Clownhouse is a 1989 American slasher film written and directed by Victor Salva in his feature-length directorial debut.
Just before Halloween, three young brothers alone in a big house are menaced by three escaped mental patients who have murdered some traveling circus clowns and taken their identities.
Tropes:
- Afraid of Clowns: Casey is terribly afraid of clowns, to the point they even haunt his dreams. Randy enjoys teasing him for it, while Geoffrey attempts to be more supportive and tries to help him overcome it when they go to the circus to interact with some Non Ironic Clowns, but it ends badly.
- 2xFore: When Casey and Geoffrey are confronted by a Monster Clown in the attic, Geoffrey hits him repeatedly in the head with a piece of timber, forcing him to back up. As he does so, Casey kneels down at the top of the stairs. The retreating clown trips over him and takes a Staircase Tumble.
- Bald of Evil: The lead escaped psychopath—who assumed the identity of head clown Cheezo—has a shaved head.
- Big Brother Bully: Randy spends the entire movie bullying and threatening his two younger brothers; Geoffrey and Casey.
- Bring My Brown Pants: In his dream at the start of the film, Casey is scared by a clown and wets himself. When he wakes up, he discovers he has Embarrassing Damp Sheets.
- Cat Scare: Jasper goes into the darkened barn to see what is spooking the chickens. As he uses a flashlight to look around, a chicken jumps out; scaring him. A few moments later, he is killed by the Monster Clowns.
- Chekhov's Gun: The axe Randy uses as a prop when telling his ghost story winds up being buried in Cheezo's back by Geoffrey to save Casey.
- Death by Falling Over: Dippo takes a fatal Staircase Tumble after falling victim to Casey and Geoffrey's Kneel, Push, Trip.
- Destination Defenestration: Casey and Geoffrey shove the lunatic Dippo out of the upstairs window of the house to his death.
- Embarrassing Damp Sheets: Casey wets his bed at the beginning, and it is referred to throughout the film by his brothers.
- Extremely Short Timespan: Less than 24 hours. Starts in the morning and ends before dawn the next day.
- Failed a Spot Check: Cheezo enters the living room searching for Casey and walks around the room, but fails to spot him and leaves. Not only was Casey hiding under the table—the one piece of cover in the room—but a later shot shows that the underside of the table is immediately visible from the door, and Casey would have been directly in the line of sight as soon as Cheezo opened the door.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Is set just before Halloween, and Randy has set up a dummy hanging from a noose in the tree in the yard, much to his mother's annoyance.
- In the Back: Geoffrey kills the lunatic Cheezo and saves Casey by burying an axe in Cheezo's back.
- Kneel, Push, Trip: When Casey and Geoffrey are confronted by a Monster Clown in the attic, Geoffrey hits him repeatedly in the head with a piece of timber, forcing him to back up. As he does so, Casey kneels down at the top of the stairs. The retreating clown trips over him and takes a Staircase Tumble.
- Monster Clown: Three young brothers alone in a big house are menaced by three escaped mental patients who have murdered some traveling circus clowns and taken their identities.
- Mugged for Disguise: The three escaped lunatics murder three circus clowns and steal their clown costumes.
- Neck Snap: Lunatic Cheezo's preferred method of killing people. However, this is shown as being much harder to do than it is in most movies and Cheezo has to put serious effort into it.
- No Name Given: The names of the three escaped lunatics are never revealed, and they are only referred to by the names of the clowns whose costumes they stole.
- One-Word Title
- Police Are Useless: As the boys return home from the circus, the mental patients dressed as clowns target their home. Casey and his brothers are locked inside their isolated farmhouse and the power is turned off. Casey attempts to call the police, but the police officer assumes that Casey's fear of clowns caused him to have a realistic nightmare and hangs up.
- Staircase Tumble: When Casey and Geoffrey are confronted by a Monster Clown in the attic, Geoffrey hits him repeatedly in the head with a piece of timber, forces him to back up. As he does so, Casey kneels down at the top of the stairs. The retreating clown trips over him and takes a fall down the stairs.
- Stop Motion Lighting: One of the antagonists is shown passing by one of the protagonists while a lightbulb flickers.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Casey is an adolescent boy whose life is constantly influenced by his intense fear of clowns.
