Clowns in the Cinema: From Playful Tricks to Horror

While the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a clown as a “comically dressed performer… who entertains with playful tricks and ridiculous behavior,” on screen clowns have become synonymous with horror. Maybe it’s some variation of the uncanny valley effect, when non-human objects appear or behave too human-like. Or maybe it’s some dormant human instinct for seeing through a predator’s camouflage. While we know, or at least hope, there’s a human underneath that clown makeup, every physical trait of a clown’s humanity is exaggerated.

The impossibly wide smiles. The long, floppy shoes too large for any foot.

The painful, impossible, slapstick antics they perform only to walk away unscathed. Not to mention the way clowns blur the lines of reality through magic tricks and by streaming out of an impossibly small car. Maybe it’s all for laughs. Maybe they really are just here to entertain us. Or maybe. Just maybe. There’s something sinister lurking underneath. 

Perhaps this is why clowns have proved fertile ground for the horror genre. In books, movies, and television, clowns have proved as durable as a throw rug. A one size fits all disguise for serial killers, aliens, and cosmic beings from the macroverse. And while it would be impossible to cover all the scary clowns in horror movies, I’m going to do my best to list four favorites worth checking out. 

And maybe, if your itch for clown related horror hasn’t been scratched after watching these movies, you will check out my horror novella “Clowns in the Woods,” available on Amazon. 

Two quick notes: 1) this list is not in order of best to worst or anything like that. It’s just a list of five of my favorite clowns from horror movies. 2) I’ve decided not to include the movie Clownhouse on this list. I like horror movies but not horrible people. And the director of Clownhouse strikes me as a horrible person. 

Clowns in the Cinema: From Playful Tricks to Horror

Art the Clown

Films: All Hallow’s Eve, The 9^th Circle, Terrifier, Terrifier 2, and Terrifier 3 (upcoming) 

How to describe Art the Clown? In a word: brutal. 

Art is something of the new clown on the block. After becoming something of a cult favorite after All Hallow’s Eve and Terrifier, Art burst into the public zeitgeist with the fury of a demonic jack-in-the-box with the release of Terrifier 2, which premiered at Frightfest and went on to gross north of 15 million dollars. 

This number is especially impressive because creator Damien Leone pulls absolutely no punches when pushing the on screen violence well past eleven. Leone’s penchant and passion for creative, over the top violence, is perfecty pared with David Howard Thornton’s quietly menacing performance as Art. 

This is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. And while I recommend both movies, casual fans can easily jump in with Terrifier 2. 

The Killer Clowns from Outer Space

Film: Killer Klowns from Outer Space

Killer Klowns from Outer Space will forever hold a special place in my heart for scaring the living hell out of me as a kid. As an adult, especially as an adult without the nostalgia factor, it can come across a little campy. The acting can be a little cheesy. And maybe the pacing is all over the place. 

But as a kid? None of this mattered to me. Even as an adult, I can’t help but admire the way creators the Chiodo brothers took this premise and really ran with it. Shadow puppets that kill? Ray guns that cocoon their victims in fluffy cotton candy? The titular Killer Klowns drinking from these cotton candy cocoons with funky straws? It’s all here!

What isn’t here is a coherent explanation for what the Killer Klowns are and why they’re here. For some people this will matter. For this reviewer, it did not. 

Pennywise 

Film: IT (1990) and IT Chapter 1 (2017) and IT Chapter 2 (2019)

Did any movie do more to emotionally scar children from the 80s and 90s than the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King’s IT? After watching Tim Curry lure Georgie down into the sewers in the opening scene, a whole generation of children stopped going near storm drains. Hell, I still give storm drains plenty of room when I’m walking alone. That’s the effect this movie had on children. 

And just when this movie was starting to fade from the collective consciousness. Just when kids were starting to play with paper boats and race them down the sidewalk again – Andy Muschietti released It Chapter 1 in 2017 with Bill Skarsgard in the role of Pennywise and terrified a whole new generation. 

While fans may argue about who is the true or better Pennywise, Curry or Skarsgard, the one thing we can all agree on is the power held in the pages of Stephen King’s literary masterpiece. If you haven’t seen IT? See it. If you haven’t read IT? Read it. It’s that good. 

Clown Doll

Poltergeist 

While Steve and Diane Freeling’s most questionable parenting choice is undeniably the location of their new family home, coming in at a close second is their decision to buy their son Robbie this incredibly creepy Clown doll. A doll which, for reasons unclear to everyone, they force Robbie to keep in his room – despite his clear aversion to the thing. 

Although there are many memorable and terrifying scenes in Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist, few are as nightmare inducing as the scene when Robbie is attacked by the clown doll. The tension slowly builds as he realizes first that the doll is missing before checking under the bed only to find…

Well, I won’t completely ruin the scene for those who haven’t seen it. 

A few honorable mentions that I wanted to call out include The Joker, Batman’s notorious arch nemesis, Captain Spaulding, from House of a 1000 Corpses, and Twisty the Clown in the fourth season of American Horror Story. 

While it’s easy to dismiss the scary clown genre has been wrung dry after so many years, like the clown car mentioned above, every time we think it’s empty another clown seems to pop out. With books like Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield trilogy and the upcoming Terrifier 3, the scary clown genre is as alive and exciting now as it’s ever been. And it is my sincere hope that my novella, Clowns in the Woods, is a fun addition to this library. Enjoy!

Clowns in the Woods by Harold Hoss

When Collin joins his wife’s family on a hunting trip deep in the unforgiving wilderness, he expects a weekend of camaraderie and adventure. But as night falls and the forest awakens, they encounter something far more sinister.

Three monstrous clowns, grotesque and otherworldly, emerge from the shadows, leaving a trail of terror in their wake. One by one, members of the group meet shocking and horrific ends, their bodies twisted and broken in ways that defy explanation.

Stripped of reason and plunged into a living nightmare, Collin finds refuge in an old deer blind, clinging to the hope that it might offer some protection. But it becomes a game of attrition, one Collin is ill-equipped to play. The clowns have the upper hand, and if he is to live, Collin realizes he must deny them their prize.

In a final chilling decision, Collin robs these eldritch horrors of their trophy by choosing slow sacrifice over speedy death.

With every breath, the boundary between sanity and madness blurs, and the haunting passage of the clowns echoes through the dark woods, a constant reminder that the nightmare is never over.

Harold Hoss Bio

Harold Hoss is the pen name for film producer Blake Hoss, best known for The Unheard (streaming on Shudder), Creep Box, and the upcoming sci-fi Orion. A graduate of USC law, he spent a decade working in business affairs at several studios before making the terrifying leap to follow his passion and pursue horror film and writing full time. He currently lives in New York with his fiancé Minsun. 

WEBSITE LINKS

Link to Clowns in the Woods:
https://rb.gy/vm4lrc

Links to my published work:

https://haroldhosshorror.wordpress.com/

Harold Hoss on Amazon: 

https://rb.gy/1pd9de

Harold Hoss on Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/21783438.Harold_Hoss

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