Gags the Clown is supposed to be a portrayal of how society obsesses over something so simple; how a man in a clown costume standing motionless captivates the media and the world. While this is an interesting concept, it obviously doesn’t make for a good film, so throw together some found footage and a flimsy lore and you have this: Gags the Clown.

The film is from the POV footage of Wisconsin PD officers Renard and Gruber, teenage friends Sara, Tyler and Chris, news reporter Heather Duprey and cameraman Dale, and Podcaster Charles Wright and producer Wayne; there’s other footage from CCTV and other cops as they stumble across other clown related scenes, but it mostly focuses on these four groups.

Renard and Gruber are called to a parking complex where a woman claims they were attacked by a clown, her boyfriend is missing and their friend…exploded off camera during their escape.

Tyler and Chris think Gags is a great way to prank people, so they go with Sara to a party and scare the host – who is afraid of clowns – but when the party is crashed later by Renard and Gruber, it turns out Renard is Sara’s stepmother and orders her home; instead, she tags along with Tyler and Chris to prank random people.

While viewers are led to believe that Gags is some kind of supernatural being, as he flickers between distorted frames of footage; the film tries to justify this with some lazy backstory. Poor Heather is sick of being on ‘Gags Watch’, chasing baseless leads and interviewing a crackpot store owner – who claims Gags is a clown from 1974, he was a circus clown and a fire apparently killed the whole troop.

Meanwhile, Renard and Gruber are notified of people being admitted to hospital for self mutilation and covered in a strange white powder, and they’ve all disappeared while receiving treatment; the film explains the powder as either the drug ‘Bath Bombs’, or cocaine in some other footage.

During all this, Charles Wright – self proclaimed military vet – rants on his podcast about how stupid the whole Gags obsession is, promising to go find the clown himself if his video gets five hundred shares; later, exceeding the target, Charles streams to his followers choosing his guns of choice and beginning the hunt.

Heather is chewed out by her boss when she misses the opportunity to interview Charles first and is beaten by a rival news team; he throws her off the Gags Watch and orders them to return the van, but Heather decides to stay with it and find Charles to capture him shooting someone. Heather clearly sucks at her job since it takes her while to realise that to find Charles she should follow his social media!

Elsewhere, Chris and Tyler try to prank a local fairground, but Chris wouldn’t be let in while wearing the costume; they decide to enjoy the rides for a while when Chris finds a black balloon – which pops and covers him in powder, making him violently ill. Tyler discovers Charles’ first attempt to confront Gags was a bust, but has followed him to an old factory; Tyler thinks it’s a great opportunity to mess with Charles, but Sara wants to take Chris to the hospital. Chris stays with Tyler and they prepare their prank.

Renard and Gruber report to a break-in, where they find the missing boyfriend from earlier in the evening; he has mutilated his face in a restaurant kitchen and makes his way towards the pair, Gruber shoots him, seemingly killing him, but he gets up, runs out the back and disappears. The pair then catch wind of Gags being at the old factory and head over there.

Heather and Dale are already there, making their way through the dark maze of hallways, following the carnival music leading them to a small circus tent.

Tyler has lost track of Chris, but bumps into someone else, who has mutilated their face, and runs away.

Charles and Wayne are still looking for Gags, when a clown screaming for help runs towards them; Charles shoots, killing them instantly. He then admits that while he was in the military it was as a mechanic and he never saw combat – let alone kill anyone; he blames Wayne for egging him on, but Wayne tells him he recorded the whole thing. They’re startled by Renard and Gruber shouting in the distance and make a run for it.

The cops find the dead clown and Renard confirms it’s Tyler; she begins to panic and splits from Gruber while trying to call Sara, thinking she’s in the building somewhere. Renard falls through a floor and lays, presumably dying, as Sara tells her over the phone that she’s never replace her mother.

Gruber has chased Charles and Wayne into the tent where Heather and Dale are already waiting quietly, too scared to move in case the missing people attack them. Charles tries to tell Gruber that Wayne shot the clown and the scene descends into chaos as the show begins; Wayne shoots Charles, Gruber shoots Wayne, Dale runs leaving Heather alone, and the Gags victims begin to crowd around Gruber.

Outside, a rival news team arrives as Heather escapes. The camera follows her as she bumps into Gags on the grass verge; the camera pans and follows the balloons he releases and then switches back to Heather, who has been gifted a balloon of herself, and Gags no longer there; Heather begins to laugh hysterically and spontaneously explodes.

News reporter, Rebecca Chambers, brushes a piece of Heather from her hair and smiles: ‘Go live’.

2/5: I must have missed the joke here because I find this film neither suspenseful nor comedic. It feels like the writers took two different ideas and mashed them into one film, leaving behind a lazy excuse of a found footage horror film. While the choppy story progressed just fine, the ending was chaotic, rushed and unexplained. Was Gags the clown from 1974? What exactly is that powder in the balloons? Why, and how, did Heather explode?

The only reason it has a two, is because I did find the idea of the film interesting – just not the execution.