In 1997, young Elizabeth (Hazelyn Morrison) watches her mother Samantha (Amanda Jordan) answer the door of their home around Halloween…only to be shot in the back by a clown with a gun. This is how the first three minutes of Lifetime’s Killer Clown play out before the action jumps ahead thirty years.
The rest of the film, written by Katie Boland and directed by Annie Bradley, follows adult Elizabeth (now played by Sara Paxton) on the anniversary of her mother’s death. Liz is in a stable relationship with lawyer Dan (Hamza Haq), manages her own book store/consignment shop/bar (the details are confusing), and is expecting her first child. But when she encounters an old clown at the annual fair and is subsequently accosted by Maddie (Hannah Forest Briand), a belligerent true crime podcaster, on her front lawn, Liz almost immediately miscarries.
In the aftermath of the dual traumas, Liz embarks on an investigation to uncover the details of her mother’s unsolved murder. In the process, she digs up new information that makes her question the nature of her father Reed’s (David Cubitt) relationship with stepmother Ana (Mary Krohnert), butts heads with unhelpful Sheriff Vernon (James Burke), and reaches out to her schizophrenic aunt Helen (Fiona Highet), whom she’s never met.
Killer Clown could have easily been called Who’s Gaslighting Liz? because it’s evident early on that people have been lying to Liz her whole life. She’s repeatedly made to question her own sanity, and even Dan – whose support initially seems unwavering – at one point asks her to give up her search in order to protect their relationship.
Part of his concern is that Liz has begun seeing the same clown that attacked her mother when she was five. It lures her out of her house with a bouquet of balloons that explode fake blood on her face; it stalks Liz in the parking garage of her doctor’s office; and it even attacks Aunt Helen in her house. Tellingly, though, the clown never appears when other people, especially men, are around, which makes Liz (and, by extension, the audience) question whether her mind is playing tricks on her.
It’s telling how often the men in Liz’s life question whether the trauma of the miscarriage and the anniversary are playing with her mind. At one point, Liz’s father even suggests that there’s a history of mental illness on the female side of the family. This is well worn territory for female-led thrillers and horror films, and for good reason: women continue to be disbelieved and told they’re hysterical when they try to speak out. It’s a trope of the genre not only because it makes for good conflict, but because the problem persists in real life.
One of the more enjoyable aspects of the film, though, is how often Liz pushes back against the gaslighting. When asked how she is, Liz frequently exclaims a variation of “not great!” and even when Dan, Reed, or Ana suggests she take it easy, Liz refuses to let her investigation go. As heroines go, Paxton mostly plays Liz as somewhat passive, but her doggedness is endearing, particularly in the back half of the film when it’s clear that folks aren’t being entirely truthful with her.
Of course, the other interesting element about Killer Clown is its connection to true crime. WARNING: Spoilers Ahead! The film is based loosely on reality, with ties to the murder of Marlene Warren in May 1996.
According to People.com: “Warren opened the door of her home…to what appeared to be a delivery person dressed as a clown with balloons and a basket of flowers. Moments later, the assailant shot Marlene in the mouth and calmly walked to the LeBaron parked in the driveway and drove off.
“For years, authorities suspected Sheila Keen, then 26, who was having an affair with Marlene’s husband, Michael Warren, but said they didn’t have enough evidence at the time to convict her.”
Sheila would eventually marry Michael, but 27 years later, DNA evidence implicated her in Marlene’s murder, and she was sent to jail (she has since been released).
It’s worth noting that in real life, Marlene’s son Joseph was home and witnessed his mother’s death, just like Liz does in Killer Clown. And while the killer’s identity in the film doesn’t map onto the real-life details of the case 1-for-1, the motivation and details behind the crime aren’t too far off. It’s an intriguing adaptation choice for a film that otherwise takes a lot of liberties.
Considering its title, Killer Clown isn’t as campy or salacious as Lifetime audiences may have hoped for. The reality is that the film is more rooted in Liz’s trauma and her inability to move past the thirty-year grief that has defined her life. As a drama with elevated stakes, it’s solid, and Paxton’s understated performance helps to ground the narrative with a real sense of emotion.
As for horror beats: there are a few unsettling clown-related moments, and Bradley makes good use of the fair-set scenes, including a climax that heavily features both a hedge maze and a purple-lit funhouse full of mirrors.
Killer Clown premiered on Lifetime on August 1.
