Once upon a time, clowns were beloved. Bozo the Clown (Pinto Colvig) brought joy to children on TV, as did Howdy Doody’s (Bob Smith) sidekick Clarabell (Bob Keeshan, better known as Captain Kangaroo). Then Ronald McDonald came, and it all went to hell. Okay, not really (although Morgan Spurlock may argue otherwise), but along the way clowns went from bringing joy to, some experts say, 1 in 10 adults suffering from coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. And the odds are good it’s thanks to that damned clown doll in Poltergeist or one of these homicidal Homey D. Clowns.
Killer Klowns (Killer Klowns From Outer Space, 1988)
The name says it all, really – aliens, aka Klowns, that look like bloated circus clowns land on earth, set up a large circus tent structure, and terrorize the nearby town. The film is absolutely ridiculous, in the best way, with clown-related accessories bastardized to objects that kill or capture humans: cotton candy cocoons, bazookas that shoot popcorn, a living balloon dog, shadow puppets, and a straw used to drink blood out of the townspeople are just a few of the outlandish things the Klowns use. A legitimate cult classic.
Pennywise (It, 1990)
The two-part miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name introduced Pennywise (Tim Curry) to the nightmares of a generation. Derry, Maine is being terrorized by Pennywise, a shape-shifting demon that feeds on the fears of children before killing them, and the seven members of "The Loser's Club" take it upon themselves to stop him, both as children in 1960 and again in 1990 when he resurfaces. Curry buries himself in the character, which looks like a colorful, average clown, and it works to his advantage as he runs the gamut from playful to flat-out terrifying. For many, the definitive representation of the character.
Pennywise (It, 2017)
The story is the same, but 2017 Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) is decidedly removed from his 1990 entity. The look is different, the suit an amalgamation of clown costumes throughout a number of eras, his face stark white with strikingly red lips extended to a creepy grin and a shock of orange hair. Skarsgård's approach, too, is different, focusing more on the horrifying aspects of the demon than on the "clowning" side. But damn, it works, especially when Skarsgård does his weird lazy-eye thing. Maybe the best way to explain the difference between the two is this: Curry was frightening, while Skarsgård is unnerving.
Twisty the Clown (American Horror Story: Freak Show, 2014)
John Carroll Lynch is direful as Twisty the Clown, a slow but gentle clown at a freak show who becomes the victim of a malicious lie spread by the carnival freaks. And it goes downhill from there as he comes home to find his mother has died. He is unable to support himself, and he can't even kill himself, with the shotgun in his mouth only mutilating his lower jaw. So he snaps, raging into a killing spree targeting "mean" parents and kidnapping their children to be his audience. What really makes Twisty memorable is the grim, frightening mask he wears over the lower part of his face, a macabre grin that hides a monster.
The Clown/The Violator (Spawn, 1997)
A clown from hell - literally. The Clown (John Leguizamo) becomes Spawn's (Michael Jai White) mentor after his death at the hands of his former boss. He's a short, fat, ravenous and slovenly clown, played mostly for laughs throughout the film... until he doesn't. When his plans to start the apocalypse fall apart, he transforms into his true self, the Violator, a large, scaly monster hell-bent (no pun intended) on killing Spawn.
Kent McCoy (Clown, 2014)
Poor Jack McCoy (Christian Distefano). It's his birthday party, and the clown that was hired for the event canceled at the last minute. What's a father to do? Kent McCoy (Andy Powers) steps up and entertains the guests, having found a clown costume in a home he's selling. Problem is, now it won't come off. And it is made from the hair and skin of an Icelandic demon. Now Kent has a craving hunger for kids, eating a few at the local Chuck E. Cheese.
Captain Spaulding (House of 1000 Corpses, 2003)
Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) makes his first appearance in Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses, the first in his Firefly film trilogy. He is the proprietor of a gas station/fried chicken establishment in Texas, who dresses up as a clown. There's also a haunted house attraction on the property: Captain Spaulding's Museum of Monsters and Madmen, which features a ride-through exhibit with jarred fetuses and photos of serial killers. Oddly, those photos don't include him, and he even fits the criteria.
Art the Clown (All Hallow's Eve, 2013)
Art the Clown is the main antagonist in three films: All Hallow's Eve, where he's played by Mike Giannelli, 2017's Terrifier, and the upcoming Terrifier 2, played by David Howard Thornton. A demonic killer clown in a black and white motif for costume and face paint, Art comes out on Halloween nights with a black trash bag of weapons. The relentless and sadistic mime delights in slowly torturing and mutilating his victims - or setting them free to live with the horror of what they've seen.
The Heads (31, 2016)
Rob Zombie has clown issues. In 31, director Zombie follows a group of five carnival workers who are kidnapped and forced to play a game called "31", where they must survive for 12 hours in a maze of rooms while being chased by murderous clowns known as "the Heads:" Sick-Head (Pancho Moler), Psycho-Head (Lew Temple), Schizo-Head (David Ury), Sex-Head (E.G. Daily), and Death-Head (Torsten Voges).
Richard "Stitches" Grindle (Stitches, 2012)
Stitches is a blackly comic horror film, where throwing a killer party is taken literally. Richard Grindle, aka "Stitches the Clown" (Ross Noble) is inadvertently killed at young Tom's (Ryan Burke) birthday party, after falling eye-first into a sharp knife. Six years later, Stitches is revived by a black magic clown cult (seriously, you need to see this movie) and seeks revenge on a now teenaged Tom (Tommy Knight) and the others that were at the fateful party. That Stitches, what a cut-up!
Wrinkles the Clown (Wrinkles the Clown, 2019)
Follow along - this one is complicated. Wrinkles the Clown is a documentary/comedy/horror film that almost defies classification at all. In 2015, a video loaded to YouTube goes viral, in which a creepy-looking clown, Wrinkles, comes out from beneath a young girl's bed, scaring the heck out of her. More videos surface, and it's revealed shortly after that Wrinkles is a professional clown out of Florida, with his "shtick" being available for hire to scare children straight. The documentary catches up with him in 2019, where he allows the crew to follow him. He's revealed to be an old, homeless man who appears as Wrinkles for money. Shots of Wrinkles are coupled are accompanied by interviews with psychologists, historians, children from the videos and more.
Then the oversized shoe drops. "Wrinkles" isn't Wrinkles at all, but an actor named D.B. Lambert, who was hired by the real Wrinkles, a performance artist whose face is blurred in the film, to play his 'secret identity' as part of an intricate art project. To really make things trippy, the videos are all revealed to be staged, with Wrinkles - the real Wrinkles, but who the hell knows - showing footage of behind-the-scenes action. An absolutely fascinating watch.