As he friends are being gruesomely murdered, a teen learns they're being targeted by a local fast-food clown mascot as revenge against a prank done by their parents and must stop the rampage.Overall this wasn't all that bad of a slasher effort. Like most efforts in the genre, what really works nicely here for this one is the rather enjoyable stalking and slashing featured throughout here, and there's some really enjoyable ones. The opening attack in the restaurant kitchen is quite fun for the series of enjoyable tactics that take place in the cramped location, a rather graphic encounter in the main restaurants' waiting room and a rather tense chase along through the abandoned school hallways which comes off a great highlight stalking sequence with plenty of great chasing, hiding and leading into the different rooms trying to escape. These lead into the biggest scene here in the finale at the house which goes into several rather tense confrontations in the basement as well as the kitchen chase with all the different defense tactics providing for a decent and enjoyable series of scenes before showcasing the rather chilling birthday party scene that really ends this on a fine note with the action on display. There's also a pretty decent backstory here for this one that culminates in a classic slasher story of a prank-gone-wrong coming back to haunt the next generation and the scene to showcase that is a rather enjoyable sequence that plays to genre convictions quite well, as does the graphic kills and creepy clown mask for the killer. There's a few small problems here, starting with the continuous amount of clichés in here. The main storyline here, about the killer returning to seek vengeance on a younger generation is itself quite a common motif used for many slashers, and beyond tying it to a fast-food mascot to utilize the clown mask there's not much original about most of the actions here. The group of friends are all typical clichés as well, and many of the supporting characters from the one who has a lot more knowledge than he lets on or the bumbling cop who's always wrong against his always-right partner are others in here. The other big flaw here is a rather confusing sequence that should've been a highlight is instead a confusing, jumbled mess of confusing editing and blurred motion as the attack in the funhouse is so haphazardly cut and edited that it really loses the impact of the great kill and bloodshed it could've displayed. The killer's antics may wear thin about cracking a joke after each kill, but these are the biggest issues here.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity, a brief sex scene and drug use.

The mascot for the Hella Burger fast food chain has taken on demonic life and is out to slaughter teenagers. It's up to Mackenzie (Leighton Meester) to unravel the mystery and save as many of her friends as she can from the maniacs' rampage."Drive Thru" is no better and no worse than most hip 21st century slash fests. It wears its influences on its sleeve so obviously that older genre buffs may be shaking their heads. One thing this viewer will say is that this movie is hella unoriginal. The acting is a bit better than one might expect; Meester is a capable heroine. There are a number of familiar faces here - Melora Hardin (as Meesters' mom), Larry Joe Campbell, Penn Badgley, Sean Whalen, and Clyde Kusatsu - and it's a hoot to note that the voice of the killer, Horny the Clown, is provided by veteran actor Gordon Clapp of 'NYPD Blue'. The movie also establishes its self referential nature by its stunt casting of documentarian Morgan Spurlock (the guy who made "Super Size Me") as a restaurant manager.In general, "Drive Thru" is passably entertaining. The pacing is decent, and the dialogue is worthy of some chuckles. Some of the jokes get old pretty fast, though, such as naming the two detectives (played by Campbell and the sexy Lola Glaudini) Chase and Crockers. I got it the first time. Also, in the tradition of many a horror movie monster, Hornys' lines often consist of silly one liners. There is a political subtext here that is awfully overstated for a bit and doesn't really add anything.It gets off to a rough start, with some very stereotypical white wannabe gangstas who are just annoying. And the ending is much too typical for this sort of thing. But at least there is some decent gore along the way.At its best, this is mildly amusing.Five out of 10.

Adding comedy to horror again proves a recipe for acid reflux in this poor man's Nightmare on Elm Street rip-off. Leighton Meester's (Gossip Girl) friends and classmates are getting knocked off by a local burger chain's clown mascot, Horny the Clown (yeah, imagine the yuk-fest that provides), and of course discovers it all ties in to something her mother and her friends, who are all now (gasp) parents of the murder victims, did when they were her age. It gets really tired really fast. I started paying attention to other things, like how it seemed like there might not have been any budget for hair and make-up, or even hot water on set since both Meester and Melora Hardin, playing her mom, sported kinda greasy limp hair in most (but not all) the scenes in the film. That and feeling bad that Lola Glaudini left Criminal Minds then took a top billed role in this as a cop partnered with comedy "relief" Larry Joe Campbell (According to Jim) barely helped pass the time until the end credits and last bad metal song rolled.

Now this one really was more fun than I expected. Pretty ridiculous acting from those ghetto-wannabe-white-boyz, so the opening scenes had me fearing the worst. But I was so glad to see they had it coming . This film worked, because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Nice, fast-paced and totally unoriginal plot that is kind of a throwback to many 80's slashers (like HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME and SLAUGHTER HIGH and a zillion others) mixed with a modern-day one-liner spewing villain. Fun gore-effects too, every now and then. Worth a watch, if you like slashers. And if you can't get with it, then my guess is you're taking things a tad bit too serious with this one.