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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: January 20, 2009 Distributor: New Line Home Video Director: · John Simpson Cast: · Keir O'Donnell · Katheryn Winnick · Laura Breckenridge · Jessica Lucas · Tad Hilgenbrinck Related Sites: · IMDb: Amusement Grade: B-

With as many slashers as there are in cinemaland these days, it's getting harder and harder to come up with unique killers who stand apart in the crowd. In recent years, the "Saw" films have given us Jigsaw, who rose to the occasion. Now, director John Simpson and writer Jake Wade Wall have given us... The Laugh.

Yes, the name takes hokey to a whole new level, and one could certainly be within his rights saying the madman is a bit of a lazy mashup of Jigsaw and Joker. Nevertheless, this sadistic killer with the cacophonous cackle played by Keir O'Donnell (Sons of Anarchy, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop") has enough going for him to make him worth a viewing.

Right off the bat I'll give it to Simpson: he's got the lonely, scary feeling down cold, starting us off with Shelby (Laura Breckenridge, Related) and her boyfriend Rob (Tad Hilgenbrinck, "Disaster Movie") making a red-eye run down the Interstate, only to get shunted off on a detour through misty-shrouded country roads taking them into the middle of nowhere. This opening vignette is all sleight-of-hand, however, as we see Rob and Shelby drive headlong into disaster, all for mistaking the wrong creepy guy to be a killer -- despite a crazy girl diving out of his cab and an attempt to run down Rob, the grizzled old truck driver ain't such a bad guy after all, as they find out far too late.

The film then abruptly cuts to a sunny suburban situation, where we meet Tabitha (television veteran Katheryn Winnick) arriving at her aunt's house to take over watching her young nephews. She's dismayed that the babysitter seems to have already left, and the boys are snickering at some secret joke that Tabitha isn't in on. Simpson capitalizes on the public's inherent levels of coulrophobia by forcing Tabitha to bed down in the guest room that is decorated floor to ceiling with creepy little plush clowns. The tension gets a bit drawn out here, as Tabitha starts to get weirded out, particularly by one evil looking clown (hey, would you look at that DVD cover!). It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone the part that this clown will play, but when the time does come, it's nonetheless a perfectly spooky moment.

Tabitha's ordeal leads her to a session with an FBI trauma counselor (Rena Owen, "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith") who relates to her yet another story of the killer, with whom she's apparently had previous dealings. The story this time is about Lisa (90210's Jessica Lucas), whose sister disappears one night after picking up a guy in a bar. She goes looking for her in a decrepit hostel on the edge of town, and finds that the old building has been renovated, "Saw"-like, into a monstrosity of rusting gears and clockwork traps.

The kicker of the film comes when all three of the girls are united -- or reunited, as we discover their ties to each other -- each having made it through psychological tortures all for The Laugh's amusement (hence the title), as he finds their fear and pain funny. The harrowing chase scene and cringeworthy moments of mutilation and gore don't let up until it's time for the credits to roll, making "Amusement" definitely one that horror special effects fans will appreciate.

For all that "Amusement" has going for it in effects and tone, it falls apart when looked at for logical consistency of the plot. If you can get beyond the fact that a madman with no apparent resources can convert an isolated shack into an underground concrete bunker with mechanical deathtraps right out of a James Bond film, you still have to account for the actions of the trucker and psychologist, the complicity of which is left unexplained and seem to be there either for intentional misdirection in the hope that the viewer won't think to ask any questions.

Audio for "Amusement" is in English only, with optional subtitling available in English or Spanish.

Previews on this disc include "Alien Raiders" Uncut, Tomb Raider: Underworld videogame, Project Origin videogame, and the Michael Bay remake of "Friday the 13th."