Sean Parker
I spent this past weekend getting to know The Jester, Colin Krawchuck’s magic mime with Terrifier qualities. With The Jester 2 opening this week, it seemed like the perfect time to catch up for the next entry. I had heard many people talk about the film and how Michael Sheffield’s mannerisms left many feeling as if they were watching an Art the Clown adjacent performance. Be that as it may, I think many people are missing the point of Krawchuk’s killer clown Halloween tale. The first film feels like an introductory slasher film, what has been coined as gateway horror, and bridges the gap between the excessive gore of films like Terrifier 2 or 3 while still crafting some rather creative kills through practical VFX work.
If the first Jester film left you feeling a bit underwhelmed, you weren’t alone. With unpronounced rules and no clear sense of why The Jester was bearing down so heavily on Emma (Leia Symington) and Jocelyn’s (Delaney White) lives after causing their father’s death, the film doesn’t offer the clearest portrayal of the complicated trickster. Still, some of the supernatural deceit, specifically that three-cup parlor trick that left one character without a whole lot to say or see, was a true highlight from an otherwise ephemeral diversion. Honestly, it was a surprise to me that The Jester was getting a sequel.
However, The Jester 2 joins the short list of films whose sequels are superior to their originals. Though the bar may not have been set that high, I actually found myself way more engaged in the Jester’s outing this time around. While still more on the gateway horror side of things, The Jester 2 ups the ante in every way possible. The kills are more fun this time around, the makeup and special effects are better, the story is tighter and a bit more streamlined, and our main character, Max (Kaitlyn Trentham), is a lot more fun to root for.
When it comes to The Jester, I’ve been a little unsure of why he chooses his victims. In the first film, it seemed random and without reason. While that’s fun, it explains nothing about the character, who appears to be a demon incarnate, nor does it supply a reason for why he kills, leaving a lot of questions for viewers to dismantle the Jester’s intrinsic nature. While I believe there’s some degree of Samhain tradition built into the spirit of this character, akin to Trick ‘r Treat’s Sam, The Jester’s focus rests solely on the characters he’s stalking during the first outing, while in The Jester 2, the viewer is provided a method to The Jester’s madness.
Like the first film, The Jester 2 takes place on Halloween. Sheffield’s masked character enters ostentatiously via a Sinister-style reveal, pulling off his face-wrapped mask and discarding it before unveiling a new skin-embedded mask that has a certain Jason X appeal to it. The symbolic unmasking acts like a shedding of skin—the spawning of a new Jester for a new tale. Performing a magic trick for his audience of one, he contorts the man’s uncarefully worded wish into a spectacle of death and traumatizes a group of Halloween piñata bashers in the process. After taking his victim’s life, we see the Jester remove a candle from his pocket as if it is part of a Halloween ritual, and finally feel as if we’re getting to know the macabre orange-suited entertainer.
Things begin to make more sense in The Jester 2 when we meet Max, a late-blooming teenager who hasn’t moved into the more hormone-fueled areas her peers are traversing. Max loves performing magic and is looking forward to going trick-or-treating with her mom and little sister, that is, until her mom tells her that she’s too old and should seek out more age-appropriate Halloween activities. Donning her magician’s robe and hat, Max makes her way to a local teenage hangout spot where The Jester engages with her after she’s bullied by her classmates, only to have the lowly loner pull a trick on him instead. With the Jester’s magic now mixed with Max’s, he needs her help to finish his ritual offerings or face eternal damnation.
The idea of having these two characters wrapped up in each other’s worlds definitely hits the horror movie sweet spot. It’s a parasitic relationship for The Jester, but the innocent Max sees it more as a budding friendship before she begins to understand his violent nature. The Jester attempts to bridge the murderous divide through symbiosis, allowing her to offer up her bullies for the ritual. Thematic subtext asserting that kids should remain true to themselves and draw from that strength permeates throughout the film. At the same time, the surface-level chaos factor goes hard with the body count rising as Max tries to find any way out of her situation. The result is a fantastic finale that certainly has me wondering where Krawchuk plans to take the franchise next.
The Jester 2 isn’t the most adult-themed film you’re likely to see this Halloween season, but it retains that campy Halloween movie sentiment that could make this a generational throwback for a teenage audience for years to come. The film is aimed at the teenage crowd, applying some cartoonish kills within a misfit plotline. Adults should find excitement and terror in The Jester’s sadistic menace and deceptions, and if you enjoy yearly watches of films like Hocus Pocus, The Gate, or Clown in a Cornfield, The Jester 2 will add a little adolescent delight to your Halloween. Still, parents should be warned in case they have the wrong impression. The Jester 2 is a boisterous roller coaster ride of devilish shenanigans and mayhem, but it’s currently unrated and contains violence, some bloody effects work, and language, which may not be appropriate for the littler ones.
The Jester 2 will be in theaters for two days only on September 15 and 16 as a collaboration between Epic Pictures’ DREAD label and Fathom Entertainment.
