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First Look at Gags The Clown
He’s just getting started.
The Line Film Co. and Head Trauma Productions have officially released a batch of stills and a new synopsis for their upcoming horror film Gags, which is based on the hit short from last year whose marketing stunt went viral and kickstarted the evil clown trend of 2016.
“A small city in Wisconsin is terrorized by a mysterious clown who roams the streets late at night with nothing more than a handful of black balloons. The local news stations scramble to break the story on who he is and what he wants while a group high schoolers see the clown’s arrival as an excuse to create a little trouble themselves. The police try to maintain order in a city that has gone clown crazy and a conservative podcast host vows to put a stop to the clown known as Gags while broadcasting his “clown hunt” on social media for the world to see.”
Gags stars Lauren Ashley Carter (Jug Face, Darling), Tracy Perez (The Strain, East Los High), Aaron Christensen (Dead Weight) and Evan Gamble (American Sniper, The Vampire Diaries). It was co-written by Adam Krause and John Pata and directed by Adam Krause.
The film is in the final stages of post-production and nearing a festival run. For more information on Gags, visit the film’s official website at gagsfilm.com or follow along via Facebook (facebook.com/gagstheclown).
The best part about engaging with collaborative genre fiction on the internet is that anyone can get in on the action, with worldwide accessibility often resulting in absurd story beats that wouldn’t be possible if any single person was responsible for the entire narrative. And while Kane Parsons’ Backrooms film is definitely the young filmmaker’s own unique take on the infamous creepypasta, it’s fun to see other creators join the Backrooms sandbox now that the big screen adaptation is getting ready for a record-shattering opening weekend.
As if cleverly timed releases like Puppet Combo’s The Backrooms game weren’t enough (not to mention that Scary Movie poster poking fun at Parsons’ flick), McDonald’s official social media accounts have now released an analog horror video of their own celebrating the liminal terrors of the McRooms – complete with a familiar purple surprise at the end of the footage.
While it’s funny enough to see the world’s most recognizable Fast Food giant engage with internet-borne Found Footage thrills seemingly out of the blue, the video is actually referencing a long-running gag among the Backrooms fandom where creators jokingly talk about there being a fully functional McDonald’s restaurant hidden somewhere in level 0 of the infamous liminal labyrinth.
Now, would it be too much to hope for a moist-carpet-flavored McShake to tie in with the film?
Backrooms is now playing only in theaters from A24.
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