and has absolutely nothing that’s worth investing an hour and a half into.
Pros
- Sometimes unintentionally funny
- Creepy ending
Cons
- The rest of the film isn't scary
- Very boring story
- Sleazy with no payoff
