Blood Bank: CLOWN MOTEL

When polling a large group of horror fans and asking “what scares you?” one answer seems to always land itself in the majority of the board; clowns! Why is that? Is it the painted faces? The harsh and over emotional happy expressions? Or maybe it is their constant need to please. Whatever it may be, the horror community can agree that clowns are always scary. Today’s We Are Indie Horror Blood Bank combines clowns with another horror aspect, motels, with Clown Motel.

Director Joseph P. Kelly looks to bring his nightmarish vision to life in Clown Motel which tells the following story:

A road trip for a group of young adults to the “City of Sin”, Las Vegas, turns into a not so lucky winning streak, when they wind up stranded in the middle of nowhere. After taking shelter in a deserted Clown Motel they decide to stay until some help arrives. What they don’t realize is that the place is cursed, and an evil clown spirit, has just been released. What sort of tricks does this vacant motel, have in store for those who come? You won’t want miss the freakiest hotel to hit the silver screen since the Bates Motel.

Cursed hotels, evil spirits, and clowns are a recipe for a horrifying hour and half. Clown Motel will have a cameo appearance from the stunt actor Casey Hendershot, whose long list of credits spans the entire horror genre from Rob Zombie’s Halloween to an appearance on The Walking Dead. Joesph P. Kelly is no stranger to the film industry as he has worked on countless feature films all over the United States. He has worked on projects for VH1, Logo TV, MTV, Asylum Entertainment, CBS, Fox, and much more. After he graduated he was destined to create his own projects which he did. Each film he created won some type of award. Teaming with Joseph will be producers Robert Wichman and David W. Bailey.

We Are Indie Horror spoke with Director Josepeh P. Kelly about the upcoming project and here is what he had to say.

WAIH: Tell us a bit more about Clown Motel. Will it be campy fun along the lines of Killer Klowns or more terrifying and dark like Clown or IT?

JK: When a group of friends take a wrong turn, on their way to Vegas they encounter a motel haunted by the spirits of dead clowns, that they themselves have unwittingly released. Our intention is the more terrifying route like Pennywise in IT.

WAIH: Where did the inspiration for Clown Motel come from?

JK: I had insomnia one night and was surfing the internet for scary locations and the Clown Motel came up and I looked into it. Then I watched Ghost Adventures and realized it was supposedly haunted and just knew I had to shoot something there.

WAIH: How did you assemble the talented cast?

JK: Just a general casting call for most of the cast. But, I met Casey Hendershot, who was the stuntman for Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween in 2007, at the Fright Night film festival while there to promote my last feature Bloody Island. And Angie Stevenson was a mutual friend who I had wanted to work with since seeing her on Son’s of Anarchy.

WAIH: What lessons were learned from your first few pieces that you brought to your feature?

JK: In the past we had a smaller crew which presents it’s own challenges. You really have to have a positive attitude and approach all of the roadblocks as fun challenges to hurdle. In the end the crew will be more willing to go the extra mile if they see that you are doing the dirty work too.

WAIH: Tell us a fun set story from shooting?

JK: My co-ep Dave was rooming with Rahmlee, our killer clown. Well apparently Rahm thought it would be a funny idea to put the mask on in the middle of the night and stand over Dave’s bed to scare him. Needless to say Dave got his own room the next night.

WAIH: What challenges were presented on set and how did you overcome them?

JK: When we scouted we found an amazing rundown house that we were told we could shoot in and the day of filming the location nearly fell through an hour before the shoot, because police had been called several times to the clown motel during one of our scenes where the clown was killing someone. After that the town was on alert.

WAIH: What advice do you have for aspiring horror artists?

JK: Honestly, never give up on your dream. Just give all you have and put over 100% into it, and believe in yourself.

Currently Clown Motel is up on Kickstarter looking to raise the last bit of funds to complete the film. It seems as most of it has been shot and is ready to go, just the post process is taking their time and money away. There are some awesome perks being offered on the Kickstarter page. For example there are a ton of IMDB credits to be had along with signed blu-rays, DVDs, and tickets to exclusive Clown Motel events. Some of the coolest perks include a clown shoe or even a clown suit worn by one of the killer clowns in the film.

If this projects looks awesome to you be sure to spread the word and share on your social media platforms. Remember this is We Are Indie Horror’s Blood Bank Where Every Drop Counts.