Archie Benjamin, also known as Horny the Clown, is the main villain of the 2007 horror-comedy movie Drive-Thru. He is a twisted parody of clown mascots such as Ronald McDonald, as well as serial killers in fiction.
In life, Archie was an outcast who was bullied relentlessly by his peers, climaxing in a tragic demise when he was set on fire on his birthday - thus he returned from the grave as a vengeful ghost, taking the persona of Horny the Clown and murdering everyone in cold blood without showing any remorse who ventured too near the fast food restaurant franchise he used to work for.
Horny was immortal, and almost invincible, but had some vulnerabilities that allowed the evil clown to be defeated in the end - though, at the very end of the movie, Horny suddenly reappears in the typical fashion of other slasher killers such as Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees. As Archie and Horny, he was portrayed by Van De La Plante, and, as Horny, voiced by Gordon Clapp.
Personality[]
Not much is known about Archie Benjamin's personality prior to his demise. He was described by Marcia as having no friends and being 'an extremely strange boy.'
Even though he was constantly tormented by Marcia and her friends, Archie didn't show any ill will towards any of them, at least before the prank that ultimately ended with his demise. Archie was also in love with Marcia, with her seemingly being the only the person that he invited to his party, as well as was legitimately happy to see her, acting normal the entire time. This can at least mean that while he may have not been outright heroic, he was still a good person.
After being revived as Horny the Clown, Archie's personality is much more darker and twisted. As Horny the Clown, Archie is an incredibly vengeful spirit, choosing to murder the children of his killers, as it would hurt them much more than actually killing them. His Vengeful persona seems to be directed towards Marcia in particular, waiting to kill her daughter Mackenzie specifically on her birthday, in the same fashion that he died, like a form of poetic justice. Horny also has a sense of vengeance towards his own father Jack Benjamin as well, despite being his loving father, framing him by stuffing the bodies of some of his victims in his freezer - a possibility for him wanting to frame Jack could be because performing as Horny in his restaurant played a large part in his demise.
Even outside of his desire for revenge, Horny is a homicidal serial killer; willingly murdering others unrelated to his revenge for no other reason than for his entertainment. Horny is not only bloodthirsty, but also sadistic and merciless; usually killing a friend of the children of his tormentors in front of their eyes or letting them to find the corpse, and then giving them time to become scared and scream in horror, before killing them in cold blood without showing any remorse, even when he could have easily just killed the descendant without killing their friend. He was also shown taking great joy in scaring Mackenzie, particularly at the birthday party where he showed her the bodies of the 'missing' teens. Horny is also a cold-blooded murderer, usually killing his victims by repeatedly striking them with his meat cleaver, with the brutal beatings usually taking at least a few seconds before they finally die from blood loss. Even without the cleaver, Horny still murders them in other violent ways, such as shoving their face in a deep fryer or letting their eyes explode in a microwave.
Horny comes across as arrogant, constantly giving Mackenzie cryptic hints about his another murders, for seemingly nothing more than what he sees as a game. With his clairvoyant abilities, as well as his ability to teleport, Horny could have killed Mackenzie and the other children while they were in their sleep, or outright alone, but instead usually chose moments where they are awake and surrounded by someone. As written, he sees his revenge as both something serious and as a game, best shown when he chases Mackenzie through the school, letting her find some of the bodies and taunting her before suddenly reappearing and continuing his 'chase'. This arrogant attitude was ultimately his undoing, as, if he bothered to check if Mackenzie was still properly tied up, or noticed the flask in her hand, after knocking Marcia out, he wouldn't have died a second time. Though, considering his possession at the ending, it wasn't much of a downfall.
Though his arrogance was his downfall, Horny was still a cunning killer. He mostly targeted his victims when they were alone, or with few others, not for that he was a coward, but to make sure that others would keep out of his way. Horny also stole Mackenzie's camera and then let Lenny find and return, just to show Mackenzie pictures of the murders the night before and frame Lenny by killing him in a way that made it look like the janitor committed suicide, either to keep the police out of his way when Mackenzie inevitably shows the pictures to them, or just for his amusement. Horny also made the bodies of all his victims disappear before they could be found by the police, at least until they came across them in the freezer.
Despite his twisted nature, Horny shows a fondness for cheesy one-liners, often making them before, during and after killing his victims - and even makes them casually as he is tormenting and attacking his victims. Horny's penchant for these one-liners is most likely influenced by his awkward life and claim to fame from starring in cheesy Hella Burger commercials. Horny has a vulgar sense of humor, swearing at others and making sex jokes with little provocation. Overall, Horny is psychotic, sadistic and maniacal, laughing maniacally and relishing in the fear, terror and pain that he brings on his victims, regardless of who they are.
Appearance[]
As Horny the Clown, Archie wears a darker version of the titular clown costume. Horny's body is covered by a tight, black suit that has short hot rod flames on the forearms that reach up to his elbows, and long hot rod flames that cover his legs and reach up to his midsection.
He wears black boots that have small, metal stilts underneath, both having a single spike in front of the stilt and small spikes on the back. Horny also wears a pair of white gloves, which have small tears on them, showing burnt skin. The gloves are cuffed by a pair of leather wristbands with black rims on the top and bottom, with small, round studs. The wristbands have a small logo on them: the top half of a skull with protruding eyes and a protruding round nose and flames on the top of the skull. Horny also wears a large, silver-white collar that goes over his shoulders and covers most of his neck, along with three protruding parts on the front and back with a zigzag-like pattern.
Horny's head is covered by a clown mask. The clown mask is a silver-white color with plastic ears, a large, red, round nose, two fake horns protruding from his temples, plastic, fiery, red hair and a plastic, red goatee on his chin. Perhaps the most iconic part of his clown mask is the mouth, which is an intercom that takes the shape of a large, ear to ear smile. There are also red, blood-like markings around the edge of the mask's mouth. The brow of the mask is furrowed, giving it an evil expression. The edges of both the mouth and the eyes have a dark outline. Underneath the mask, Archie's head is burnt and bald. His eyes are also green. When reporting him to the police, Mackenzie describes Horny as being seven foot tall.
Weapon[]
Horny possesses an unusual meat cleaver, with a unique handle that takes the shape of a skull with red eyes and a red nose and a small ring in its mouth and hair like Horny's, which appears to be his main weapon of choice. Horny is quite apt with using the tool, throwing it with enough accuracy and strength to imbed it into the human skull from across a room, and even cut clean through the human body.