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9 movie and TV clowns that scared the hell out of us
As far as we're concerned, there's nothing scarier than a clown. There's something about face paint, a red squishy nose and oversized shoes that gives us the heebie-jeebies. That's why we're devoting the eighth of our 31 specials for the 31 days of Halloween to the top 10 coulrophobia-causing clowns.
Check back tomorrow to meet the most chilling children in horror movies!
Pennywise the Dancing Clown
Stephen King is a bad bad man. A talented writer, sure, but I blame his book It for giving me the sweats whenever the Big Apple Circus performs on The Today Show. The novel, which is the story of a child-killing entity in the shape of a clown, was made into a TV movie starring Tim Curry. (Also notable ... Curry had a painted face as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Totally different effect on me.)
Captain Spaulding
Sid Haig portrayed the fried-chicken-cooking evil clown in Rob Zombie's horror films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. Haig was also seen in an episode of The Flying Nun. Scary for other reasons.
Violator
Spawn's evil nemesis, Violator the Demon, from the Spawn comics, appears as fat, balding demon with a painted face who is working to expand Hell's Army. Played by John Leguizamo in the 1997 film.
Poltergeist's clown doll
This movie made many a child run from the room when a television station showed static. Mention the film and people feel compelled to do their very best "Go into the light, Carol Anne" imitation. That's scary enough. But that clown doll coming to life and attacking you from under your bed? Shudder.
Zombieland's Zombie Clown
All right, I know this one is meant to be funny, but it still gave me nightmares. And the main character Columbus (played by Jesse Eisenberg and based on writer Rhett Reese) does say that clowns are one of his biggest fears. His end is rather satisfying.
Buster
The musical loop from an ice cream truck could drive anyone to homicide. In this episode of Masters of Horror, titled "We All Scream for Ice Cream," an ice cream man named Buster dresses like a clown and returns from the dead for revenge.
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
This 1988 film features human-harvesting aliens who look like clowns. Really? Because anal probing and crop circles aren't scary enough?
Doctor Who's Robotic Space Clowns
In the episode "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy," the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his clown-fearing companion, Ace (Sophie Aldred), check out the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax. Evil, robotic space clowns in a circus founded by hippies. No, I think I'd be staying inside the TARDIS.
The Joker
Not only is the Joker one of the greatest villains in the history of comics, but Heath Ledger gave such a nuanced and stunning performance in The Dark Knight that I'll never read another Batman comic without picturing him. It wiped A Knight's Tale clean out of my head.
And while you're in a Halloween state of mind, why not check out:
Day 1: 19 amazing Star Wars pumpkins
Day 2: Our 9 favorite crazy zombie kills of all time (video)
Day 3: 10 scariest Stephen King novels
Day 4: 14 great Cthulhu toys that make devouring souls fun
Day 5: 15 haunted cereals that will scare your dentist
Day 6: 20 great costumes to dress up your pet
Day 7: 21 (mostly) sexy female stormtroopers (NSFW)
Day 9: 10 creepy movie kids even Angelina Jolie wouldn't adopt
Day 10: 6 most awesome Stephen King horror films (plus 3 that sucked)
Day 11: 16 horror movie posters so gruesome they make our eyeballs bleed
Day 12: 16 hot movie and TV vampires who turn us into willing victims
Day 13: 20 awesomely hot Slave Leia costumes (slightly NSFW)
Day 14: 14 lamest horror movie killer costumes (What were they thinking?)
Day 15: 9 of the grossest, goriest X-Files creatures
Day 16: 11 splatterific exploding head scenes from the movies
Day 17: 15 of the most disgusting Halloween candies you can buy
Day 18: 19 freakiest movie and TV neighbors from hell
Day 19: 11 most disturbing Treehouse of Horror segments from The Simpsons
Day 20: 9 rampaging space zombies hungry for our sci-fi brains
Day 21: 10 most nightmarish movie prom nights
Day 22: 11 scary, goofy and just plain revolting movie possessions
Day 23: 13 kick-ass moments from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Day 24:13 real haunted houses you can visit in the U.S.
Day 25: 15 ghoulish apps you can download to your iPhone
Day 26: 20 hot film and TV witches and warlocks that cast a spell on us
Day 27: The 10 most truly, utterly evil things in sci-fi
Day 28: The 15 cursed movie objects you NEVER want to own
Day 29: 14 most twisted original Twilight Zone twist endings
Day 30: 16 sci-fi costumes that would definitely get you fired (NSFW)
Day 31: 12 awesome sci-fi Halloween moments, real and fake
By thirdintl at 12:15 PM ON 10/08/09
You forgot to add George W. Bush to the list.
By DrWhoJr at 12:19 PM ON 10/08/09
You guys must be a bunch of sissies to think these clowns were scary.
By Daumier at 12:36 PM ON 10/08/09
Google image "ghastly grinner are you afraid of the dark". That was what they showed to us kids. KIDS. As in IT WAS A CHILDREN SHOW!
By cassiach at 12:42 PM ON 10/08/09
ok Daumier although it is more of a jester...that is really creepy!
By bigalOSU at 12:54 PM ON 10/08/09
There was an older movie called Clownhouse, which scared the hell out of me as a kid.
http://www.clownhousedvd.com/review.html
By Killer clowns are from Uranus at 1:25 PM ON 10/08/09
The ghastly grinner was pretty creepy. I remember that episode from when I was younger. Also, Clownhouse was definely creepy. But it was most definetly Poltergeist that sealed clowns' fate as my nightmare nemesis. I remember around that time having won a giant stuffed clown from a YMCA carnival. It sat in a corner close to the end of my bed. Scared the crap out of me! Needles to say, my mom ended up getting rid of it. Didn't help I lived next to a purported haunted house on Ft. Monroe, either. Since I mentioned it, if anyone is interested in the paranormal, check this historical military base out. You can't be there for any amount of time and not see something.
By Urson at 2:53 PM ON 10/08/09
knock it off, thirdintl ! Quit getting politics in out scary clown article!
By Trigeia Twins at 3:10 PM ON 10/08/09
The Joker played by Heath Ledger was the greatest character of all time. His performance has allowed us to watch this batman over and over an over and every time we are amazed by his work.
Zombie Clown Attack in 'Zombieland' Clipage
http://www.trigeia.com/article.php?id=231538
By whomiga at 3:32 PM ON 10/08/09
There was a clown in Sarah Jane Adventures as well.
By Rokk at 5:06 PM ON 10/08/09
ughhhh...
Shakes the Clown is scary...
By GrumpyOldMan at 5:47 PM ON 10/08/09
Really? I mean, really? No one else is going to say it? Ok, I'll do it.
Ronald McDonald is one creepy bastard, and I find his obsession with our children disturbing. Not only does he associate with monsters and convicted burger felons, but he only seems to show up when there are no parents around.
Also, John Wayne Gacy. Wiki him if you're not familiar.
By Orionv at 7:09 PM ON 10/08/09
I am sorry but Heath Ledger did not play The Joker. He was way too subdued to be The Joker. Jack Nicholson was much closer. Heath Ledger played a pretty good villain but he was NOT The Joker. If you have read the comic books you know this.
By Mav at 11:36 PM ON 10/08/09
Re: Orionv
Actually have YOU read the comics? I never respond to scifiwire stories but I had to just for this one;
The Joker has gone through various versions even in the comics. Sometimes he's the funny diabolocial prankster, other times he's the methodical psychopath.
Case in point;
Joker's gone after Superman at least once or twice, not because he wanted money from Lex Luthor but just because he was crazy enough to try to that challenge. Long story short he did it for the goofy fun since he know he was no match for the Man of Steel.
vs
Joker viciously beating Jason Todd to death (at that time, at least). He beat the hell out of Robin with a crowbar
Ledger's portrayal is just another adaptation of the Joker that's been done in the comics before. Just because he didn't poison people to make them laugh to death or squirt acid from a flower in his suit doesn't mean he isn't The Clown Prince of Crime
By David N. at 1:42 AM ON 10/09/09
I second Urson's remark.
Heath Ledger did such an amazing job as the Joker, I still can't see any of his other characters in him. He was a very talented actor and did a terrific job portraying one side of the Joker, as Mav excellently pointed out.
By Kibosh at 11:42 AM ON 10/09/09
What, no Crazy Joe DeVola clown? Kramer was quite scared!
By jolinar at 11:52 AM ON 10/09/09
Heath Ledger's Joker was well... a joke. He was terrible as the Joker, which is why I hate The Dark Knight. The best person who ever played the Joker is Mark Hamill from Star Wars.
By ShaneAwesome at 1:15 PM ON 10/09/09
As far as Heath's, here's my two cents.
He played HIS version of The Joker well. He did his own interpretation very well. I don't know if he was going for anything akin to the comics. But I guess with the rebooting of the franchise, he did a decent job. My favorite screen Joker will always be Jack Nicholson because... well, he's Jack Freakin' Nicholson. Cartoons, Mark Hamill always takes it. He did the best one.
Now... as far as scary clowns go? KILLER KLOWNS FTW!!!
By Sam at 1:19 AM ON 10/10/09
What about the Obama in Joker makeup? Geez! That guy gives me the creeps!
By Jason at 4:53 AM ON 10/11/09
George W. Bush isn't really a scary clown, just a pathetic one.
By jolinar at 12:12 AM ON 10/12/09
The Joker/Obama thing was corny, what they should have used was Two-Face!!! lol
By Carl at 1:47 AM ON 10/12/09
C'mon, now. Just because our U.S. president is intent on destroying the U.S. doesn't make him two-faced. If anyone bothered to do more than cheer like cult followers when he started running for office they would have seen he's always been intent on taking down the U.S.
He's just doing a better job now that the self hating masses have gotten him in office.
See? The system works!
That clown makeup was cool, though.
By Al at 1:50 AM ON 10/12/09
My favorite was Pennywise from It. Nothing beats a clown that actually becomes terrifying when he decides to kill.
I hope the remake does justice to the book.
By rosey at 2:51 PM ON 11/13/09
Hey guys, you forgot the utterly disturbing clown from the TV show Supernatural. From the second season episode, "Everybody loves a clown", you have one of the scariest silent clowns ever on screen. For shame....Add it NOW!
Visit mobile.syfy.com/wire on your mobile device.
rosey:
Hey guys, you forgot the utterly disturbing clown from the TV show Supernatural. From the second season episode, "E...More »