L'arme du clown

In OUT OF THE DARK, a maniac in a clown mask threatens the women working for a "fantasy phone call" service. This is no ordinary pervert, and soon the girls are biting the dust one by one. The cops are baffled, and there are several suspects, some more obvious than others.

This is one of those rather lackluster, late 1980s slasher films that came along after the subgenre had mostly been played out. It's sluggish, sort of goofy, and not all that frightening. The killer is absurd, which would have been alright if this had been more of a comedy. As it stands, it's not very memorable. There's also plenty of soft core cheeeze, if that's to your liking.

It is nice to see Karen Black, Bud Cort, and Geoffrey Lewis, though their talents are wasted here. Paul Bartel produced this movie. If only he'd directed it as one of his comedies and starred in it (watch for his cameo as a be-wigged hotel manager), it might have at least been funnier...