Come the turn of the century, infamous low-budget schlock-meisters Full Moon Pictures were coming into hard times. Their flagship Puppet Master franchise was just about milked dry (they still give the odd squeeze, clearly either oblivious or ignorant to the fact the series peaked with Puppet Master 2), their marketable kids Prehysteria! movies had lost their bite since Jurassic Park fever had died, and cash was tight. I suppose one has to give Charles Band and his gang credit for not just giving up on their low-budget horror films, but if Killjoy was really the best they could come up with…perhaps calling it a day may not seem like such a ghastly idea.

You see, Killjoy is possibly the most appallingly cheap and nasty production I’ve ever seen. Now, I know Full Moon made their name with miniscule-budget horror movies for kids to rent, but while they were low budget, that didn’t prohibit them from trying, they found ways to make passable effects, and they had a certain charm, with you knowing everyone involved put their whole into making the film happen, even if it wasn’t ever going to be nominated at Cannes. Killjoy isn’t like that. It’s just plain cheap. It really wouldn’t surprise me if it was actually made as a college project that somebody sold to Full Moon who released it, hoping the killer-clown on the cover would trigger memories of It! and Killer Klowns From Outer Space in horror fans and prompt a rental.

However, upon conducting some research on it, perhaps Killjoy wasn’t as much of a cynical move as I previously thought. Apparently an exercise on Full Moon’s part to give struggling African American film-makers a break, a glimmer of nobility can be seen in it. With that said, you have to wonder if Full Moon sent anyone to supervise the production…it really is hard to believe they let a film like this fly.

The film follows a young woman named Jada (Vera Yell - Stigmata) who is a good girl, who for some reason dates the local gangsta Lorenzo (William L. Johnson - Spider’s Web), but has also attracted the attention of local geek Michael (Jamal Grimes). This hasn’t escaped the attention of Lorenzo, who, along with his sidekicks T-Bone (Corey Hapton) and Baby Boy (Rani Goulant) beat him up on a regular basis. One night, Michael decides to summon a demon to exact his revenge, using black magic and a clown doll he calls Killjoy. However, before anything happens, Lorenzo and company accidentally kill him while trying to put the frighteners on him. Cue a skip one year into the future…

…where we find Jada now dating all around decent bloke Jamal (Lee Marks - Father’s Day) and Lorenzo screwing someone…possibly Jada’s friend, with characters as flimsy it’s hard to tell, and by this point I was already about through paying attention. Anyway, all of a sudden an ice-cream van driver by a creepy clown arrives and tricks Baby Boy and T-Bone into entering the back door, into Killjoy’s world, where they are killed in some of the lamest fashions this side of a late 1980s Freddy picture, including a killer joint. Eventually Lorenzo falls victim to Killjoy, who then sets his attentions on Jada and her friends, but can they stop him? And what about that mysterious old man who’s cutting around?

In case you haven’t twigged, Killjoy is dreadful. Like really, really, beyond a joke disgraceful. Despite being a horror film, it really doesn’t even seem to be concerned with attempting to be scary, and really comes across as a particularly poor Boys In The Hood rip-off where they just threw in some crappy horror element to get Full Moon’s backing. I think perhaps Killjoy, as played by Angel Vargas, is supposed to resemble the Leprechaun or Freddy Krueger (interestingly, the former paid a visit to the ‘Hood himself) with his wise-cracking ways…but the fact that they aren’t funny neuters this. The characters are cookie-cutter stereotypes and a complete joke, and the film’s only redeeming features are a few unintentional laughs (Michael’s “come alive Killjoy, come alive” ceremony is strangely hilarious, as is T-Bone’s death….actually wait a minute, it could have been Baby Boy’s, I forget which generic thug sidekick is which) and a mercifully short running time.

The acting is unanimously appalling, granted the cast are dealing with 1-dimensional characters, but nobody really seemed to excel above the material, and I highly doubt I’ll ever encounter any of the cast in a major role in a movie above this level of film-making.

None of the film’s other aspects come up favourably either, the physical effects, such as the Killjoy makeup, are fairly well done (if unbearably stupid looking) but this is offset by some truly diabolical CG work (I guess that’s what Full Moon contributed) and the soundtrack is purely forgettable stock nonsense given a hip-hop beat to help enhance that ‘urban’ feel.

There really isn’t much more one can say about a movie as thoroughly dreadful as Killjoy. Avoid it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie with such an apt title in all my days, it truly is impossible to remain joyful, or even moderately happy, while watching it.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD