Top 5 Horror Clown Movies / Art the Clown SPEED-ART
Hey guys I'm back, and with me another Speed-Art, this one is of Art the Clown from my latest animation! I watched about 30 different Horror Clown Movies to create that animation, which you all should check out, it’s one of my favourites that I’ve worked on. With that said, I wanted to let you know what I think are the 5 Best Horror Clown movies, and for this list, I’ll be avoiding mentioning any It movies, Killer Clowns From Outer Space, Poltergeist, Rob Zombie’s “Firefly Family” trilogy, or the Terrifier Movies, because those are a little too easy to make the list and I wanted to share some films that maybe you haven’t seen. So without any further jibber-jabber, let's jump into it!
5. “Hell House LLC” (2015) and “Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor” (2023)
Now in 5th is a twofer, because both “Hell House LLC” from 2015, and the sequel-prequel “Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor” from 2023 start this list off strong. Two and three are pretty much expendable and hurt the legacy of the first film, so they can be skipped unless you’re a completionist. The Hell House LLC franchise is a mix of Blair Witch’s found footage style often told from a documentary angle with interview clips spliced in, it helps to give the movies a sense of realism, and the first entry, while very low-budget does a great job of building suspense to a heightened moment in the climax that is hinted at throughout. The fourth movie improves upon everything, the acting, the scares, and the pacing are all amped up. While the clowns are just a small part of the movies, the hauntings and most memorable parts revolve around them.
4. Stitches (2012)
“Stitches” from 2012 snags my 4th place spot. It’s both an effective comedy and a coming-of-age film that just so happens to have a clown as its antagonist. Ross Noble plays Stitches the Clown and does a great job, a lot of its best moments are when he does his killings and uses clown-like abilities when doing so. The other leads do a great job of showing the awkward moments in high school that result in some funny bits, and because this film came out in 2012 it has some of that era’s nostalgia built in, which works for me as I graduated high school in 2009. This film isn’t going to scare anyone too badly, but if you’re looking for a fast-paced comedy to watch with some fun kills, then this film has you covered.
3. Out of the Dark (1989)
In third is 1988’s “Out of the Dark”. Now this is a killer clown film that didn’t make it into my animated list, mainly because the clown featured is mostly just a dude in a mask, but the film itself is an underrated late-80s slasher film, with a stacked cast of character actors, including Karen Black and the last acting credit for Divine. While the slasher villain is a little weak, he’s a man wearing a clown mask and goes by the moniker Bobo, who calls into a phone hot-line of women and slowly starts to take them out one by one. I’m mostly mentioning this one because looking at the reviews online I think a lot of people might skip it, but if you’re a fan of 80s slasher flicks do yourself a favour and check this one out.
2. Haunt (2019)
In second is the 2019 slasher flick, “Haunt”. Now this film has a lot of antagonists outside of the clown worker, but the clown seems to be the mastermind. This film got a limited theatrical release but was mostly released straight-to-streaming on Shudder. Frankly, I think this film would be talked about a lot more if it got a wider release because it’s low-key pretty fantastic. It has a simple set-up of a group of college kids who ditch a Halloween party in search of some more Halloween fun, eventually deciding to go to a Haunted House attraction, where they unwittingly become the victims of the workers there who don’t plan on having anyone leave alive. The casting is great, the scares are effectively paced, it’s shot well, and the lead character goes through a simple arc that holds the movie together. So this is a high recommend for horror fans, and this would be a great Friday night movie to watch with your friends or just on your own.
1. Clown (2014)
In first, and keeping in mind that a lot of the heavy hitters have been excluded, is 2014’s “Clown”. This film directed by Jon Watts, of the recent Spider-Man trilogy directing fame, is a great supernatural thriller which takes a Goosebumps-style plot but makes it more of a body-horror flick with ancient clown lore that is pretty clearly made up for the film. The film follows a father who wears a clown costume to entertain his son, but he finds out that it’s possible to take off, sorta like the Haunted Mask from Goosebumps, but he slowly is taken over by the spirit of an evil clown demon and needs to feast of five children to release it. So it takes a little bit of stuff from Jeepers Creepers, X-Files, and Pennywise in that respect. Nonetheless, the acting is top-tier, the effects are great, and the direction is very precise in this very low-budget flick.
So that’s my list of the best Horror Clown flicks, what other Clown films do you recommend? Let me know down below! Check out the latest animation on Tell It Animated to see and learn about many other Clown movies, and before I sign off I want to thank Mike Morgan for supporting the Patreon recently, as well as all my other supporters, and until next time, I've been Aaron, and I'll tell you something later!