Drive-Thru

Year of Release: 2007
Genre: Horror
IMDB Rating: 4.5 / 10
Level of Awful: Medium

WHAT IT’S ABOUT:

I had an internal debate with myself about how to rate this movie. For the most part I was inclined to give it a ‘Low’ rating, mainly because the film is cohesive, it does deliver a few good scares and the clown is frightening as hell. I ultimately settled on a ‘Medium’ rating, however, for several reasons: the movie relies on more than the average amount of horror clichés and, for the most part, feels like a combination of Killer Klowns from Outer Space and I Know What You Did Last Summer. It is more predictable than most b-horrors (watch for about 15 minutes and you’ll have figured out what’s going on) and the killer swaps between being human and something more supernatural a little more than would be regularly admissible. Despite this, when all is said and done, the movie is very watchable provided you can ignore some of the inconsistencies that creep in and Leighton Meester’s singing.

Fast food: It really does kill.

Hella-Burger is the biggest fast-food chain in the city of Blanca Carne (Spanish for ‘white meat’ – clever right?) and its mascot, Horny the Clown, is a town institution. Unfortunately for the town’s teenagers the drive-thru speaker has grown a body and has started going on a killing spree. The clown has amazing speed, a giant meat cleaver and a demonic metallic voice that all adds up to being a rather cool and effective horror villain. While he’s taking out the 2 town wiggers and their hos Mackenzie Carpenter (Leighton Meester) is having a little house party to celebrate her and her friends’ upcoming high school graduation. As most of the people begin to leave the party Mackenzie, her boyfriend Fisher and their inner circle go upstairs to partake in a little weed smoking and playing with a Ouija board. When Mackenzie and Fisher are alone the board begins to write all on its own and the two are left to try and decipher what the meaning of the board’s message is.

WARNING: Choose the venue for your kid's birthday party wisely.

Unfortunately for Mackenzie messages from the beyond begin to appear in more and more places and, after escaping Horny’s attacks once, she needs to try and figure out who is communicating with her and who is next on Horny’s hit list. And all of this needs to be done while Fisher constantly tries to get into her pants. As the killings become more elaborate and closer to home Mackenzie begins to see a pattern in Horny’s murderous rampage and realises that a dark secret lies beneath this sudden outburst of clown terror. The police don’t believe her, her parents are obsessively worried about her and her friends are constantly high and wanting to split up to go and look for the killer. Despite these odds Mackenzie needs to quickly come up with a plan to stop Horny before her head lands up on his delightfully evil chopping block.

THINGS I’VE LEARNED:

• In a town called Blanca Carne you aren’t going to see a black person anywhere.
• Due to the absence of black people 50% of all white teenagers are wiggers.
• The other 50% of white teenagers are all stoners.
• When placing your order at the drive-thru if the speaker gets it wrong, leave it alone. Otherwise it might kill you.
• When a Ouija board starts to write things on its own, take very little notice. It probably isn’t that important.
• A plastic tent stake is not an effective tool against a demonic clown.
• Police never trust the one person who actually knows what’s going on.
• When a demonic clown is on the loose killing people it’s an ideal time to set up a haunted house.
• Lying with your face in boiling oil is not an advisable exfoliation method.
• Fast food kills. One way or another.

Drive-Thru Trailer