Search - Final Draft on DVD

Ann M.
Reviewed on 8/3/2010...

This is about a writer with writer's block, who convinced his best friend to lock him in his apartment until he eeks out a screenplay. But the isolation was too much for him. His screenplay was to be about a clown who was burnt to death who returns to haunt & destroy those who laughed at him. The idea was based on the writer's childhood experience at the circus when a hobo clown was blowing out fire, but the fire somehow came back at him, and started burning his face and head. But the audience had no idea at first that this was not part of the show, and continued to laugh even as he died. While incarcerated, the writer started seeing things. People from his past, his ex-wife harping at him, an old high school bully irratating him, and other friends from his past, and even the sexy pin-up model from his calendar. One by one, these phantom images get sliced to death by the image of the burnt clown. Some of them, he regaled at their deaths, and others, he didn't want to die. He certainly didn't want the sexy pin-up girl to die as he was about to get some sexual release with her.

Slow going movie, more about the psychological psychosis he was going through.

I'm not sure

El_Dopafan1332 | USA | 09/30/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is without a doubt the weirdest movie i've ever seen. When i first picked it up and looked at the cover i automatically thought (evil looking clownusually equals good horror movie) But this is kinda the opposite. I'm not saying this is a bad movie, just very hard to write about as it's so strange. A writer locks himself in his appartment to write a story about "Punchy the Clown" ( on the cover) A clown who he saw kill himself at a circus by accidently burning himself to death. From then on he begins to lose his mind. He starts talking to pictures of people he used to know and then he begins to see them as if they were really there. The people include. His ex wife, a sexy callender girl, a high school bully, and a former friend who stabbed him in the back when his brother died. One by one he types on his computer the fate of each and has the clown do the killings. I don't want to give too much more away, nor can i say i recommend this movie or not. Just don't expect to understand it."

I ENJOYED

Ruggero Deodato | CALI | 07/21/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"THIS IS A VERY SHARP AND INTERESTING FILM. THIS IS ABOUT A YOUNG WRITER PAUL TWIST PLAYED BY JAMES VAN DER BEEK. HE HAS TO WRITE A HORROR MOVIE IN 18 DAYS. HE LOCKS HIMSELF IN HIS LOFT AND BEGINS. THE HORROR IS HE IS HAUNTED BY HIS PAST. A DARK CLOWN, A MENACE A NIGHTMARE FROM HIS CHILDHOOD. HIS EX- WIFE, HIS BROTHER AND HIS OWN DARK DEEP SECRETS.

I THINK WHAT STANDS OUT IN THIS MOVIE IS THE ACTING AND THE WONDERFUL MIND TRIP OF A PLOT. YOU SEE THE REALITY OF MAN TURN UPSIDE DOWN AND TWIST INTO A WORLD THAT HE SEEMS TO IMAGINE YET CAN NOT CONTROL.
AS HE WRITES HE SEES THE PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE WHO HAVE CAUSED HIM PROBLEMS THERE WITH HIM IN THE LOFT. HIS MIND STARTS TO UNRAVEL , HIS THOUGHTS BECOME CLOUDED BY IMAGES OF VIOLENCE AND INSANITY.

I WAS VERY WELL PLEASED WITH THIS MOVIE IT WORKED IN SO MANY WAYS. I LOVE THE ONE ACT FEEL TO THE MOVIE. THE END WHEN HE IS LOCKED INSIDE THE LOFT WORKS THE MOVIE WITH BEAUTY AND A TWISTED SENSE OF HORROR WHICH IS INSANITY ITSELF.

THE STORY BECOMES APART OF HIM AS HE ACTS OUT THE HORROR THAT HIS MIND HAS CREATED. THE DEPRESSION OF HIS LIFE, THE FEEL OF FAILURE BECAUSE OF WRITERS BLOCK. THIS MOVIE IS NOT ABOUT GORE OR MASSIVE BLOOD, IT'S THE MIND AND THE AFFECTS OF HOW FAR THE INNER THOUGHTS CAN BECOME REALITY, HOW EACH ONE IS MIXED INTO THE PUDDLE OF DARKNESS AND HOW THAT DARKNESS CAN TAKE OVER.

I REALLY SEE NO FAULTS WITH THIS MOVIE ACCEPT SOME SLOW SPOTS AT TIMES BUT THE FILM COMES TOGETHER IN THE END AS A WELL PLAYED OUT ONE ACT WITH MORE TO IT. IT SHOCKS ME FROM ALL THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS I HAVE READ ABOUT THIS AND I WONDER WHY PEOPLE WHERE SO NEGATIVE I THOUGHT THE MOVIE CAPTURED INSANITY TO THE POINT AND MADE THE VIEWER TAKE THAT TRIP ALSO.
"

DAWSONS CREEP

Michael Butts | Martinsburg, WV USA | 10/08/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"After having just seen John Cusack's virtual one man show and a brilliant one at that in 1408, one can only feel sorry for James Van Der Beek and his one man show which is sorely incomparable. The script, written by costar Darryn Lucio, is so contrived and poorly conceived that Van Der Beek never stood a chance. He plays a screenwriter with severe psychological baggage and writer's block who locks himself in his apartment to focus on his latest screenplay, which involves a killer clown and revenge, and suicide, to boot. The problem is the movie's pace is slow with redundant fadeouts and lots of silence, and never really grabs you with any kind of emotional value. Van Der Beek tries hard but he's not given much to work with. And Lucio's script is laced with an abundance of profanities which goes to show that mediocre screenwriters think a thousand F***s are so "realistic" wherein they only represent the writer's inability to create real situations and dialogues without throwing in a F*** in every other line. A real loser, not even worth a rental folks."