Directed by Carlos Alonso Ojea, Killer Book Club is a slasher horror that revolves around eight friends who started their own book club in college. The whodunit mystery is somewhat predictable, but the unforeseen surprise in the end acts as a saving grace. At the center of Killer Book Club is Angela, a published author attending college. Six years ago, Angela published a book that became a bestseller, and while the world expected her to deliver another brilliant piece, she struggled to come up with a story. There was something about the experience of writing her first novel that continued to haunt her, but she tried to overlook it.
Spoiler Alert
What Is The Film About?
The book club consisted of eight members: Angela, her boyfriend Nando, Sara, her boyfriend Rai, Koldo (the influencer), Eva (who worked at the library), Virginia, and Sebas. The members gathered in an underground room in their college to discuss a book named “Killer Clowns” (of course!). The discussion shifted from the book to John Wayne Gace within minutes, and Angela was left wondering if she suffered from coulrophobia. The meeting came to an end when Nando and Sebas got into an argument. Nando believed Sebas was trying to demean him for waiting tables, and when Angela sided with Sebas, Nando was left all the more frustrated. It soon became evident that Sebas admired Angela, but she tried to stick to friendship.
Angela returned home that night and decided to mail Professor Cruzado the rough drafts of the first few chapters of her new novel. Before clicking on send, she got distracted by “Killer Clowns” and ended up reading about coulrophobia. The next day, after class, Professor Cruzado asked her to stay back. Angela was a little surprised when he mentioned that he had received her mail. She assumed that she had mistakenly sent the email and that maybe he was interested in discussing the rough draft. Things started to get uncomfortable when Professor Cruzado locked his office door and caressed her. She protested, but he continued to assault her. Angela kicked him to escape, and before she left, the professor warned her not to discuss their interaction with anyone. Angela was traumatized and confided the truth to Nando and Sara. The next day in class, Sebas discussed the incident with his classmates, and the news started to spread. Members of the book club showed support for Angela, and they decided to prank the professor as revenge. While Angela was initially opposed to the idea, she ultimately agreed to it.
Their plan was to dress as clowns and enter the professor’s office after college hours, when the campus was empty. They intended to scare him to make him pay for the assault. Even though Virginia was part of the book club, the rest of the members did not trust her and wanted to keep her out of the prank, but to their surprise, she was locked in the library and ended up witnessing the entire mayhem. Professor Cruzado freaked out when he saw a clown in his room. He ran for his life, and in the corridor, he encountered four more clowns. He ran upstairs, but one of the clowns smacked him in the face, and it left him blind. Cruzado screamed for help and dashed into Angela. Angela was shocked to see his face covered in blood, and she panicked. In that brief moment, Professor Cruzado fell over the parapet and landed on a sharp object, leaving him dead in an instant. The group went into a state of frenzy. Angela wanted to inform the police and do the right thing, but the rest of them disagreed. Rai believed that since the professor was going through a divorce, people would assume that he committed suicide or died after getting intoxicated. Everyone swore that night that no matter what, they would not tell the truth to anyone.
What Did The Killer Clown Want?
Soon after the death of Professor Cruzado in Killer Book Club, an anonymous writer wrote about the entire incident on an online writing site. They stated that the death of the professor was just the first chapter of the novel. The anonymous writer declared that they would murder each member of the group for the heinous crime. The book club deduced that the killer must be one of them since they had witnessed the incident. Rai was confident that Virginia was the killer since she was eerily quiet and wrote gory stories, but they were all startled when the killer murdered Virginia. Virginia’s body was not found at the crime scene, but the details of the murder left everyone convinced that the clown killer was not fictitious. The clown’s next target was Rai, and before he was killed, Rai saw the face of the murderer, and there was something about them that left him confused. Gradually, the rest of the members—Eva, Sara, and Koldo—were murdered as well. Strangely enough, Nando was injured but not killed, even though he came face-to-face with the clown. It all started to make sense when the identity of the killer was revealed at the end.
Who was the killer clown?
At the end of Killer Book Club, Angela decides to confront the killer, come what may. She assumed that Eva was the killer, but after entering the university premises, she realized that the killer clown had gotten to Eva as well. Sebas was tied to a chair when Angela entered the club room. As soon as Nando entered, Angela concluded that he was the killer. After all, only she, Sebas, and Nando were alive. Nando repeatedly stated that Sebas was obsessed with her and that he was behind the murders. Angela was confused, and the situation worsened when Sebas mentioned that he and Angela had been intimate. Sebas encouraged Angela to murder Nando, but she could not. Sebas untied himself, grabbed hold of the scythe, and smacked Nando with it. It became evident that Sebas was the killer clown.
Sebas explained that he had planned everything from scratch. He was the one who had sent a provocative email from Angela’s email address to Professor Cruzado, making the professor think that she was interested in him. Sebas played a crucial role in encouraging the book club to seek revenge. Sebas knew that the prank would turn into a murder because he had used his weapon to blind the professor. By the time Angela came across Cruzado, he was bleeding profusely. Sebas wanted to become a writer, and he believed he wrote one of the most exciting stories of all time. According to his novel, Angela should have killed Nando in the end, and it was for the dramatic ending that Sebas kept Nando alive. But Angela messed up his plan. Sebas was thankful to Angela for providing him with one of the most interesting chapters—the romance between the killer and the heroine. Angela was disgusted to think that she once trusted Sebas over Nando.
What Was The Motive Behind The Murders?
The ending explains the first scene of the film. In the first scene, we witness a young girl setting fire to a book and eventually burning down her house along with her mother. The first novel Angela wrote was based on her life, and the young girl’s name was Alicia. Alicia died in the fire that night, and Angela felt guilty for publishing Alicia’s life story without her consent. Angela met Alicia at the online writing site. Alicia’s mother was mentally deranged and obsessed with literature, and Alicia lived in isolation with her. Her mother forced her to read and write about as many books as possible in a day, and it affected Alicia’s mental health to a great extent. Angela found the perfect protagonist in Alicia, and she used all that she had learned about her to write her novel.
When Angela discovered that Alicia had killed her mother and had died in the fire as well, she was convinced that it was her actions that resulted in the deaths. Before her death, Alicia had promised that she would write a story that would cause Angela immense pain, and at the end of Killer Book Club, we find out that Sebas played a crucial role in fulfilling Alicia’s dream. Sebas and Alicia connected online, and they eventually fell in love. Alicia was devastated when Angela posted her novel, which was a clear replica of her life. She was so frustrated that she wanted to die, and that was why Sebas decided to write a novel that would destroy Angela.
Who was the second killer clown?
Angela used the ink pen Nando had once gifted her to stab Sebas in the face. She ran for her life, and to her surprise, there was another clown in the house! So, who was the second clown? Well, it was none other than Alicia herself! So, at the end of Killer Book Club, we find out that Alicia is still alive. She did not die in the fire with her mother; she simply faked her death. While, in reality, this seems quite unbelievable, we are asked to accept that Alicia somehow managed to pull it off. Alicia, whom we previously knew as Virginia, had co-written the story with Sebas. Virginia was almost an outcast in the book club, and it is possible that she and Sebas decided to kill her character first because Rai had already started doubting that Virginia was the blackmailer.
In all likelihood, Rai saw Virginia, aka Alicia when she removed the mask, and he was shocked. Sebas and Alicia planned on publishing their novel as co-authors, and to kill time, Angela discussed the logistical problems they would face since Alicia was technically a deceased person. By the time the killer couple agreed to publish under a pseudonym, Nando had returned to help Angela. Nando smashed Sebas’ head with a typewriter, and Sebas ended up falling over the parapet and landing on a sharp object (just like the professor). After watching her boyfriend die, Alicia was hellbent on killing Angela. Angela had laid out a trap, burning down Alicia in the end.
Does Alicia Survive?
A year passed after the series of murders, and Angela was doing better than before. Nando enrolled at the university as well and attended classes with Angela. Angela felt motivated to start working on her next novel, but life was not as perfect as it seemed. While she wanted to believe she was at peace, in reality, she was still tormented by Alicia’s ghost. As she stood in the middle of the bustling university campus, she suddenly imagined a clown. She was convinced that Alicia had returned to kill her, even though (presumably) Alicia had died in the fire that night. Killer Book Club’s ending suggests that, in spite of failing to murder Angela, Alicia and Sebas left an everlasting impression on her mind. Angela was turning insane, and the fear of Alicia returning to murder her would possibly lead to her death.
