Yay, the clown's here!

November 19, 2010 3:48 AM

Two commercial directors make a fake trailer for an 'Eli Roth' film called Clown. The actual Eli Roth finds out about it... and he likes it so much he is now producing an actual film version.
posted by fearfulsymmetry (35 comments total)

Holy fuck, that was terrifying. It took me a second to get the full body-horror transformation freakiness of it, but man, good trailer.

Also, it's an interesting result of the ourobourous nature of Hollywood. Books based on films based on scripts based on Youtube videos based on cocktail napkins.

Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:42 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

I came here to say "can't sleep, clown will eat me", so now I want to tip my hat to Happy Dave. But wait, can't...get...the...hat...off....my...head....
posted by chavenet at 4:44 AM on November 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

Are there no good clowns left?
posted by stargell at 4:49 AM on November 19, 2010

If you put that on Netflix, I would totally watch that.
posted by BeReasonable at 4:56 AM on November 19, 2010

Ah, a heartwarming story about a viral clown on the internet, transforming from the multiple clicks of bored netcizens into a LIVING SHAMBLING HORROR.
Coming this fall on NBC.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 5:01 AM on November 19, 2010

While similar, I was thrown by the translation in the last paragraph of the article in which Que Pena Tu Vida becomes Fuck My Life. I suppose it's not as funny as some translated titles, though.

Clown? I think I would watch that straight-to-DVD release.

The Italian one, called Makeup Sex.
posted by Chichibio at 5:04 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is pretty damned hilarious. And I loved his rationale for going back to horror, after vowing he was done with the genre:

I know I said I was moving away from horror, but old habits die hard. You think you're over certain kinds of music and then you hear a Dead Kennedys song and say, 'Why did I stop listening, I love the Dead Kennedys.'

posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:12 AM on November 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

The dudes who made the trailer are Waverly Films, who also made such gems as Wanna Buy A Ghost, the video for Wolf Like Me, and Pick Up The Phone.
posted by Greg Nog at 5:20 AM on November 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

As a lifelong New Englander, I gotta say: Eli Roth is a douchebag.

But sometimes he can also be a not-completely-horrible douchebag.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:22 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

no fucking way am i watching that.
posted by ChrisHartley at 5:25 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Oh, good. Another one.
posted by JtJ at 5:38 AM on November 19, 2010

I don't know if this is necessarily a good approach to filmmaking, but it's an awfully smart approach to filmmaking.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:43 AM on November 19, 2010

Eli Roth comes from a parallel universe where Ben Stiller got a few extra inches during puberty and subsequently never got beaten up during high school.
posted by griphus at 5:57 AM on November 19, 2010

Are there no good clowns left?

The only good clown is a clown on fire.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:10 AM on November 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

Brilliant trailer. Though Mr. Jelly, the hook-handed clown from Psychoville has pretty much cured me of my clown-fear.
posted by a little headband I put around my throat at 6:17 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

I learned a new word today.
posted by caddis at 6:28 AM on November 19, 2010

This premise seems familiar!
posted by usonian at 7:07 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh cool, finally a live-action adaptation of the "The Clowning" episode of ATHF!
posted by Eideteker at 7:07 AM on November 19, 2010

Oops, mods, please delete the duplicate comment I accidentally posted as my "usonian" sock puppet.
posted by Eideteker at 7:09 AM on November 19, 2010

Just wait until he starts squeezing rainbow Silly String out of his nipples.
posted by adipocere at 7:12 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm just glad they didn't go with an Auguste. Then I'd really be having nightmares.
posted by acheekymonkey at 7:27 AM on November 19, 2010

Just wait until he starts squeezing rainbow Silly String out of his nipples.

Whyyyy would you do this?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 7:55 AM on November 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

I had a friend who was doing theater at NYU Tisch and bravely threw herself into the NYC dating pool. Thing was, she was dating clowns -- not by her own intent. She'd start liking a guy with no idea about his clown side and then she'd discover it by date two or whatever. I guess clowns make bad boyfriends because was determined to put it to a stop, or maybe clowns scared her, I don't know.

Then she met some great guy who happened to be one of those rarities, a really sweet stock trader or somebody that made a zillion bucks. And she was like, I really like this dude and they went out a bunch of times and finally came back to his place to have sex for the first time.

And she was looking at the pictures around his apartment, pics of himself and other things.

And on one wall, what did she see?

THE MAN SHE THOUGHT SHE LOVED IN A CLOWN COSTUME
posted by angrycat at 8:16 AM on November 19, 2010 [10 favorites]

It's no fun to sue before there's any money.

this right there could be the difference between film and music biz
posted by victors at 8:21 AM on November 19, 2010

god, that was terrifying. the nose! he can't even take off the funny nose!
posted by janepanic at 8:22 AM on November 19, 2010

Man that makes me laugh in only the way that really schlock horror can. I'm so watching this.
posted by clarknova at 8:48 AM on November 19, 2010

It would be a derail to again declare Mr. ELI ROTH the hottest Jew in Hollywood, wouldn’t it? Rather more so even than Mr. LIEV SCHREIBER?

Reiterating Mr. ROTH’s status as the epitome of hot Jewboy action would be a derail, would it not?

I’m just looking for clarification from the mods! Or – not with the mods – a session in a hot tub!

MeFites, assist!
posted by joeclark at 9:10 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hey, Marisa, at least I didn't go into the part where he pulls open his baggy clown pants and yanks out big hunks of fluffy pink cotton candy pubic hair.

*quickly juggles three multi-colored balls and lets them drop back into his waistband with a wet sucking sound, then twists some skinny balloons into the shape of a cube as calliope music of sublime banality distantly plays*

We have such fright wigs to show you.
posted by adipocere at 9:16 AM on November 19, 2010

Greg Nog: "The dudes who made the trailer are Waverly Films, who also made such gems as Wanna Buy A Ghost, the video for Wolf Like Me, and Pick Up The Phone."

Hey, Waverly films is awesome! I used to watch all their videos a few years ago. Here are some more:

Hello Frank
I Love My Cat
Christopher Ford Sees a Film
The Werewolf Solution
Long Island Gamers

Lots more on their site.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:10 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Eh, I'm so tired of "horror" movies these days, they all look like the same shitty movie. Everyone trying to outdo each other with new levels of torture and gore.
Let me know when someone can be bothered to make something interesting like The Shining or Don't Look Back.
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:32 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I meant Don't Look Now! Not the Dylan movie.
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:33 AM on November 19, 2010

That's scary? He's got nothin on Shakes.
posted by Relay at 10:37 AM on November 19, 2010

Eli Roth is the real clown here.
posted by stinkycheese at 1:13 PM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Dear Eli Roth, you promised you weren't going to ruin the horror genre anymore by directing*. Please extend that to producing and being a "creative godfather." Stick to acting and looking pretty, for the love of all that is scary.

*Yes, you didn't phrase it like that, but we all knew it was what you meant.
posted by crataegus at 9:16 PM on November 19, 2010

Whoa, it's Waverly Films! Yeah, they're really great - if they're making this, then I might even go and watch it. They're usually pretty comedic, though, but have an impeccable sense of timing, and I trust them to come up with something pretty chilling.

Here are my three favorites:
Snow Monster
Wanna Buy a Ghost?
Master Prankers
posted by suedehead at 9:30 PM on November 21, 2010