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Wrinkles the Clown

Play trailer 2:02 Poster for Wrinkles the Clown Released Oct 4, 2019 1h 18m Documentary Comedy Horror Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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68% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 37% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Mysterious videos appear on the internet of a clown who likes to scare misbehaving children in Florida.
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Wrinkles the Clown

Critics Reviews

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Christy Lemire FilmWeek (LAist) A treatise on viral fame and the good and the bade sides of that. Oct 8, 2019 Full Review Sara Michelle Fetters MovieFreak.com Nichols knew how to hold my attention, Wrinkles the Clown a celebration of petrifying delights that had my guts twisted into unbreakable knots. Rated: 2.5/4 Oct 7, 2019 Full Review Nick Schager The Daily Beast Comedic elements [are] key to the film, which soon delivers a twis that casts its entire portrait in a different light, causing viewers to reassess not only what they've just seen, but also their assumptions about cinematic and internet truth circa 2019. Oct 4, 2019 Full Review Peter Martin ScreenAnarchy It's skillfully put together, and interesting from a sociological perspective. The film also provides a welcome balance to this month's cheerful devotion to frights in general. Jul 23, 2021 Full Review Emma Wolfe SpookyAstronauts I felt like the film had a lot of interesting twists and turns and has a fantastic second portion which I cannot reveal. Rated: 8/10 Oct 14, 2020 Full Review Jack Bottomley Starburst A timely documentary about modern folklore, coulrophobia's origin, viral influence and the dark side of child psychology... Rated: 9/10 Sep 30, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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BadNews R Wrinkles the Clown is marketed as a documentary, but in reality, it plays more like a half-baked experiment that never quite figures out what it wants to be. The premise sounds intriguing on paper: a mysterious clown in Florida who parents could pay to scare their misbehaving children. No violence, no physical contact—just pure psychological torment for hire. Creepy, right? Well… not really. The film sets up Wrinkles as this terrifying urban legend. They show eerie surveillance footage of him lurking under beds, knocking on windows, or standing ominously in the shadows. For a moment, you think the documentary might dive into the psychology of fear, urban myths, or the ethical line between harmless pranks and emotional abuse. Instead, it quickly unravels into something awkward, unfocused, and—honestly—embarrassingly unscary. The biggest issue is editing. The story feels cobbled together with no clear direction. At one point, you’re led to believe Wrinkles is a real menace walking the streets, but then the film shifts into questioning whether he’s even real at all. That “mystery” isn’t compelling—it feels like a gimmick designed to stretch out a thin concept into feature length. Rather than building fear, Wrinkles becomes laughable. The makeup looks cheap, the mask goofy, and the overall presence anything but threatening. Why would anyone pay to have this clown scare their children? Instead of a dark and disturbing exploration of modern folklore, what we get is a watered-down, awkward character study that makes Wrinkles look more like a joke than a nightmare. To make matters worse, the “viral phone number” angle—where people could call Wrinkles directly—comes off as cheesy rather than chilling. The film leans heavily on this stunt, but it never pays off in a way that feels meaningful or authentic. By the end, it’s clear this documentary wasn’t about Wrinkles at all—it was about trying to manufacture buzz during the peak of the “creepy clown” craze in the mid-2010s. The problem? Nothing here feels real, scary, or even entertaining. I don’t recommend this film. It’s poorly edited, pointlessly structured, and fails to do the one thing it sets out to do: make Wrinkles frightening. Instead, he’s just dumb-looking, awkward, and forgettable. This is not only a one-time watch—it’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. ⭐️ (1/5) – A fake, sloppy, unscary “documentary” that wastes its creepy premise. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/09/25 Full Review Kyle M Not horrific as it sounds nor as it looks as it basically explains a phenomenon amid revising imagery and folklore conceptualizing with expected viewpoints mostly checked off, but the bloated documentary values in unveiling the human spirit under the mask while deconstructing the code, as it already was, in decreasing engagement. (B-) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/23/22 Full Review Audience Member Why does wrinkles have a documentary? The only sole reason I watched this film is because everybody at my school saw it and I saw it and it sucked. Don't see the appeal for wrinkles. Hope wrinkles doesn't come to my house now so if I offend you wrinkles I apologize. It's not your fault, it's the movie makers fault. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member I rarely quit movies half way through. I fast forwarded through the entire second half and didn't miss a thing. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Well...i think its kinda distubing when he was by the kids bed but still a good movie Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Scary! Creepy! Everything, Wrinkles is now a Icon. I wish people would watch this Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/15/20 Full Review Read all reviews
Wrinkles the Clown

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Wrinkles the Clown

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Movie Info

Synopsis Mysterious videos appear on the internet of a clown who likes to scare misbehaving children in Florida.
Director
Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker
Producer
Brendan Walter, Jon Lullo, Jennie Bedusa, Mike Dill, Lowell Shapiro
Screenwriter
Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker
Distributor
Magnet Releasing
Production Co
No Whining Productions, Crush Pictures, Topic Studios
Genre
Documentary, Comedy, Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 4, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 4, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA)
$14.4K
Runtime
1h 18m
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