Trey (Jon Oswald) has just got of a year in jail and even there, he’s liked by the guards. He seems like a genuine person. He went there because of Silas (Scott Turner Schofield). He once promised Silas’ dying brother that he’d protect him no matter what. And Silas is alright, caring for Meemaw in her coma that she probably won’t ever wake up from. To celebrate Trey being free, they decide to go to the place all juggalos go to celebrate their love of the Insane Clown Posse, The Gathering of the Juggalos.

Then, they take the wrong turn on an off ramp and end up spilling a milkshake on an important man named Gavin (Reed Diamond). Gavin is the sheriff who runs the town and he soon sends his officers after them. Things get tense, Trey can’t go back inside and Silas ends up attacking an officer and dosing him with LSD.

The plan to get to the Gathering and rap on stage? It might not happen so easily.

The only person that they know around here is Scarecrow (Jared Bankens), a person so horrible that he was kicked out of a past Gathering and is no longer permitted to be a juggalo. He lives in a trailer that he inherited from his grandmother after she was devoured by wild dogs and forces his sister Eden (Ashley Smith) to pump breast milk that he can drink and to participate in necromantic rituals that will connect them to her dead child.

Director Nathan Tape, who wrote this with Tim Cairo and Clayton Nepveux, is able to find joy and true love in this movie. It never talks down to or makes fun of juggalos for their life choices. Instead, it affirms many of them. It’s also not afraid to go full on wild, as there are some moments in this movie that even shocked me. It’s also gorgeous in the way that it’s filmed.

I never would have thought that this would have me laugh with, instead of at. Even if you don’t understand the love of Faygo or know what a Dark Carnival is, you will afterward and walk away with a much more full understanding of why this group feels such a bond. There’s not really any rock and roll to be a burn out about any more and if I were in high school today, I’d probably at least know a few juggalos.

I mean, sure, they wear face paint and are obsessed with pro wrestling — I have done both of those things — but Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope can also write hopeful things, like:

“If magic is all we’ve ever know
Then it’s easy to miss what really goes on
But I’ve seen miracles in every way
And I see miracles every day.”

This movie lives up to that song.

You can watch this and so many of the films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. I’ll be posting reviews and articles over the next few days, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watches.