100 Tears

100 Tears is a killer clown flick directed by Marcus Koch. This was the first film Koch had directed in nearly a decade and he pulls it off like he has been doing it his whole life. It's not like Koch had stepped away from the horror scene since his last movie Rot. He has been credited doing amazing special effects in quite a few films. He wore many hats in the making of this movie and the hard work has definitely paid off considering this has become somewhat of a modern cult classic for fans of the genre. Highly sought after by gorehounds due to its overwhelming amount hacks, slashes and stomps, 100 Tears puts all other killer clown movies to shame.

100 Tears follows a killer clown named Gurdy that is known as the "Teardrop Killer" to the general public. He gains this moniker due to his habit of leaving tears of blood behind at the scenes of his many murders. He is still on the loose and causing chaos in the area and our two main characters (Mark and Jennifer) see it as the perfect opportunity to put themselves back on the map with their careers in journalism. After doing a little bit of digging around and chasing a midget, the story behind Gurdy's murderous ways unfolds. Soon after a couple of unexpected twists come along and it all ends in a climatic bloodbath.

As usual Marcus's special effects are top notch. The gore is served up in heavy doses and not one effect looks half assed. He is easily one of the best effects artists of this generation and this film is just further proof of that. The kills throughout the movie are executed with a great deal of intensity. For the most part they aren't the most inventive, relying heavily on decapitations and hacks. This doesn't work against the film too much though, because while these may be kills we've seen before the sheer vicious feeling more than makes up for it. Deaths like the decapitation at the top of the stair case come across as flawless because Koch knew how long to let the scene go. Seeing Gurdy towering above the wheelchair comes across just as iconic as Leatherface slamming his big metal door in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The casting for this film is excellent. Scream queen Raine Brown plays role that is very out of the norm for her. She pulls it off well and gives one of her best performances to date. The joking nature between Joe Davison and Georgia Chris works as solid comic relief. There seems to be a real chemistry between the two and I couldn't imagine anyone else playing their roles. Jack Amos does a phenomenal job playing the bruting Gurdy. He plays the role perfectly and whenever a killer clown is mentioned his character immediately comes to mind. Rather than being a bright clown covered in glowing colors, Gurdy is dressed in dull clown rags and is armed with an intimidating, emotionless face. Small touches like this really add to the creepy factor. While the colorful, joking clowns in many other movies don't come across as scary, Gurdy just seems like someone you'd want to keep your distance from even on a good day.

Overall 100 Tears is one of the modern greats when it comes to low budget horror cinema. Even those of you who aren't big on low budget movies should give this a watch. It really doesn't have a "cheap" feel to it and is actually driven by a solid story along with surprisingly good acting from everyone. It's packed with plenty of splatter to please the gorehounds and has enough plot to please average movie watchers. Marcus Koch is definitely someone to keep an eye on. This movie proves that Koch isn't just an effects guru, while this flick does rely on quite a few effects it also shows off some pretty damn good directing. Highly recommended, find a way to get your hands on it.