TL;DR: Jitters wants to be scary, clever, and twisty, but ends up a bit confusing, dull, and occasionally ridiculous.
The Plot, Or Something Like It
The story follows Detective Inspector Cullymore, played by Fabrizio Santino, a cop who’s recently back on the force after some vague personal drama, and he’s called to investigate the death of a young tech executive connected to Timebomb, a company rolling out a new immersive horror game called Jitters.
Naturally, Cullymore dips his toes into the game and finds himself stalked by the real Jitters, a clown with a set of what I can only describe as phallic electric doodads on his head - oh, and this clown’s superpower is that he can turn your deepest fears into hallucinations, and to beat him, you have to solve a riddle he gives you that’s basically written in invisible ink.
And that’s the core of the problem here, as Jitters is a villain who never really tells you what he wants, as he spends a lot of time monologuing, but for what? Is he trying to teach a lesson? Is he just mad at people for playing a VR game poorly?
The film never says, and villains like this need stakes or rules to work, as without them, it’s like watching someone rearrange furniture in slow motion and calling it thrilling.
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Jitters the Clown: More Annoying Than Terrifying
Daniel Jordan’s performance as Jitters is at least energetic, and that's probably the best thing I can say -he throws himself into the role like it’s a stage play no one else showed up to, laughing manically, making faces, doing all the things clowns do - but instead of being scary, it's mostly dull, as the tension never builds because there’s no structure - there’s no ticking clock, no clear rules, and the riddle he hands out is more of an excuse to make the audience wait for something that never lands.
It’s frustrating, as while you can be creepy, unpredictable, or grotesque, the audience has to understand the threat, and I really didn’t.
On the other side, we have Santino as Cullymore, the haunted detective, estranged from his wife, emotionally tied to his daughter, and dying of some vaguely defined illness - he’s like every detective in every movie, and consistently make bad decisions too, so you might want to take a drink when he, or anyone in this movie does something dumb, and chances are you'' be drunk quite quickly.
The Game That Shouldn’t Exist
The central conceit, the Jitters game itself, is just a mess - supposedly, it’s a cutting-edge immersive VR horror experience that can hijack your mind and force you to confront your fears - which sounds interesting on paper, only in the movie, it’s implausible.
The film flirts with the idea that it’s a commentary on technology or obsession, but it never lands, and the game is just poorly thought-out, confusing, and mostly serves as a prop to justify scenes where characters scream at thin air.
We do get some flashes of creativity now and again though, where the editing, the effects, and the performance come together, and a few jump scares land, but they’re few and far between.
Final Verdict
From the craft to the visuals, everything just feels incredibly generic, especially Jordan’s over-the-top clowning, and the strange pacing, which makes the movie feel disjointed and incredibly frustrating, and most of the movie is a confusing jumble of cliches, bad decisions, and a villain who can’t explain why he exists.
It’s a shame because the premise had potential.