Hellbreeder
Tags: insanity, revenge, murder, violence

Plot synopsis:
English police are baffled after a number of children are brutally murdered. Alice (Uphill) takes a profound interest in the murders as her own son, Daniel, was killed years ago and she is haunted by recurring nightmares. The event replays in her mind, as she remembers walking her son home late one night when they stop to rest on a park bench. They sit next to a clown, who gives Daniel a balloon. A man then rushes at them from the darkness and kills Daniel, injuring his mother. Alice clearly remembers the man's face. The same man has been spotted close to each of the murders in the current slayings. She confides this to Detective Weiss, the investigating officer.
Alice finds and confronts the man, and holds a gun to his head but can't bring herself to kill him. She instead takes him prisoner in an effort to hear his story. The man's name is Sam and informs Alice that he is hunting a creature from hell who kills children. Alice is unsure whether to believe him when she receives a call informing her that another child has been killed in front of witnesses, who report the murderer as being a clown. It is now that she comes to the realization that it wasn't Sam who killed her child but the clown and that her memory was wrong. She agrees to help Sam, who has been present at the murders not as a perpetrator but as the hunter of the monster, known as the Hellbreed.
Meanwhile, Detective Weiss has pulled up Alice's files and it is revealed that she has been committed to a mental institution in 1989. She escaped in 1995 and is still wanted by the authorities. Alice is handcuffed and taken to the institute. Outside they encounter the Hellbreed who kills Detective Weiss but leaves Alice unharmed and backs away. Sam arrives and kills the Hellbreed.
The film is interspersed with footage of Alice being interviewed, supposedly back at the institution after the events occurred. In this way she acts as a narrator. It is seen at that Alice has not obtained peace and breaks down in front of the camera before the image fades to black.

Review: While watching "Hellbreeder" on DVD, I was really trying to understand what was happening on the screen.
I decided to stop the movie for a moment and read the cover of the DVD seeking a hint.
However, the only thing that I could notice is that the directors and writer apparently were under effect of acid or LSD when they wrote and shot the film, and the images are probably based on a bad trip.
This movie is simply awful, among the worst I have ever seen.
Further, I can not understand why this flick is tagged "horror" - actually "Hellbreeder" is horrible and dreadful, a waste of time.
At no time throughout this movie did I know what was happening.
It was a headache to watch and certainly I read on the back of the DVD what it was meant to be about.
Unfortunately I had to watch it all as it was a part of the crappy movie marathon we were having but this one takes the cake.....
Why money was wasted on putting this supposed film on DVD I have no idea.
AMAZING that anyone thought 70's crooner Darren Day would make a scary bad guy by slapping a bit of clown make up on him and forcing him to say the F word.AMAZING that out of all the lead actresses they could have picked for the part, they chose one that can't act for toffee, and doesn't even look good with her clothes off (with or without the big, fake chest scar which incidentally, brings me to...)AMAZING that the make-up effects can actually be worse than every cheapo 50's horror I've seen, and considering how many late nights I've had in front of my old VCR, that's some achievement.AMAZING that the financiers didn't take one look at the script for this ridiculous thing (I dare not denigrate the word film) and didn't run for the hills.And AMAZING that anyone can give it more than 1 out of 10.
The other 5% will probably take the DVD home, and watch it repeatedly as a way of getting their fix without going to the nightclub.
This movie is really a strange, weird, paranoic descent into the depths of the hells of the mind of a deranged woman, gone crazy for the loss of his child.
The score, made by the director and writer of this movie, is probably too similar to Carpenter's one for his masterpiece Halloween, but it is functional to the situation (and there are also influences by other past scores by Morricone and such for several of the Italian giallos from the Seventies).
If you like good cinematography and weird stuff, this movie is definitely worth a viewing (even for the beauty of the lead actress), while if you prefer a clear explanation of what's going on, it's better to leave this movie on the shelves of your video-retailer.
It was hard to follow, confusing, and just ridiculous to ever put the label "Horror" on it.Something about a psycho woman witnessing her sons death and becoming obsessed with finding her sons killer (and i only know that from reading the movie cover).
Its a waste of time and money, not even bad enough to be laughed at.
The only reason the actors could categorized as "good" actors is because they had a maximum of three lines each in the movie!
The entire time my head was ringing with some shitty Michael Myers/Circus/hypnotizing music sh*!...The only reason I rated it a 2 instead of a 1 is because I was put through the high school movie production of "Near Death" last night..
worst film ever.
How the hell did Darren Day get any acting part - when I realised he was in it I was totally put off (if you are English you will know all that he has ever done or is famous for is poor seaside style singing and dumping girlfriends at the altar), but I still gave it a chance...
Avoid this film or anything Darren Day has attached to!!
Bad, rubbish, worst British film ever..
If you have to watch this film (for example as a punishment in a prison or something) shut your eyes and close your ears!!
Unwatchable t*rd, unbearable, actually irritating, hateful crud, painfully dull, painfully feeble, had me hitting fast-forward, the director should be shot, but not before I get my £1.99 refund, Darren Day is the worst person alive - you have to see his retarded scene where he is covered in dirt getting sucked off in the back of a van, it is a atrocious, the whole thing is atrocious - Day even pulls out a script towards the end and starts flicking through it...
my God - spooky clowns and dead kids, who gives a damn, give me a break, I'm taking the hammers to this, if I ever see the director(s) (it took two people to sh*t this out?) down a dark street, I'm going to set the dogs on them.
Although the killer has been seen and sketched, and although everyone knows what he looks like, he for some reason can't be caught.
If it were the FBI doing the investigating, that result would be no surprise, but this film takes place in England.Alice, who seems to have no job of any kind, is obsessed with tracking down her child's murderer.
As the film progresses, the line between her visions and reality fades, and we wonder more and more whether particular events shown are real or just in her head.
This dynamic takes over the film, very effectively, and the plot moves into some surprising places (which I won't reveal here).This movie reminded me at times of an old Italian giallo -- and I love a good giallo.
Most of the acting was second-rate or unremarkable at best, but Lynndie Uphill, the actress who plays Alice, was truly impressive in what seems to me to have been quite a challenging role.
Alas, according to this site, Hellbreeder has been her only film to date.
Some of the writing was quite good, and some of the music was lovely -- but at times the story would drag or drift off into overdone special effects or long, boring shots of characters looking introspective.
Nevertheless, this film's premise was quite interesting and dynamic.
Although the film lags at many places, it was worth watching overall.
I have not seen this yet, but I have seen the original cut, called "Alice" and that was great, i loved the whole film, it was creepy and cool, the colour of the film is great Kodak reversal stock, makes it look great.
The director Johannes, says that hellbreeder is completely different from Alice, which is a shame, Alice is amazingly good, parts remind me of Clockwork orange, but hell man, Alice is great, If you can find it, which I think is impossible then Alice is worth a watch.
Cant say more than that really, But for a cool colour how the film is shot, then check it out!
A woman must put her life back together while chasing after a homicidal killer clown murders her son in this excruciatingly bad exercise in tedium masquerading as a horror film.Those of you who hoping for a nice 'killer clown' horror flick will be sadly disappointed as the writing/directing team of James Eaves and Johannes Roberts have vastly different plans for those foolish enough to dare watch this film.
Plans that involve artsy camera shots, an undeserved aura of pretentiousness, incomprehensible story-line, and other 'art school film project'-type pitfalls.
No suspense, no scares, characters that are hard to give a toss about, & a soundtrack that rips-off Halloween (and does so badly) are just a few more reasons to skip this film.
The worst movie ever!.
I have seen lots of movies, good and bad, but this was the worst movie ever, the only horror movie i've seen where the most horrible thing was the movie itself!!!!
It reminded me of a home movie gummed together by my aunt Flo after a drunken and diurretic trip to Mexico.
Please don't waste your time or money on this dog, give some blood instead, you won't see any in this movie and when you do you won't care because you're ready to scream from boredom!!!!
Don't watch unless you're just currious how bad a movie can be and still make into your local video shop, the most horrible horror movie ever!!!.
Looked Funny But Soon Turned Sad. Well i always try to find a positive in all movies but this kinda bad It's a very bad movie i for one just lost total interest I couldn't stay focused on the movie One thing i must say is reading the cover it sounded kinda cool But as cool as it sounded and as funny as the cover was it was just sad For me like i said i try to find a positive in all movies But i can't find a positive the only positive is i saw it on DVD So i had the option of hitting EJECT Because this is just bad but hey i'm sure there are people who may get it I don't though it may be one of those movies you have to watch twice But i sure won't be watching it again lol.
This awful film fell into the hands of my friend recently and I was unfortunate enough to be there that night as he watched it.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge horror movie fan.
I love both A and B horror but this was the first film in years that actually had me screaming in agony in my head.
I could think of no other movie that had made me feel so anxious for the ending.
I normally can overlook those while watching B-movie horror but in this case it all worked for the worse.
The lead female's (Alice) son had at some point in the past been horribly murdered whilst on the way home.
Alice's family blamed her for the entire tragedy and Alice had gone mad with guilt because she blamed herself.As she couldn't believe anyone could such a horrible crime to a child she invented an inhuman monster (a clown) as the perpetrator.
Most of the film is a strange fantasy as I think she's never supposed to leave the mental institution where she's locked up.
Also Darren Day wanders around symbolising Alice's alter ego, A strong version of herself who can do what she could not and fight off the monster that murdered her son.This may or may not be the plot of the film, to be quite honest within 5 minutes of the film starting you will desperately want to turn it off.
I guarantee you will not care one bit.This is an art horror film with very little script and it's clear the actors are struggling with the few awful lines they do have.
The film instead relies on symbolism to push the story forward.
I also refuse to believe anyone would knowingly make anything so bad.The only good point about the entire thing is that the lead actress is quite attractive.
But that in itself is no reason to watch..
You're either gonna love or hate this movie.
Whoever made this obviously loved both the book version and Tim Curry movie version of Stephen Kings "IT", coz this is almost a perfect complete rip off of it.
Some of the characters and story have been changed, of course, to, I'm assuming, avoid copyright infringement laws, but minus those, its almost the same movie, and I doubt that poor Mr. King got paid a dime.
This movie is dangerously close to that line..
This movie lives up to it's name, no joke (that's why there's a clown in the movie, anyways...) After watching this rubbish (thankfully it's only an hour and a half) I had nightmares for 2 weeks about how poor this crud was and where to start?
the poor graphics, the pathetic ending which makes no sense whatsoever and what the hell is up with the drunk detective and all the flashbacks?
no, there was no damn plot, this movie was just a waste of time, if you ever see a copy of this film anywhere, make sure you burn it and run.the only thing truthful about this film is that after watching it, it did indeed breed hell into my mind, for making me put up with it..
This movie known as "Hellbreader" IS THE WORST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN.
Is this even a movie?
The cover of the DVD is funny, an ugly and funny clown smiling and with the words "Ja,Ja.Ja" on the upper corner, and yeah, there's something funny, the main character is not only boring and annoying, but her family is calling her some quite good nicknames...
You think to yourself, "Maybe I'll get a bad horror film tonight and enjoy some pathetic film making." You walk down the isles of movies and one catches your eye.
A movie known as Hellbreeder.
You think to yourself, "This looks interesting." Well trust me you couldn't be more wrong.
This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
I can say this because I have seen the worst of the worst B-Horror films, from Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space, to the early 80's Scalps.
The plot will remind you of Stephen King's IT; a scary clown that kills little kids.
This plot is good for the basis of a horror film, yes.
But what it lacks is any kind of acting, dialog, camera stability, good special effects, and really there is no way to tell what is happening.
There are actually scenes in this movie that made me very sick because of the camera movements.
I really do not know what else to say to express my disgust in this movie.
How the hell does this kind of movie end up getting distribution?
The script is terrible, the story makes no sense - (rumour has it that Darren Day disappeared two-thirds of the way through realising what a stinker he'd involved himself with).
If you've seen/read Stephen King's "It," don't bother with this movie.
Let's see....killer clown who has been around for well over a hundred years who kills little children.
No one seems to be able to solve the mysterious murders, and, what a surprise, only kids are able to see the clown.
There's a scene where he kills a little girl in her yard amongst sheets hanging on a clothes line.
If only the clown's name in Hellbreeder had've been Pennywizard....
This film was extremely disappointing for a variety of reasons and instead of typing a summary (which you can read on the back of the box) I will do my best to address some of the issues I had with this movie.1.)Stephen King Did it Better- The movie version of "It" is not as good as the novel, or even that great of film, in that the editing and re-imagining weren't that good.
I do think, however, that the story idea was very original and scary.
While watching "Hellbreeder", I was totally put off by the fact that the screenplay had several "coincidences" that have nothing to do with coincidence.
Centuries old thing masking itself as a clown to kill children in their backyards with sheets blowing-would be one of these coincidences.2.)Leave the Surrealism to Argento, Boys- The filming techniques in this movie were interesting but too distracting.
Watching the actress walk and stalk for ten minutes is not even suspenseful, let alone thrilling.
Plus the repetition becomes almost comedic instead of horrifying.3.)When Good Special Effects Happen to Bad Films- The blood effects are pretty damn good, as is the scar on the actress' body, which does lead to a pretty chilling scene.
Once more, it was wasted on a film where you're trying to figure out what the hell is going on.4.)Actors are NOT Bodily Functions- The detectives in this film are truly pointless in the end and are used like vehicles or bodily functions: something to get something done automatically.
I hate when filmmakers can only make a plot move by adding someone for no real reason and then not even fleshing out the character.-Overall, this movie is a poor attempt at artsy-fartsy horror..
Okay, I have mixed feelings about Hellbreeder, firstly because the story was a little confusing and hard to follow.
Now having said that, it's actually not a bad film.
It would have been much better if it had been filmed differently.
The acting was good, I LOVE Dominique Pinon and Lyndie Uphill was interesting if a little unconventional.
All up, a good film that could have been a lot better if the story had been a little more more coherent and if it had been shot in a more straight forward way..
The creepy clown cover and quote "he's not clowning around"took my eye with a hope of either a Horror/slasher or possibly a b grade movie that might have some laughs.Man was i mistaken.
This movie might be OK to see if you had smoked some wicked herb or taken some acid, though because i hadnt it just made me angry.The story/plot was not original and the constant use of similar sounding riffs to the john carpenter halloween theme and the ëxcorcist theme quickly became annoying.Alice witnessed the death of her son or did she?
Was it the good clown,bad clown an evil serial killer or herself?
I don't know if this film was SUPPOSED to be open for interpretation if this was the writer/directors master plan...
i don't think it was.maybe i am not really here typing this review and i am secretly in some mental hospital thinking about writing this review?.Overall this film blows.1/10