The Clöyne

"Bring me a child!"

- The Cloyne

The Cloyne is a demonic child-eating clown and the titular main villain of the 2014 horror film Clown.

It was portrayed primarily by Andy Powers, while Eli Roth makes a brief cameo as the creature.

Role
The Cloyne 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 red nose blistered from the cold, its pale completion with no sunlight, and a horn on its head resembling a funny hat. It would lure children into its cave and devour them on the spot, luring them in with funny tricks, laughter, anything to gain a child's trust. Somehow the Cloyne was caught and then turned into a costume; its red nose and skin was made into a suit and its hair into a rainbow-colored wig.

It was later on discovered by one man named Herbert Karlsson centuries later, who owned a costume store and had received it from an Icelandic boat.

He was the brother of cancer treatment specialist, Dr. Martin Karlsson, who had not only having been the previous owner of the clown costume, but also having previously suffered the same terrible effects of wearing it. Wanting to give the children hope, Herbert dawned 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. Herbert was freed of the costume with no knowledge of what he had done, but Martin had told him of the situation, and both vowed to destroy it.

Later in the year 2014, in contemporary America, 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 Kent' son's party is going to be a disaster. Yet, in the attic of one of the houses Kent was overseeing for the sale, Kent discovers an old 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. 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, and he was the brother of cancer treatment specialist Dr. Martin Karlsson, who had not only having been the previous owner of the clown costume, but also having previously suffered the same terrible effects of wearing it. The costume turns out to actually be the skin and hair of an ancient demon known as the "Cloyne", the "original clown". Herbert Karlsson then tries unsuccessfully to kill Kent, attempting to behead him.

Kent escapes and moves away from his family after breaking his brother -in-law's arm after he tries to rip his "wig" off. Kent finally becomes aware of his nature and tries to fight his new instinct and hunger as they continue to grow stronger and stronger, until he is contemplating suicide. He goes into a hotel shoots himself in the mouth, but this proves unsuccessful. He later tries to decapitate himself with a power saw, only to accidentally kills 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 Cloyne) tricks Jack into letting him lose so he can kill a bully at his school-succeeding in doing so and later goes to Chuck E. Cheese and kills two more children.

Meg tries to understand what is afflicting her husband and attempts to help him fight against the demon that is dominating his body. They eventually re-partner with Karlsson, with the intent to free Kent, Karlsson prepared to decapitate Kent should the freeing process not work. Meg discovers that in the past Martin Karlsson was freed from the clown costume by offering the demon what it wanted: children. In this, Herbert was aided by his brother Martin, who was the director of clinical oncology of children that chose to sacrifice children that were terminally ill. Since then, Karlsson's brother Martin kept the clown costume in a trunk in his home until his death which led to being discovered by Kent. The same exchange is proposed from Kent's wife Meg to her husband who has now become the living vessel of the Cloyne itself: to offer a child sacrifice. Otherwise he 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. 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 monster, then knocks his head off with a hammer.

In the end, the accursed costume was 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 Cloyne and allowing the nightmare to resume. This leaves it unknown as to whether or not the demon will stay dead.

Personality
The Cloyne is an extremely manipulative and predatory demon. It is capable of playing on a person's emotions. Whether or not the being had to feast on children for survival does not excuse it's sadistic behavior-given it went beyond such heinous actions by forcing Kent McCoy to to brutally murder his father-in-law, and going to far as to try having him devour the fetus of Meg's unborn child and later his own son, Jack, all for little to no reason other than petty cruelty.

Trivia

 * According to the drawings of Cloyne, the demon might have been around since the medieval times.
 * Other drawings depicts the Cloyne appearing during the Renaissance Period and in modern times (mostly likely a drawing of Dr. Martin Karlsson when he was the host of the Cloyne).
 * In November 2010, it was announced 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. It's 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.".
 * His name was revealed in a song written and performed by the singer, Benjamin Dickinson.
 * The demon's true name comes from Cloyne (Irish: Cluain), a small town located to the southeast of Midleton in eastern County Cork, Ireland.