The Clöyne is a demonic child-eating clown and the titular main antagonist of the 2014 horror film Clown.
It was portrayed primarily by Andy Powers.
Role[]
The Clöyne was an ancient demon residing in mountain caves in the Nordic regions of Europe.
The legend stated that it was the origin for the look of the Clown itself.
Its bloody red nose blistered from the cold, its pale snow-like completion with no sunlight, a horn on its head resembling a funny party hat, and large feet that inspired the size and shape for clown boots.
It would lure children into its cave with funny tricks, laughter, anything to gain a child's trust-only to devour them on the spot. Somehow the Clöyne was caught and most likely decapitated - as it is revealed that the head, hands, and feet dissolve once its head is off, leaving only its hair, skin, and nose.
After the legend of the Clöyne was forgotten and it inspired the clown, its remaining body parts were made into a costume; its red nose and snow white skin into a suit and its hair into a rainbow-colored wig.
Later on and by accident, it was discovered by one man named Herbert Karlsson centuries later, who owned a costume store and had received it from an Icelandic aristocrat on an estate sale in Iceland.
He was the brother of the cancer treatment specialist, Dr. Martin Karlsson. Wanting to give the children at his brother's hospital hope rather than deciding to sell the costume to the Moscow Circus from Russia, Herbert wore the costume to cheer them up. It slowly began to change him, and his brother Martin promised to find a cure; though he had to give in and gave the demon what it wanted: Five Children for Every Month of Winter to feast on-all of which were dying patients he found from his hospital he worked at.
Herbert was freed of the costume without any knowledge of what he had done, but Martin had told him of the situation, and both vowed to destroy it. However no matter what they did, be it burning it or dissolving it in acid, the costume would not be destroyed. So Martin kept it in Herbert's suitcase and chained in his basement.
Later in the year 2014, Martin died and real estate agent Kent McCoy, who is a loving husband and father, hosts a party celebrating his son Jack's 7th birthday and invited a clown to amuse Jack and his friends. At the last moment, however, the clown accidentally went to another party and the party of Kent's son is going to be a tragic disaster. Yet, in the basement of Martin's house, Kent discovers the clown "costume". He decides to entertain his son and his friends as a replacement clown for his son's party.
After the party, Kent falls asleep still wearing the clown costume, but the next morning, he is no longer able to take it off. He feels that the body suit, wig, and red nose are slowly and progressively adhering to his skin. Even his wife Meg begins to realize it. When she tries to help Kent remove the fake nose, it rips from his flesh wounding him. Kent also begins to show strange behavior, first he begins to have a deep sense of hunger, resulting in a noisy gurgling in his stomach. He also begins coughing up rainbow colored blood and his skin starts to turn pale.
Kent tries to understand what is happening to him, so he begins tracking down the previous owner of the costume, a man named Herbert Karlsson, who ran a costumes/textiles company called Karlsson Costumes which was started in 1975. When Kent goes to Herbert for help in removing it, Herbert invites him over to his warehouse and drugs him. He then tries unsuccessfully to kill Kent, attempting to behead him.
Kent escapes and kidnaps Hebert, and moves away from his family after breaking his brother-in-law's arm after he tries to rip his "wig" off. As Kent is driving Hebert to the police station, his hand and foot begin to grow bigger, and Herbert tries once more to kill him, only to result in his car crashing.
Kent finally becomes aware of his nature and tries to fight his new instinct and hunger as they continue to grow stronger and stronger-resulting in him biting a young boy's fingers off at a camp and almost eating a child in a restroom stall. This causes Kent to finally contemplate suicide. He goes into a motel that is on one of his properties and shoots himself in the mouth, but this proves to be unsuccessful. He later tries to decapitate himself with a power saw, only to accidentally kill a child (who had been bothering him earlier) with it and eats his body afterwards. Meg finds Kent and takes him home where she chains him in the basement. When she leaves, Kent (now under the influence of the Clöyne) tricks Jack into letting him lose, so he can kill a bully at his school-succeeding in doing so.
Meg tries to understand what is afflicting her husband and attempts to help him fight against the demon that is dominating his body. She eventually re-partners with Karlsson after he kills their inflicted dog (who had eaten the clown nose), with the intent to free Kent, but still prepared to decapitate him should the freeing process not work.
Meg and Herbert manage to track the Clöyne to a Chuck E. Cheese where it kills two more kids. After the Clöyne overpowers Karlsson, it makes a deal with Meg that it will release Kent if she offers it a child sacrifice. Otherwise it would devour their son Jack next. Meg, puzzled at first, then seems to give in to the demon's blackmail, but finally renounced her intention-and realizes that it was a false deal to distract her.
Meanwhile, the demon clown is back home in search of Kent's son Jack. The clown kills Jack's grandfather before ripping off his jaw, so Meg begins to fight with her husband to save herself (because, being pregnant, the demon is drawn to her womb and Kent's son Jack). After a long chase inside the house, Meg is able to chain the scary monster, then knocks his head off with a hammer-though this doesn't kill it right away, and she is forced to rip it off once it attacks her son one last time.
In the end, the accursed costume is last seen packed to be analyzed by the police as evidence from the crime scene. It is unclear what would become of the next unfortunate "wearer" should they come across the flesh of the Clöyne and allowing the nightmare to resume. This leaves it unknown as to whether or not the demon will stay dead.
Personality[]
The Clöyne is an extremely treacherous, manipulative, predatory, destructive and callous demon. This monster is capable of playing on or toying with a person's emotions. Whether or not the being had to feast on children for survival does not excuse its sadistic and dangerous behavior - given it went beyond such heinous and flagitious actions by forcing Kent McCoy to brutally murder his father-in-law, and going so far as to try having him devour the fetus of his unborn child and later his own son Jack - with full intent of killing more children afterwards - all for little to no reason other than petty cruelty.
While the Clöyne may have let Herbert Karlsson go when his brother gave it what it demanded, even this proved more of a curse than a blessing for Herbert given he wished Martin had killed him instead, as he had to live with the fact that he ate five children.
Added to this cruelty and evidenced by the preternatural curse of the iniquitous fiend, the Clöyne can play off the affection and emotions of other creatures, as it is also said to be capable of infecting through other body parts as he did with the McCoy family's pet dog Shadow with its nose, proving that even the smallest piece carries the curse.
Trivia[]
- According to the drawings of Clöyne, the demon might have been around since the medieval times. Other drawings depicts the Clöyne appearing during the Renaissance Period and modern times (most likely of Bert Karlsson when he was possessed by the costume).
- It is shown in one of the ancient drawings that Bert Karlsson wasn't the first host to fall victim to the costume.
- In November 2010, it was announced that Eli Roth would produce the film based on a faux movie trailer that used his name. Roth spoke about the film, saying: "I loved how ballsy they were, issuing a trailer that said, 'From the Master of Horror, Eli Roth', Some people thought I'd made the movie, or that it was another fake Grindhouse trailer…I really felt these guys deserved a shot, and that people are truly freaked out by evil clowns. Its new territory to make this a version of The Fly, where this guy can feel himself changing, blacking out only to find blood all over his clown suit. You're sympathetic toward a monster until the monster actually takes over.".
- The demon's true name comes from Cloyne (Irish: Cluain), a small town located to the southeast of Midleton in eastern County Cork, Ireland. The term "clöyne" is also the original English term for "clown" used in 1560.
- According to an interview with Andy Powers, the Clöyne is inspired by the mythical yuletide fiend, Krampus.
- While the Clöyne is played primarily by Andy Powers, a stunt double played the creature when he was fully transformed.
- It is unclear as to why the Clöyne didn't kill Jack when he set him free, and simply went for the bully. Though it is possible that while the Clöyne was influencing Kent's personality, it may not have had full control over him yet.