Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a slasher comedy from 2010. That movie is "Killjoy 3". Which is the final movie that comes from "The Midnight Horror Collection" DVD 3-pack that contains the first 3 "Killjoy" movies.
Now, if you've been my reading my reviews for these particular movies, you may have noticed my wording on them. Because even though this 3-pack does hold the first 3 "Killjoy" films...that doesn't mean that these are the only "Killjoy" films ever made. You see, there are, at least, 6 "Killjoy" movies that Full Moon has made. Aside from the first 3 films, the others that came after them are called "Killjoy Goes To Hell", "Killjoy's Psycho Circus", and "Bunker of Blood 07: Killjoys Carnage Caravan". The latter being a VERY mouthful title, but that's beside the point. And I'll be honest with you when I say this, I have no interest in covering any of the other sequels after this. Because the first two movies were so bad that I have no faith in this third movie being any good, or even watchable for that matter.
But I am gonna try to be a little bit optimistic here. Because since this is the third installment of the "Killjoy" franchise, it might pull off a "Puppet Master 3", in which that movie turned out to be the best film in that entire franchise for me. And also, from I gathered, this movie is gonna introduce more clowns that's going to assist Killjoy in his killing crusade. I don't know if that's gonna help this movie or not, but I'll find out when I eventually watch this thing.
Honestly, guys, I'm just stalling here. I really don't want to watch this movie. However, as I just stated, I am gonna try to, at least, see if this movie will pull off a miracle and actually be interesting. You'll note that I said 'interesting' and not 'good', because I'm ruling out on this movie being any good, what with the first two movies being complete shit and all. But still, I, at least, want it to be interesting. That's all I'm asking for. So, I may as well just quit stalling and finally get around to watching this thing. So the only thing left for me to do at this point, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. I really don't want to, but I'm gonna have to in this case. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Killjoy 3".
16 minutes later
So, our main characters are actually watching "Puppet Master 3" in their living room right now. And I know it's "Puppet Master 3", because that's the movie where Toulon and his puppets get revenge against the Nazis for killing Toulon's wife. All of a sudden, I kinda have an urge to just shut this movie off and go marathon some of the "Puppet Master" movies right now, because this movie has been boring as shit, so far. That's usually a bad sign when a boring movie is making you want to watch a better movie that our characters are currently watching. That's just top notch class right there, Full Moon.
12 minutes later
So, let me see if I understand this. In order for Killjoy to collect souls, the person must look at the mirror that transports them to Killjoy's home world, and they must kill them in their world. But if they die in the real world, then they can't collect our character's souls. So, then why exactly, when one of our characters decided to leave the house to go get help, is there a magic barrier surrounding the exit of the door? Does that mean, then, that our characters are trapped in their home until they either escape or break the mirror that's connected to Killjoy's world? I'm hoping that some of this is gonna get answered. Otherwise, this movie is gonna leave me with a ton of questions that I'm not sure are gonna get answered.
4 minutes later
All right, I have a really stupid question, well two technically, that I'm probably not gonna get any answers to, but I want to ask them anyway. So, we just got confirmation from Zilla that Killjoy might be getting revenge from what happened 10 years ago. So basically, this movie takes place a decade after the events from "Killjoy 2". So, my questions are how exactly does Zilla know all this? Because if he knows that Killjoy was summoned a decade ago, then that means he must've heard it from one of our surviving characters from the second movie. Speaking of which, if he does know all this, then is he related to one of our characters from the second movie or not? Or did the surviving officer from the second movie told him about had happened? I'm REALLY curious about this, guys, and I have a funny feeling that I'm not gonna get any answers for it anytime soon.
19 minutes later
You know, guys, I think now might be a good time to mention this as any. The makeup effects on Killjoy, at first, look decent. But thanks to these close-up shots I'm seeing of him right now make them look...kinda shitty. I think it's because the white makeup around his face looks as if it's faded off overtime during filming. It just doesn't look right to me. I'll get more into that when the film's done, but I just wanted to let you guys know that Killjoy's makeup effects look kinda bad here.
12 minutes later
Well, it took the movie well over an hour, but we finally got a kill in this movie! Two, actually. But still, at LEAST the movie knows that it's a horror movie, so I'm thankful that we, at least, got a couple of kills right now. Hopefully, everyone of our characters die off. Because then, it would actually save this movie a little bit.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Killjoy 3". Let's just shut the movie off...OK. Well, I was very close on my prediction. I was hoping that everyone of our characters would die off, and I was off by one character. Which, I guess it was too good to be true on my part for wishing everyone to fucking die, but hey, it's a horror movie, and you gotta, at least, have ONE character to survive. So, make that of what you will.
Now, let's actually get into the movie itself. Let's talk about "Killjoy 3". I have good news, I have bad news, and I have great news. I'll save the great news for the end and start with the other two pieces of news first. The good news is that this movie is, honestly, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's, without question, the best "Killjoy" film from this entire 3-pack. Especially when you consider how unwatchably bad the first two movies were, this movie feels like it was actually somewhat trying. I could see that the person who wrote and directed this movie, John Lechago, was trying to write a decent horror movie. However, and this is where I'm gonna transition into the bad news, the movie is still fucking terrible. Because, first of all, for a horror movie, we don't actually get to see any killing up until the one hour mark of the film. And by that point, there's only around 15 minutes left of film to go. Which is a horrible thing for a horror movie, because you would usually get a kill here and there before that point. Hell, even the first two "Killjoy" movies were able to, at least, get their kills in long before that point. Here though, it's one hour into the movie until it finally decides to kill off most of our characters. And before that point, the movie is honestly really boring. Because not a whole lot happens here. And the few interesting bits that does happen ultimately leads up to nothing. So, this movie really does nothing interesting up until our characters all enter Killjoy's home world. And it, basically, just results in padding. Now, this movie could've done something before that point, such as developing our characters and giving the viewer a reason as to why we should care about them. Which, surprise surprise, this movie wasn't able to do that. And the reason why I phrase it that way is because the first two "Killjoy" films didn't even bother to develop their characters either. So, I guess it's just par for the course with this series.
Since I'm on the subject of characters, let's actually get into them for a moment. I'm gonna save one particular character for last, that being the Professor, because I have quite a bit to say about him. But first, let's talk about our other characters. Nobody, outside of the Professor, has any real depth or personality to them. And I was waiting for ANY reason as to why we should care about our four main characters. But this movie couldn't do that. The best that I could come up with is that Zilla has an interest in Erica...and that's literally it. Nobody else beyond that is given a reason to care about. I probably would've said Erica, because she's the one who gets trapped inside Killjoy's home world, and she's sorta used as a framing device for our other characters to go in and rescue her. But that gets kneecapped by the fact that her character is fucking shallow and lifeless. We have Rojer, who, at the time, I thought was spelled Roger is actually spelled Rojer with a 'j' for whatever retarded reasoning. He just exists in this movie with no depth or personality to him. And then we had Sandy, who I had to look up her name, because I completely forgot her name since she was that unmemorable in this movie. I don't remember a single thing that she did that warrants caring about her, so she's pretty much on par with our other lifeless characters. So yeah, our main characters suck. What about our clowns? Well, Killjoy is, admittedly, not as annoying as he was in the first 2 movies, but that's not saying a whole lot. Punchy is basically just this obese clown that is also a boxer, hence his name being related to punching and all. Freakshow is our mime, who has this weird baby demon attached to him, and it's actually kinda creepy. Unfortunately, he really doesn't have a whole lot of scenes, so he ends up being kinda wasted in this movie. And then we have Batty Boop. The best way I can summarize Batty Boop is that she is a discount Harley Quinn from DC Comics, but she also has rather...interesting makeup effects, which I'll talk about later on when I get to covering special effects. Aside from that, I can also see this movie was trying to aim for humor, but it's honestly a misfire, because none of it is really funny. At least, to me, it isn't. Because I didn't smile or grin at anything that this movie tried to shovel out for humor. Which is pretty sad, considering that this movie was advertised as a horror comedy, but the comedy just ends up being completely forgettable.
Now I saved this character for last, so let's actually talk about the Professor. So, first of all, you might be wondering why I'm only referring to him as the Professor? Well, that's because he has no actual name in this movie, other than being credited as the "Professor". So, not only do we have our other characters lacking depth, the one lone character, who actually has some level of depth, gets no actual name other than being called by his profession. Because, I guess, giving him a name was just too much of a challenge for Mr. Lechago to come up with. But whatever, I'm not gonna harp on that too much. What I AM going to harp on, though, is his background. So, I'm gonna spoil this, because I sincerely doubt that you'll ever watch the first "Killjoy" movie with how unwatchable it actually is. So, the professor is the father of Michael, the guy who was responsible for resurrecting Killjoy from the first movie. And he's been trying to find a way to get revenge against Killjoy by going into his home world by saying his real name. The latter bit is somewhat of a complicated story that really doesn't make a ton of sense, but that's not really my issue. What IS my issue is his revenge plot. You see, as I mentioned earlier, he wanted to get revenge for his son, Michael, because he fell victim to Killjoy. So...a few things I have to bring up here. First of all, why did Michael's father never show up in the first "Killjoy" movie? Because it took place an entire year after Michael's death, so why didn't he bother to show up to try and help out our characters back then? Furthermore, it wasn't necessarily Killjoy that took Michael's life. It was our three gangsters who were fucking around with him in the woods until one of them accidentally shot Michael to death by accident. Now, you could say that, since Killjoy was the one who ended up killing the gangsters, maybe he couldn't get revenge against them, but against Killjoy, so that way he would be able to settle the score against Michael's killers. But no, the Professor NEVER mentions the gangsters at all during this movie, and I have no idea as to why that is. He never mentions Michael's name up until the final act, so, up until that point, you have no idea who he's getting revenge for, because it kinda just comes out of nowhere when it's eventually revealed.
Speaking of which, there's one more thing I wanted to bring up involving the Professor's revenge plot. And this is gonna, once more, tie into the first movie. Because the Professor stated that he has been doing research on Killjoy, who is apparently an ancient demon that gets called back to the world for different reasons such as power, revenge, and a bunch of stupid bullshit. But did he not realize that Killjoy was, essentially, a doll that Michael created in hopes of helping him getting revenge against the people that were bullying him at the time, and wanting to get a girl that was dating a gangster as well? And furthermore, how the fuck did he not know about Michael's weird obsession with black magic and how it might've been a clue as to how Killjoy was first brought to life? He NEVER brings this up, since he didn't think it was worth telling our main characters about for...reasons I don't know why. He's actually the reason why two of our main characters get killed in this movie, but I'm not gonna say who here. And also, going back to another big issue from the first movie, why did he never mention the Killjoy doll that Michael created? Or how it was sitting in his apartment for an ENTIRE year, meaning that it was untouched and NOBODY bothered to move into that single apartment room to see that the Killjoy doll was sitting around a bunch of candles? Why did he never bother to go Michael's apartment after his death to collect the Killjoy doll? That way, it could've tied in better with his theory about Killjoy and how his son really died. But again, he NEVER did that. All of these issues actually makes the first "Killjoy" that much worse because NONE of this was hinted at, or even brought up throughout this entire movie. And also, I may have to correct myself. Because I stated earlier that Zilla was referring to an event that happened 10 years ago when Killjoy was resurrected in "Killjoy 2: Deliverance From Evil". But after thinking about it, he was probably hinting at what happened in the first movie and not the second. Mind you, this is never clarified, so I could easily be wrong here. But still, my complaints about Zilla possibly being related to someone from the second movie is, most likely, non-existent. And he probably just heard about it from some police report. Still not really explained, mind you, but that's my running theory that I'm going with. But anyway, the issues involving the Professor's revenge plot is so fucking flawed that it's almost on par with the plot holes from the first movie. Which I didn't think was actually even possible, but here we are. And it makes this movie, along with the first one, that much worse, now that I'm thinking about it.
So, to summarize, the writing is just fucking horrible. It may not be as bad as the first two "Killjoy" movies, but with how poorly handled it ties into the first movie, it actually makes this movie that much worse. Now shockingly, as horribly written as this movie was, the acting was actually pretty decent. Almost everybody here turns in a halfway decent showing, save for one minor actor. And it's whoever played our only cop in this movie. He shows up after the opening credits, where he's trying to get a party to tone itself down. And the acting from him was pretty fucking wooden. However, that was the only case of bad acting that I could pick out from this movie. I will also say that Killjoy's actor, Trent Haaga, actually improved on his performance in this movie. Because if you'll recall my review of the second movie, my biggest problem from him was that he was trying to impersonate Mark Hamill's Joker, and it really sucked. Thankfully, he was able to ditch that shitty impersonation and was able to give out a pretty decent showing in this movie that made Killjoy stand out a bit. So, at least, we have that. And overall, this is probably some of the best acting that I was able to find out of a "Killjoy" movie. Which isn't really saying anything, because the first two movies had some of the worst acting I had seen in a long time from them. But still, the acting is definitely an improvement here. So, I gotta give the actors some praise for trying to work with a god-awful script.
Special effects here are pretty good, for the most part. As I stated earlier, most of the killing doesn't happen until a little after the one hour mark in the movie, and the stuff involving blood and gore effects are pretty decent. Digital effects are kinda cheap, but since this is a low budget movie, I'm gonna give some of that a pass. Now, I want to touch upon the makeup effects. I'm gonna get the only bad makeup effect out of the way, and it has to involve Killjoy himself. You see, for the past two movies, I was able to praise the makeup effects on Killjoy, because they kinda made him stand out as a pretty creepy clown killer. And while they're still trying to make him stand out in this movie, the makeup effects, at least when viewed at a certain angle, are kinda shit. What do I mean by this? Well, when you see Killjoy from a wide angle shot, it's not really that noticeable, and the makeup effects are fine. But it's when you view it up close is when you start to see the problems on Killjoy's makeup. Now, when it comes the red makeup around his lips and eyes, it's perfectly fine. But when it comes to the white makeup that's on his face, you can kinda notice that the makeup on it looks like it might've been dried up for too long. Basically, what I'm getting at is that Killjoy's white makeup looks like he might've had it on for too long and looks really faded when you see it up close. Now, I don't know if that was a stylistic choice, or it might not have been applied properly, but it's definitely an issue when you view Killjoy's makeup up-close. But aside from that, the makeup effects on the rest of the clowns look really good. Two honorable mentions go to Freakshow and Batty Boop. Freakshow is very simplistic in design, but it looks REALLY fucking creepy when you first get to see him, and it totally works for his character. And as for Batty Boop, her makeup is incredibly creative. Because her entire body, save for her legs and feet, is completely nude. And I didn't notice that at first, until I actually saw her small nipples popping out, and that's when I finally noticed the makeup covering her nude body. And, like I said, it is really creative on how they were able to apply all of that makeup, and it stands out really well. I just wish she, and the rest of the clowns, save for Killjoy, were used in a better movie, but oh well. The makeup effects are mostly great, save for some questionable effects on Killjoy himself.
Camerawork is here really good. Lighting here is great. Sound-mix is mixed very well. It's certainly an improvement over the second movie, because that second movie had some of the worst sound-mix I had heard in a long time. And thankfully, this third movie was able to fix all that in spades. The soundtrack is, honestly, incredibly forgetful. But, at the very least, it's not the same bullshit hip-hop music that plagued the first two movies, so, at least, we have that. But it's not really that much of an improvement, considering that this movie's score and soundtrack are incredibly forgetful.
So...with all that being said, can I recommend "Killjoy 3"? Hell no! In fact, I can't recommend this entire 3-pack that contains ANY of these awful "Killjoy" movies. If you ever see this 3-pack anywhere, because I know that these movies were not exclusively released as part of "The Midnight Horror Collection", they released them on a multitude of DVD collection packs, avoid it at every cost. This franchise is pure shit. And since I saved it for the end, what is the great news? I NEVER have to watch anymore of the "Killjoy" movies! I know that may not sound like much of great news, but, for me, it is a fucking blessing. Because these 3 movies were garbage, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the other "Killjoy" movies are just as bad as the ones that I watched this entire month. So, fuck this entire franchise, I am done wasting the time on these horrendous movies! But there is one thing that this third movie motivated me to do. Seeing as how it was showing our main characters watching "Puppet Master 3", I'm gonna go marathon a few of the "Puppet Master" movies myself. Probably, like, the first 3 movies, at least. Because I need to watch a better Full Moon series than the one I had to waste on this entire month.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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