(2026 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Sara Paxton, David Cubitt, Hamza Haq
Director: Annie Bradley
Writer(s): Katie Boland
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Inspired by real stories, the film stars Sara Paxton as a woman investigating her mother’s cold-case murder who becomes targeted by a copycat clown stalker.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie begins in 1997 on Halloween night, which was 28 years ago! A mother and daughter, Elizabeth, make clown cookies while also playing hide-and-seek. Not the best combo. There is an unexpected visitor at the door. It is a fun clown with balloons; he pulls out a gun and shoots the mother right in front of the little girl.
30 years later, Liz is grown up, pregnant, and attends carnivals on the regular with her husband. Liz’s father is one of those ambulance-chaser lawyers, and her husband works for the firm. It is like this woman has no trauma from her mother’s murder, going as far as playing hide-and-seek in a hedge maze. Then she runs into a clown and freaks the fuck out. (I get it, Liz! Clowns are Scary AF.)
A reporter/podcaster, Maddie Finds A Motive, who GLASSES because she is smart, waits for Liz on her front stoop to get the scoop on the 30th anniversary of her mother’s unsolved clown murder. The stress gets to Liz, and she has a miscarriage. Liz immediately blames the fair and decides it is time to figure out what happened to her mother. Her husband questions the timing, but supports her anyway.
Liz has dinner with her father and his new wife Anna. Liz brings up the clown killer, and her dad blames himself because he was “out of town.” Only Sheriff Bob and her mother’s sister, who remembers her mother, Samantha, are left. Oh, there is also a box in the basement labeled “Samantha” with her clown memorabilia. The woman liked clowns; in fact, I think she was one. Liz opens a box, pulls out a red nose, and looks at it inquisitively. She hasn’t put it together yet.
Okay, this is REALLY scary. A clown stands outside Liz’s house and waves at her from the street. She runs out, and the clown is gone, but there is mechanical laughter in the house. Legitimately. This scene scared me!!!!!! Like, I jump-scared. Hahaha! (A creepy version of the Itsy Bitsy Spider plays) Some balloons pop outside and splatter blood all over Liz. The police arrive and are like, ummm, this is a prank, obviously.
The police won’t give over the case files because it is an open case. Liz decides to reach out to her Aunt Helen, who agrees to meet and says she knows A LOT OF THINGS! The Aunt lives in a house with newspaper plastered on the windows like it is Weapons. Aunt Helen has visions and is legit stizo. Apparently Anna was the other woman and dating Reid secretly, but Samantha knew what was up. Before she goes, Aunt Helen gives Liz a creepy clown wig. (That she later puts on and is almost wacked by her husband, who thinks she is an intruder.)
The clown is back and corners Liz as she gets into her car; they pull out a gun and shoot it, but the little flag pops out, and it says “Pow!” He runs away giggling like a freak.
Liz starts to doubt her own memories after her dad and the sheriff imply that Samantha dressed like a clown and offed herself. Liz goes to the doctor to see if she is going crazy, and the Killer Clown strikes again in the parking garage. This time Liz notices the shoes the clown is wearing belong to her husband. He was also the only one who knew about the doctor’s appointment. Her husband tells her she is delusional and hasn’t taken a shower in a week. He is super judgmental.
The anxiety is getting so bad that Liz can’t even see balloons without going into full panic mode. Liz talks to Anna about being stalked, and Anna is the only sympathetic person on her side. Well, the only other person besides Maddie Finds a Motive.
Liz meets with Maddie Finds a Motive, and she has the police fines on Samantha’s murder. They review crime scene photos and forensic evidence, which doesn’t line up with Liz’s memory or the unaliving of oneself.
Aunt Helen calls Liz and says the Killer Clown is in her house. Poor Aunt Helen, she isn’t going to make it. Liz rushes to save her Aunt, but finds the phone off the hook and echoes of the creepy laugh sound through the house. Liz finds Aunt Helen and leaves her with Maddie. She also sees a picture she drew as a kid that jogs her memory. Her dad is the clown killer.
Back where we started at the fair, Liz finds her dad with a tire iron. She asks him if he could go back, what is one thing he would change? Reid says he would make sure she wasn’t there and runs into the hedge maze. Liz chases after him and tells him he can’t gaslight her like he has been doing her whole life. (The song here goes so hard. It’s a trap version of Itsy Bitsy Spider but just saying “Sticks Stone.”)
Liz chases her dad into the funhouse mirror room. Reid explains Samantha was going to leave him and take full custody of Liz. Liz breaks a mirror and gets seven years of bad luck, but she has already had 28, so what is the difference?
The Killer Clown comes in and shoots at Liz, but her dad jumps in front of the bullet. Anna resurrected the clown to scare Liz into stopping her investigation. Liz pistol-whips Anna.
Eight months later, Anna is in jail, and Maddie Finds a Motive is a hit podcast, and Liz gives her the exclusive interview. Maddie’s dad is the sheriff, and she just took them from his office. Nepotism strikes again.
Liz unpacks all her mother’s clown stuff and is pregnant! Yay!?
STRAY Thought
My anxiety cannot take more clown content, Lifetime
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪 2 knives)
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷(5 Glasses of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour it up (Give it a shot)
Put a Cork in It (Skip It!)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel.
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Let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments below or @lifetimeuncorked
This would’ve done numbers in 2016
Love the Weapons reference since Sara had a cameo in that and married to the director 😂
Very cool!
I’m not even finished with the movie yet but I really wish lifetime would had waited till Halloween to release this movie. I remember when lifetime used to have some good Halloween movies and now they’re just the regular old same movies and it suck’s. If you have a Halloween appropriate movie hold the release a couple months, I bet they would get way better ratings for that time of year. I don’t even work for lifetime but I bet promote the crap out of this movie and get better viewership around Halloween.