Juggalos—those clown makeup-sporting superfans of the horrorcore rap duo Insane Clown Posse—have transformed in their cultural reputation over the last 15 years. Once seen by outsiders as a punchline, Juggalos have been the subjects of everything from academic papers to government reports to frequent articles by journalists who’ve taken visits to their annual Gathering of the Juggalos festival, which combines music, professional wrestling, various forms of wild after-hours behavior, and chants of “Family.”
More than one of those journalists has gone in expecting to make fun of the scene but come out, to some degree, as down with the clown. Nathan Rabin wrote an excellent book in 2013, You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me, about the implicitly different but surprisingly similar subcultures of Phish fans and Juggalos. And ICP gained sympathy from across the political spectrum when they did battle with the FBI over whether Juggalos should be classified as a “gang.” Also in 2013 came Whoop Dreams, a short documentary from the hosts of the Filmdrunk Frotcast about their visit to that year’s Gathering.
Off Ramp is an indie movie set within the Juggalo world, with Juggalos as heroes. Or rather, anti-heroes, since it starts with one of them getting out of jail, and there’s plentiful violence and drug use. Directed by Nathan Tape, Off Ramp is Easy Rider with car-bound Juggalos standing in for motorcycling hippies. Trey (Jon Oswald) and Silas (Scott Turner Schofield) are the stars, going on a long road trip through the South to the Gathering, where they’re booked to perform on one of the side stages (“Like adult summer camp where all the counselors huff nitrous,” they describe the Gathering).
Trey’s fresh out of a prison stretch, which he did for taking the rap for a fight where he was protecting Silas, which adds tension to the proceedings, as does our knowledge that Trey’s one strike away from going away for life. They end up on the run from a crooked Southern sheriff and eventually meet the attractive Juggalette Eden (Ashley Smith). The film threatens to turn into Y Tu Mama Tambien. It gets dark at times, and if you’ve read any of those government or academic reports, you know that a lot of Juggalos have found community as a respite from negative family and financial circumstances.
But there’s humor as well. Characters have nicknames like “Mankini” and “Butthole Ben.” And while we only briefly see the Gathering itself, ICP’s music is included, indicating that the Clowns have blessed the project. The film succeeds mainly because it’s about an extremely specific subculture and gets that subculture right.