He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerThe silent film He Who Gets Slapped is widely credited with sparking the scary-clown trope. In the psychological thriller, scientist Paul Beaumont joins the circus after his patron, Baron Regnard, steals his wife and career. Paul reinvents himself as a clown whose famous bit is getting slapped by other clowns—but his priorities shift when he falls in love with a woman named Consuelo. Baron is interested in her, too, so Paul makes it his mission to protect her...by any means necessary.
2Clownhouse (1989)
Three brothers—Casey, Randy, and Geoffrey—are left alone for an evening and visit their local circus. Meanwhile, three patients escape an asylum, murder a group of clowns, and steal their identities. Talk about tough luck!
3Poltergeist (1982)
Poltergeist isn’t technically about clowns, but the scariest character in the movie is a clown. In case you need a reminder, ghosts take over the Freeling family’s house, and a menacing spirit embeds itself in a clown toy. The poltergeist clown became an iconic figure that terrified kids for years. If you’ve seen this classic, you know why.
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4Fear of Clowns (2004)
Fear of Clowns follows an artist who’s—you guessed it!—afraid of clowns. She paints a series of clowns to squash her phobia, only to find her fears come to life. Turns out there’s a violent stalker in her neighborhood, and he looks strangely familiar.
5House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
House of 1000 Corpses is gory (you know, as the name indicates), so keep scrolling if blood and guts aren’t your thing. Two couples travel through rural Texas searching for an urban legend. What they discover is far more horrifying than they ever imagined. Have you ever heard of Captain Spaulding?!?
631 (2016)
All hell breaks loose when a demented clown kidnaps five carnival workers the night before Halloween. The employees must play 31, a twisted game of life or death. Their only options are to play along or fight back. Either way, the odds are stacked against them.
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7Terrifier (2016)
Terrifier is another Halloween haunt. This time, a killer clown stalks a group of unsuspecting women. During his pursuit, he follows them into an old apartment and unleashes his wrath—which is, well, terrifying.
8It (2017)
What would this list be without It? The film, the first of two, is based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name, about a group of kids who band together to stop an evil clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) from terrorizing their neighborhood. As Pennywise preys on their deepest fears, the kids realize they might be in over their heads.
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