The Jester (2023)

The biggest takeaway after viewing The Jester, which recently premiered on Shudder, is that it’s a missed opportunity. This movie has an intriguing villain and poignant themes about grief and abandonment, but the execution fails to live up to the concept’s potential.

It Tries To Grapple with Serious Subjects…

Sometime around Halloween, two estranged half-sisters encounter each other at their father’s funeral. They believe that their dad hanged himself after a failed attempt to reconcile with the older daughter. He was actually killed by the jester, a mysterious supernatural entity.

The elder sister, Emma (Lelia Symington), is understandably bitter because her father abandoned her mother in order to start over with a new wife. He had another daughter, Jocelyn (Delaney White), with his second spouse. Emma resents her younger sibling, who had an affectionate relationship with their father.

Both sisters grieve in their own way. Emma mourns the relationship that she never had, while Jocelyn is bereaved of a relationship that she cherished. Soon both women are targeted by the same evil fiend who killed their father. Can they work together to defeat the monster?

The jester is a mime-like figure who enjoys playing games with his victims. He’s similar to Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) from Terrifier. Kudos to the production designers- the jester has a cool mask and outfit. The orange and black colors, leering face, cane, and top hat make an unsettling combination.

The jester is never given a backstory or motive. No reason is ever offered for why he is targeting this family. It can be fine for a horror villain to not have an explicit motivation, but in this case it feels like lazy writing.

The title villain is played by Michael Sheffield, who also wrote the film. I can’t recall another movie in which the antagonist and writing roles were filled by the same guy. This is undoubtedly due to the film’s ultra-low budget. Sheffield does fine, but he can’t match Thornton’s menace or charisma.

…But ultimately the story Falls Flat

The Jester clearly wants to be taken seriously, and that’s a problem. Why? Because this movie isn’t scary or disturbing. There is zero tension or suspense. Instead, we get clichéd jump scares and unconvincing bargain basement gore. The script doesn’t help, either. The sisters’ conversations are overly melodramatic and their relationship feel too much like a soap opera.

The filmmakers would have been better served by going the intentional comedy route. By introducing heavy themes, they prime us to expect a serious exercise in horror. This movie doesn’t come close to delivering that. It takes more than a fun costume and Halloween decorations to make an effective chiller.

Is It Worth Watching Compared To Other Killer Clown Movies?

In a word, no. Viewers have plenty of options these days. There are creepy clown movies (It, Terrifier), funny clown movies (Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Stitches), and even hilariously awful flicks that you should never, ever watch sober (Killjoy).

Where does that leave The Jester? It’s much better than Killjoy (thankfully!) but it’s not unique enough to carve its own niche in this crowded subgenre. At least it’s not boring. The jester character is onscreen almost all the time, and his wild antics keep the story (such as it is) moving.