We don’t know if there are now more filmmakers with coulrophobia or if the general public is more open to confronting this fear on screen, but the fact is that they are proliferating movies about terrifying clownswhether they are supernatural monsters or murderous psychopaths like the one who stars in the ‘Terrifier’ saga.
Right now the sequel to Damien Leone is being one of the surprises of the Halloween season in the United States, and the truth is that nobody saw it coming. But the truth is that the figure of the jester is becoming recurrent, and for this reason we rescued a couple of recent movies (and a classic) available in streaming with these terrifying clowns. enough for not wanting to step on a circus in life.
‘Poltergeist (Strange Phenomena)’ (‘Poltergeist’, 1982)
Address: Tobe Hopper. Distribution: Heather O’Rourke, JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Oliver Robins.
It’s not a clown movie per se, but there’s no doubt that the scene with the clown doll terrifying the child protagonist was enough for some to make people in face paint terrify for life. Even though this is really a ghost movie, that sequence is enough to enter the pantheon of terrifying jesters.
But it is not the only pantheon that Tobe Hooper’s classic deserves to enter. Although many have wanted to attribute the authorship and brilliance to Steven Spielberg (and undeniably his family DNA is already present just for writing the script), the bad Hooperian slime is unmistakable and gives a great layer to a exquisitely crafted suburban horror story.
Watch on HBO Max | Criticism in Espinof
Clown (2014)
Address: Jon Watts. Distribution: Andy Powers, Laura Allen, Peter Stormare, Elizabeth Whitmere, Christian Distefano.
Before bowing to the designs of Sony-Marvel to make increasingly impersonal Spider-Man movies, we could enjoy Jon Watts as a genre filmmaker with films like this unleashed ‘Clown’. A film of images so well measured to give a bad vibe that even the posters were censored in Italy.
Produced by EIi Roth to give it a pedigree among fans of the gory and the unhealthy, ‘Clown’ plays with familiar horror but gives it a past revolutions through demonic possession and savagery. It offers some well-worked and creative sequences that have later timidly managed to sneak into movies like ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’
See on Amazon Prime Video and on Filmin | Criticism in Espinof
‘It’ (2017)
Address: Andy Muschietti. Distribution: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff.
It is probably close to becoming the canon of clown-related horror and the excuse that many in the future will use to justify their fear of clowns. Even if the jester is just the way that this multiform and supernatural entity to attract the young people of the town of Derry for later capture and tear them violently.
Andy Muschietti picks up Cary Joji Fukunaga’s project well to make a powerful and respectful adaptation of Stephen King’s powerful work, even if he has to borrow things from a phenomenon like ‘Stranger Things’. In its favor, it should be said that it is willing to go to more extremes than the Netflix series, working very well in the development of its young protagonists but also to shape really scary sequences.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video and on HBO Max | Criticism in Espinof