The Clown at Midnight

Last updated
The Clown at Midnight
Directed byJean Pellerin
Written byKenneth J. Hall
Produced byGary Howsam
Gilles Paquin
Starring Sarah Lassez
James Duval
Tatyana Ali
Margot Kidder
Christopher Plummer
Narrated by David Kirschner
Corey Sienega
CinematographyBarry Gravelle
Edited byRobert Lower
Music byGlenn Buhr
Production
companies
Fries Film Group
Hallmark Entertainment
Distributed byGFT Paquin Entertainment
Release date
February 9, 1999
Running time
91 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12,000,000

The Clown at Midnight is a 1999 Canadian slasher film directed by Jean Pellerin and starring Sarah Lassez, James Duval, Tatyana Ali, Christopher Plummer and Margot Kidder.

Contents

Plot

Years ago, opera singer Lorraine Sedgewick (Vicki Marentette) was killed in her dressing room at an opera house, supposedly by Lorenzo Orsini (Jonathan Barrett), one of the lead actors in a performance of Pagliacci . When Orsini was thought to have fled to Europe afterwards, the opera house closed down.

Years later, high school student Kate (Sarah Lassez) is plagued with nightmares after discovering she is Lorraine's daughter. Kate's best friend Monica (Tatyana Ali) convinces Kate to help restore the opera house, and when they arrive they meet the rest of the group including nerdy Cheryl "Walnut" Webber (Melissa Galianos), flamboyant Marty (J. P. Grimard), rebel George (James Duval), vindictive Ashley (Liz Crawford) and her jock boyfriend Taylor (Ryan Bittle). The group are lectured by their teacher Ms. Gibby (Margot Kidder), but a stage light falls and nearly hits her, drawing the attention of the owner of the opera house Mr. Caruthers (Christopher Plummer). The group deduces it was an accident; however, Mr. Caruthers insists the opera house is haunted by Lorraine, upsetting Kate who is comforted by Ms. Gibby. Soon after, Ms. Gibby leaves, allowing the teenagers to lock up, who instead engage in pizza and beers, before investigating Lorraine's murder scene. They find a patch of fresh blood, that causes Kate to have a vivid vision of her mother's death. While everyone else leaves, Monica consoles Kate, before the pair discover Lorenzo is Kate's father.

Ms. Gibby arrives the following morning, but is swiftly murdered with an axe by the killer, who is dressed like the clown that killed Lorraine. When the group arrive they begin cleaning, despite Ms. Gibby's absence. Ashley and Taylor sneak off to have sex, however Taylor ditches Ashley when they get into an argument, before the killer attacks Ashley and strangles her to death. Hearing the attack, Monica begins to investigate, only to find the clown who chases her until she reaches the rest of the group, where it is revealed that George dressed up as the clown to scare her. The group decide to try to locate the missing Ashley and Ms. Gibby, but while in the basement Monica is attacked by the clown who chases her and finally stabs her with a spear. Meanwhile, Kate attempts to phone the school but the phone is cut dead before she discovers they have become locked in the opera house. The group begin to panic and soon after find Ashley hung on the stage. Marty falls through a stage door, and Kate and George rush to save him, however he is electrocuted to death. Meanwhile, Taylor and Cheryl reach the roof to escape, but the clown grabs Taylor and throws him off the roof, killing him while Cheryl flees; however, she is soon decapitated.

Kate and George decide Lorenzo is not the killer, before they are split up. Kate runs to the auditorium and is chased by the clown onto a catwalk where she runs into Mr. Caruthers. Mr. Caruthers sends the clown over the catwalk, killing him, but Mr. Caruthers then turns on Kate and knocks her out. Kate awakes tied up in the auditorium with the victims bodies propped up on the seats. It is revealed Mr. Caruthers killed Lorraine because she denied him love, before another clown arrives and attacks him. In the panic, the clown is knocked out, but Kate breaks free and manages to kill Mr. Caruthers. The clown is revealed to be George, who was told by Kate's father, who had been living in the opera house, all about Mr. Caruthers before he had been killed on the catwalk. Kate and George then break free from the opera house.

Cast

Production

The movie was filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at the Burton Cummings Theatre in downtown Winnipeg. [1] In one scene near the end of the film taking place on the rooftop, the Richardson Building and 201 Portage at Portage and Main can be seen.

Home media

The film was released on VHS on August 31, 1999. The film was released as a double feature alongside Phantom Racer on October 5, 2010.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary-Kate Olsen</span> American businesswoman and actress (born 1986)

Mary-Kate Olsen is an American businesswoman, fashion designer, equestrian, and former actress. Her acting career began at the age of nine months, with her sharing the role of Michelle Tanner with her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television sitcom Full House (1987–1995). They also starred in numerous films together.

<i>I Love the 80s</i> (American TV series) American TV series or program

I Love the '80s is a decade nostalgia television program and the first installment of the I Love the... series that was produced by VH1, based on the BBC series of the same name. The first episode, "I Love 1980", premiered on December 16, 2002, and the final episode, "I Love 1989", premiered on December 20, 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margot Fonteyn</span> English ballerina (1919–1991)

Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE, known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China, where her father was transferred for his work. Her training in Shanghai was with Russian expatriate dancer Georgy Goncharov, contributing to her continuing interest in Russian ballet. Returning to London at the age of 14, she was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded Alicia Markova as prima ballerina of the company in 1935. The Vic-Wells choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, wrote numerous parts for Fonteyn and her partner, Robert Helpmann, with whom she danced from the 1930s to the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Royal Ballet</span> Ballet company in the United Kingdom

The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holland Taylor</span> American actress (born 1943)

Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's The Practice (1998–2003) and she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her portrayal of Evelyn Harper on the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men (2003–15).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Hammond</span> Australian operatic soprano, singing coach and champion golfer

Dame Joan Hilda Hood Hammond, was an Australian operatic soprano, singing coach and champion golfer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Johnson</span> American actress

Laura Johnson is an American actress. She is best known for playing Terry Hartford in the CBS primetime soap opera Falcon Crest from 1983 to 1986.

Ann Bishop Roth is an American costume designer. She has designed the costumes of various prominent films, and has been nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, winning twice for The English Patient (1996) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020). In the 2023 movie Barbie, Roth, at 91 years old, appears onscreen to share a pivotal scene with Barbie.

<i>Double, Double, Toil and Trouble</i> 1993 American TV series or program

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble is a 1993 American Halloween made-for-television children's film. It stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as two adventurous little girls who discover that their Great Aunt Sophia has been trapped and cursed by her evil twin sister Agatha. On the 7th year of her imprisonment, Sophia will be doomed to the netherworld unless the curse is broken by the magical spell of twins. The film's title is part of the famous line spoken by the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth : "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margreta Elkins</span>

Margreta Elkins was an Australian mezzo-soprano. She sang at The Royal Opera and with Opera Australia and other companies, but turned down offers to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayreuth and Glyndebourne. She recorded alongside sopranos such as Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheryl Barker</span> Australian operatic soprano

Cheryl Ruth Barker is an Australian operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the late 1980s. She has sung on several complete opera recordings with Chandos Records, including the title roles in Dvořák's Rusalka, Janáček's Káťa Kabanová and Puccini's Madama Butterfly, and Emilia Marty in Janáček's The Makropulos Case. She has also made two solo recordings of opera arias, one with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor David Parry and the other with Orchestra Victoria and conductor Richard Bonynge. On the stage she has had partnerships with the English National Opera (ENO) and Opera Australia.

<i>Mary Poppins, Goodbye</i> 1983 film

Mary Poppins, Goodbye is a Soviet two-part musical miniseries directed by Leonid Kvinikhidze. The movie's runtime is 141 minutes spread across two episodes/parts, "Lady Perfection" and "Week Ends on Wednesday". It is based on the Mary Poppins stories by P. L. Travers. The TV series was produced by Mosfilm for Gosteleradio. The official television premiere was on January 8, 1984.

This is a list of the Australia 2020 Summit participants, and their working groups, announced on 28 March 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Music Australia</span> Australian record label; imprint of Sony Music Entertainment Australia Pty Limited

Sony Music Entertainment Australia is the predominant record label operated by American parent company Sony Music Entertainment in Australia. SMEA also formerly published and distributed video games in Australia & New Zealand on behalf of Sony Imagesoft and Sony Electronic Publishing Europe until 1995.

<i>The Truth About Jane</i> 2000 television film by Lee Rose

The Truth About Jane is a 2000 Lifetime original movie directed by Lee Rose and starring Stockard Channing, Ellen Muth, Kelly Rowan, Jenny O'Hara and RuPaul. The film is about a teenage girl named Jane (Muth) who struggles not only with her sexuality, but with a mother (Channing) who refuses to accept her. It first aired on TV on August 7, 2000. The film was nominated for several awards, including Outstanding TV Movie by GLAAD, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries (Channing) Screen Actors Guild, and Original Long Form by WGA.

<i>Kids in America</i> (film) 2005 American film

Kids in America is a 2005 American comedy film written and directed by Josh Stolberg. The film is inspired by real events.

<i>Meet the Blacks</i> 2016 black comedy horror film by Deon Taylor

Meet the Blacks is a 2016 American black comedy horror film directed by Deon Taylor, written by Taylor and Nicole DeMasi, and is a parody of the 2013 film The Purge. It stars Mike Epps, Gary Owen, Zulay Henao, Lil Duval, Bresha Webb, George Lopez and Mike Tyson. This was Charlie Murphy's last film role before his death from leukemia in 2017 as well as the final role for Paul Mooney who died in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Canadian honours</span>

The following are the appointments to various Canadian Honours of 2015. Usually, they are announced as part of the New Year and Canada Day celebrations and are published within the Canada Gazette during year. This follows the custom set out within the United Kingdom which publishes its appoints of various British Honours for New Year's and for monarch's official birthday. However, instead of the midyear appointments announced on Victoria Day, the official birthday of the Canadian Monarch, this custom has been transferred with the celebration of Canadian Confederation and the creation of the Order of Canada.

References

  1. "The Clown at Midnight". Get On Set Manitoba. Retrieved 30 March 2017.