User reviews

A telephone sex service named "Suite Nothings" is being tormented by an insane killer, who knocks off the beautiful woman on the other end of the phone one by one, in many brutal ways. So now, one of the women and their boyfriend who is a prime suspect of these sex-related crimes by the police try to work who is this killer that hides behind a clown's mask with their twisted sense of humour. This leads them too so many unexpected clues and suspicious suspects, which just keep on popping up.

Well, this is my second viewing of this film and it hasn't improved on my first one bit, but its mildly amusing despite we've seen it all before. What we got here is a reasonably sub-standard slasher with A LOT of sleaze, sex and added nastiness, with some very twisted humour along the way too. Although some things actually don't work, and you'll be snickering at how ridiculous certain set-ups are and how outrageous the violence is. Even the oh so many coincidences and why would you do that scenarios that crop up doesn't help either. Its main problem was that it took itself FAR to seriously in spots, making it funny in parts that it shouldn't have been. But then again, this is what really keeps you watching this particular film. I'm hoping its trying to be a parody on the sub-genre. Hold on, I almost forgot… a cheesy, but sometimes-erotic soundtrack helps you get into the 80's spirit!

The actual plot has so many twists, turns and plenty of red herrings, with certain sub-plots being left up in the air and characters disappearing from on screen. Such as one of b-grades finest Karen Black, one of the film's strong points… her character just vanishes after the halfway point. This is why certain things you pick up don't make too much sense and why at times it tries to be a moving drama, then comedy and a sudden u-turn into horror. Please make your mind up! It just seems there was too much going on at times, which gave it a padded feel. When it finally comes to the outlandish climax the killer's identity is a real let down in my opinion. Overall, the killer was just too goofy and cracked too many lame one-liners.

Fine performances from an exceptional b-cast (Cameron Dye, Bud Cort, Tracy Walter, Geoffery Lewis, Starr Andreeff, Paul Bartel, Tab Hunter). There was your occasional flat or eccentric performance and the cross dresser Divine makes a small cameo as a police detective. It's just that most of the characters were unlikeable and the dialogue that came from their mouths was shallow trite. The actual production wasn't too shabby and there were some well setup sequences. But where's was the suspense? Actually, what am I going on about? Oh right, it's a cheesy 80s slasher film.

Overall, there's some fun to be had with it providing enough nudity and cheap violence, which you expect from this type of film.

The involvement of Paul Bartel in "Out of the Dark" goes beyond his appearance, with an atrocious wig, as the manager of the seedy Royale Motel. As executive producer he has influenced Bartel-like dark humor throughout the film. The supporting cast alone is reason to seek this one out. You get "Lust in the Dust" alumni Lanie Kazan, Geoffrey Lewis, Tab Hunter, and "Divine". In addition, Tracey Walters, Karen Black, and Bud Cort are on board. This story of a clown masked killer murdering phone sex girls, is creatively photographed, and the performances are enthusiastic. Unfortunately, "Out of the Dark" was "Divine's": final film. ...................... - MERK

A pretty routine thriller, but competently directed and relatively well-written. At first it seems to play all its cards too early, but it does keep some surprises in store. Some intense horror sequences help, but in the final 5 minutes the film resorts into standard cliches and implausibilities (killers that just won't die, forgotten characters appearing out of nowhere, etc).

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs n found it to be a bit terrifying cos of the clown mask n the baseball bat n shovel scenes.

Revisited it recently on a fast forward mode.

The movie has enuff kills n nudity but the sex scene is lousy cos its shot in dim light n fast cut editing.

Tracey Walter was not at all convincing as a cop and his character barging inside a house with a shotgun and that too outta nowhere is like yo man wtf is that.

Walter got stereotyped as a comical character actor, especially aft Conan the Destroyer.

Another big wtf moment is the killer rising up after being shot as if it has some supernatural powers.

There is a very stupid scene where a guy sneaks inside an accountant's office but how he manages to get out is never shown. Like a piece of cake and that too with the accountant present.

For a grade-B slasher, this isn't too awful. Tone down the forced nudity and dopey killer and they could've had something even better. As it is a clown-masked nut is dispatching the hot chicks of a phone se....uh, phone *fantasy* hotline. The mystery aspect is very well executed, which is why I say this could've been a lot more if they went for realism. Instead it's a giddy killer, Freddy Kruegering his way through some routine murders. "Don't call me, I'll call you!" he groans after strangling one of the girls. Then all of a sudden the director goes for nasty gore when a hooker is dismantled and left in a bloody bathtub. The cast is really above par (the girls are gorgeous), with some unknowns turning in good performances, along with veteran journeymen (and women) such as Black, Owens, Cort, and in his one big part I've ever seen, Tracey Walter. Long ago infamous crossdresser Divine even shows up for a scene. And Paul Bartel (who ex. prod.), too! Danielson and Dye carry the film well, and have maybe the most steamy sex scene I've ever watched (even moreso than say, "Fatal Attraction"). The ending provides a good shock and makes this not totally useless. So if you can find it, give it a shot. "It's time for Bobo!"

This was more of a thriller/mystery than a horror. Don't get me wrong, it does have its horror and slasher elements, but these come in more towards the end. There was a lot of unnecessary padding by the way of sex scenes which seemed to drag forever. The best parts are at the end when the killer is unmasked. And there's also the classic Haloween style ending which is quite cool. There are moments of tension when the woman is being stalked down a flight of stairs too.

Overall though this film is nothing special and I wouldn't say it lives up to how good it sounds (ie. phone sex workers being stalked by a killer in a clown mask). Watch it if you love clown type killers, but this is not essential viewing if you are a horror/slasher fan.

Lively thriller about a clown who stalks the beautiful ladies of an L.A. sex hotline that has a keen eye for the visual and a macabre performance from Cort, whom many may suspect as the killer...but...you must dig deeper to find the answer to that one.

OUT OF THE DARK (1988) is one of the more forgettable slashers out there and it's not one you hear discussed much which is hardly surprising. The setting is a phone sex centre, where the female employees find themselves menaced by a caller who fancies him self as Bobo the Clown and uses a baseball bat to bump the women off one at a time.

This one veers more towards the erotic than the sinister, with lots of models stripping off and photo shoots that add nothing to the story and perfunctory kill scenes. They do cast old-timers Geoffrey Lewis and Karen Black for good measure, and the presence of an investigating cop adds police procedural flavour. But I found the clown's Freddy-style wisecracks and laughter ("It's time for Bobo!") more annoying than scary and the 'twist' ending is anything but.

Beautiful, young female models, who all work at a downtown 'phone sex company (run by horror legend Karen Black), are being stalked and slashed by a nut called Bobo the Clown. My VHS sleeve calls it "A Frighteningly Erotic Thriller", and yes it is that. It is also a slasher movie, probably one of the better late 80's entries. There is plenty of soft sex and nudity, plus it is pretty tense at times and has some brutal kills. It also has plenty of humour in the script, for example one cop says to another "Look at the guy, probably gets more ass than a toilet seat!" Divine, in his last movie role, plays another cop and comes out with "That stupid schmuck couldn't find his pecker in his pocket!" There is a good B-movie feel here, and I liked the balance of horror and humour. Plot wise it is nothing taxing, a few red herrings are thrown in here and there, but it is an enjoyable film. Sadly the British release is cut by 94 seconds, I would really like to see it uncut.

Someone calling himself Bobo makes short creepy calls to a "phone fantasy" line. One of the women working there walks home alone through a park, and encounters a man wearing a slightly over-sized clown head mask. She doesn't make the connection to the called named Bobo, for some reason. They play mimed baseball together, and then he kills her with the baseball bat saying "you're out!"

A wisecracking killer clown is stalking the women of the phone sex line. How original (sarcasm).

Police suspicion falls on Kevin - the boyfriend of one of the phone sex workers. He is also in charge of photographing the other women, and he had worked for the estranged husband of the operator of the phone sex company. There are a number of other suspects for the audience, including ones played by character actors Bud Cort and Geoffrey Lewis (the estranged husband) but he's really the only one the police pursue. There are a lot of other character actors in the movie like a detective played by Tracey Walter, and a gratuitous Tab Hunter cameo.

More of the women from the company are killed. There's some gratuitous nudity, though relatively little overall. One scene is a slow-motion photoshoot with a smoke machine and colored lights, set to instrumental music, like a bad 80s music video. Lame. Some of the murders are not particularly graphic, though there are some scenes featuring some blood.

There are some rather stupid scenes, like the fact the characters twice enter Bud Cort's office just after he has left, twice bump the lights, and twice the blinking lights are noticed by Cort. At another point, a character has an alibi for a murder (though it is one he'd used before), but inexplicably rushes away blowing the alibi, only to be caught shortly thereafter. You'd expect for a character to have a good motivation to blow an alibi, but this one doesn't.

Actor Divine shows up towards the end as a male (!) police detective who'd been mentioned a few times throughout the film. The film itself is dedicated to his memory.

The ending of the movie is practically stolen right out of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), though I think it's safe to say at this point there won't be a sequel for Out of the Dark. If anything, a prequel, not a sequel, was hinted at by brief mentions of murders the clown committed while working for the circus prior to the events of this movie.

I love killer clown movies. I love mysteries. A murder mystery about a killer clown....HELL YEAH! To be honest. I liked this film. I really enjoyed it. The movie had a lot going for it. Some well known faces, a downright scary killer, some great visuals. A good amount of humour and overall a fun time was had.

Acting:

Cameron Dye: was very good as the protagonists boyfriend, He gave an enjoyable performance and I liked him onscreen.

Lynn Danielson: I don't know really. There were moments when her dialogue felt embarrasingly forced and OTT.

Karen Black: Black doesn't really need to do much here but what she does is certainly not bad.

Tracey Walter: The guy came across hilarious as the smart alec main cop of the film. His sarcasm was a hoot.

As for the film being scary or gory the version I saw was certainly not gory apart from one scene but as far as scary goes it depends on how scared of clowns you are. The site of a clown driving slowly after you at night time may freak you out if you suffer from coulrophobia

The mystery of who was behind the clown mask was good. Though I have read reviews which claim the identity of the killer is very obvious I don't know. If I hadnt had the film spoiled for me before I saw it I am not sure if I would have correctly guessed the culprit. Bobo was cool. He had a creepy deep voice and I LOVED his clown mask! (wish I had one like that) it was just very unnerving. The copy I own is obviously heavily cut because there is only one sex scene. (Very steamy I must add)

Be warned! In no way is this film original. In fact it is very cliched and follows some obvious nods to other films (Black Christmas, Halloween.

The film does what it is supposed to. Entertains you for the time its on.

Pretty standard stuff, serial killer dressed as clown terrorizes phone sex girls, yada yada yada. It is more unintentionally humorous than most though, and has some disturbing moments, so its not a complete waste. Also, it has Divine's last performance (not in drag!). Don't go out of your way to see it, but if you have friends over and need a laugh, you could do worse.

I had wanted to see this move for awhile and finally found an old VHS copy for 50p. It started out as quite a promising cheap thriller with some interesting cameo appearances promised in the main titles (Divine, Tab Hunter, Lainie Kazan, etc -- all from the movie Lust In The Dust). The first two thirds of the movie were good but the last part really spoiled it with a ridiculous ending and a poorly handled twist. That said i'll probably watch it again one of these days. Incidentally, the 1992 cable movie Intimate Stranger starring Deborah Harry totally 'borrows' the beginning to this film, virtually scene for scene/word for word too. If you like this movie, you'll like that one too.

"Out of the Dark" is an unknown & obscure, but surprisingly good late 80's thriller/slasher that massively surpassed my expectations. Sure it's unoriginal, predictable and derivative of approximately a dozen of other movies, but at least the pacing is stable and the level of suspense is admirably high throughout. It's too easy to point out all the clichés and little defaults, but it's much more fun to enjoy the nicely grim atmosphere, the adequate performances by familiar B-movie actors and the vivid killer clown character Bobo! Horror queen Karen Black stars as Ruth; the Mother Goose of a phone-sex agency L.A., inventively named Suite Nothing, but lately her girls are being terrorized by a psychopath that calls himself Bobo the Clown. Even more disturbing is that Bobo actually stalks the girls when they return home at night and butchers them in various sickening ways. And I do mean sickening, like the poor girl who's bludgeoned to death or another one who's literally hacked up in a bathtub. The cynical cop Lt. Meyers sets up a trap for Bobo, but this only results in more violent killing. Myers is convinced that the hunky photographer (and boyfriend to one of the phone-sex girls) is the culprit, but there are other suspects like the perverted accountant Stringer and Ruth's drunken ex-husband. "Out of the Dark" is quite similar to the streak of misogynist-thrillers that came out during the late 70's and early 80's. They were movies in which a perverted and sleazy male individual, who never bothered much to keep his identity a secret, targets all women because one woman wronged him. These were generally vile and hugely exploitative films (like "Maniac" and "Don't Go in the House") plentiful of sleazy and sadism, but without much depth. The creators of this particular gem at least tried a little harder. There's a lot of effort to keep Bobo's real identity hidden and no less than two stereotypical male characters are killed in order to keep the ratio with murdered girls in balance. It's a particularly praiseworthy gesture towards feminism to kill of 1) a fat and lazy Hispanic bastard and 2) a voyeuristic copper. Bobo himself is a genuinely creepy character with an uncanny mask, eerie voice and a marvelous sense of sadistic humor. He's one of the best killer clowns out there in the horror industry, and for that reason alone I find it bizarre that "Out of the Dark" isn't wider known. Because it was the eighties, there naturally also is some gratuitous nudity (in the form of a steaming sex-sequence) and a lot of sexual innuendo. The numerous fragments from the phone-sex conversations unceasingly use terms like "throbbing", "tool", "muscle", etc… By the way, it's pretty hilarious that the phone sex girls dress sexy and put on tons of make-up just to talk to guys they can't even see. As briefly mentioned already, "Out of the Dark" is a delight for fans of B-movie actors. Karen Black is terrific, but there are also great roles for Bud Cort (as the suspicious accountant) and Tracey Walter as the sardonic cop. You especially should keep an eye open for cameo appearances by Divine ("Pink Flamingos") as a disgusting Police Detective and Paul Bartel ("Eating Raoul", "Death Race 2000") as the sleazy motel owner.

I seem to be on a slasher kick today. This one is about a clown named Bobo that targets phone-sex girls.

Karen Black, Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner for Five Easy Pieces, Golden Globe winner for The Great Gatsby, and Golden Globe nominee for The Day of the Locust; along with Geoffrey Lewis, Golden Globe nominee for "Flo" are featured, along with Divine in his/her last film.

At least this one had some interesting points of interest, especially Lynn Danielson-Rosenthal as Kristi Larson (no relation).

Nice ending.

I for one was always a watcher of B suspense horror flicks and the 80's produced some good ones the way they were done with sex, skin, and guessing suspense. I just recently viewed this one little gem called "Out of the Dark" and it's a watch as it will pass a late night. The setting is in the city of angels L.A. and the beautiful up and coming women who want to be movie stars first work the lines of a high priced and stylish phone sex service. And suddenly one by one each of the ladies start to be brutally murdered. So the questions begin is it a crazy client or customer? The film's theme of suspense and doubt is well showcased as it shows many crazy characters from the company accountant to the ladies current picture taker to a washed up alcoholic photo man. Oddly and in a strange way with each murder the killer hides behind a creepy clown mask! Aside from this suspense thriller being entertaining and a cat and mouse game of a psychotic killer it features work of veteran B movie queen Karen Black as the owner of the phone sex service line. And look for character actor and Jack Nicholson buddy Tracey Walter as the police Lt. that investigates the murders. Overall good little B movie treat.

Was surprised how competent and engrossing the first and second acts of this film were. Love the phone-sex hotline setting, don't think I've ever seen that in an 80s horror flick before and I really dug it. It made sense and it laid the groundwork for what happens in the second act.

Moving on: I like the "giallo" aspect of the second act. It's mysterious -- who is it?! That's the question of every giallo film (i.e. "Deep Red") and giallo-inspired film (i.e. "I Know What You Did Last Summer").

But by the third act, unfortunately, the film runs out of steam and the ending is half-hearted and dumb. Bad ending! So dumb.

Anyway, I'd say this film is still worth watching. (May 2022)

What a truly bad movie. Bad direction, bad writing, bad photography, bad acting, huge plot holes, and glaring police procedure errors. Karen Black was OK in this, but no one else. I think it could only have been saved with a LOT more gratuitous nudity.