26 Scariest Pop-Culture Clowns

No list of creeptastic clowns is complete without this dancing nightmare, so let’s just get him out of the way. He’s everything from a geyser of blood to a werewolf and a giant spider, but it only makes sense that his most frequent manifestation — representing the sum total of any group of people’s greatest fears — is a sadistic, claw-slashing Bozo lookalike. Originally played by Tim Curry in 1990’s It, Bill Skarsgård brushes off the creepy character for 2017’s remake. — Lanford Beard

AHS mastermind Ryan Murphy has said that Freak Show‘s Big Bad was his attempt to ”go head-on at [people’s fear of clowns],” adding, ”we tried to make him the most terrifying clown of all time.” One look at Twisty, and it would seem Murphy succeeded. — Lanford Beard

Sweet Tooth is the closest thing to a mascot the Twisted Metal series has, perfectly encapsulating the franchise’s dark sense of humor. Tooth, or Marcus ”Needles” Kane as he’s also called (presumably at his day job), is already scary enough for being a murderous clown. But his preferred vehicle of choice? An ice cream truck outfitted for total destruction, so your clown-fueled nightmares can also ruin your favorite dessert. — Jonathon Dornbush

Presenting the no. 1 cause of coulrophobia in children of the ’90s: Ghost clown Zeebo, a toothy, unholy amalgam of Bozo and Freddy Krueger. (Like Freddy, he died in a fire before becoming a restless spirit; like Freddy, he preys primarily on kids.) And, as a little redheaded jerk discovers in ”The Tale of Laughing in the Dark,” he really doesn’t like it when you steal his nose. — Hillary Busis

Set the denouement of your zom-com at an abandoned amusement park, and you all but guarantee a visit from an undead jester. And Zombieland doesn’t disappoint, siccing a drooling, brain-hungry circus reject on Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus. (His greatest fear? Clowns, of course.) Shudder. They’re bad enough when they’re alive. — Hillary Busis

Thought one zombie clown was enough? Wrong-o! Clowns are no exception to the Left 4 Dead franchise’s impressive array of undead foes. While fending off these undead clowns, if players use a melee attack, the zombie clown’s horn honks. Unfortunately, their squeaky shoes easily attract more zombies as they run toward you, hungry for blood and laughter — mostly blood. — Jonathon Dornbush

Imagine falling asleep with a maniacal clown staring back at you every night. That’s what gives little Bart vivid hallucinations after Homer builds him a shoddy and terrifying clown-themed bed post, causing a traumatized Bart to repeat, ”Can’t sleep, clown will eat me” over and over again. Lesson learned: Check out IKEA first. — Teresa Jue

There are clowns who like to make balloon animals. And there are those who like to snort cocaine, beat women, and threaten children. Genre favorite Sid Haig’s foul-mouthed and equally foul-underwear-ed Captain Spaulding is in the second camp. Although he does like ice cream. — Clark Collis

The Joker has been around almost as long as Batman, terrifying people for 75 years. With a history that deep, scary moments abound — from comics stories like Gotham Central‘s ”Soft Targets” or the recent Death of the Family arc in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman, to the Arkham video game series and Heath Ledger’s iconic performance in The Dark Knight, The Joker is the gold standard in creepy clowns. — Joshua Rivera

Despite Violent J & Shaggy 2 Dope’s rap lyrics about beating, torturing, and serial killing, the scariest thing about the Insane Clown Posse might be their rabid fans, the Juggalos, even though they’re just showing Clown Love. Say it with them, now: ”Down with the Clown ’til they’re dead in the ground!” —Kurt Christenson

When Sam and Dean head to local pizza chain Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie to investigate some murders, they discover that children’s drawings of their worst fears are coming to life and committing murder. Leave it to Sam to have to face his worst fear when a gang of bulletproof clowns, led by Plucky, violently attacks him. If Sam Winchester is scared of them, there’s good reason. —Samantha Highfill

Sure, the stars of this purposefully bad clownsploitation flick are more goofy than scary—if you’re made of stone, that is. Those sagging smiles and rotten teeth can induce shivers regardless of how cheesy the rest of the movie is. (They wrap dead bodies in cotton candy cocoons! They track prey with a bloodhound made of a balloon! Instead of ray guns, they shoot their enemies with popcorn! ”Popcorn? Why popcorn?!” ”Because they’re clowns, that’s why!”) —Hillary Busis

What’s scarier than a clown? A clown with a chainsaw. What’s scarier than that? A clown with two chainsaws. That’s what Dead Rising forces players to contend with when Adam MacIntyre, or Adam the Clown, shows up on the scene. Quite acrobatic for such a large clown, Adam can spin and roll his way around to fight the player while also using his fire breath, hunting knives, and balloons filled with an irritant gas in combat. Unfortunately, his favorite tools are also his downfall—Adam dies by chainsaw, laughing himself into a gory clown abyss. —Jonathon Dornbush

It doesn’t take dressing up like a clown for Crazy Joe Davola to start freaking the gang out on Seinfeld — but it certainly doesn’t help his cause. Beyond the pictures of Elaine hanging in his apartment/gym and the threat of the ”kibosh” on Jerry, the whole Pagliacci look is enough to make anyone thankful for cherry Binaca. — Ben Boskovich

Real-life mass murderer John Wayne Gacy validates every fear about clowns: The beloved Chicagoan performed as his alter-ego Pogo the Clown at children’s parties…until he was discovered to be a serial killer and rapist who preyed on young boys. So, what was that about clowns not being scary? — Ariana Bacle

Pee-wee falls into a peaceful sleep only for a dream full of manic, ruthless clowns to interrupt his slumber. The clowns, wearing too-wide grins and nurse costumes, steal and destroy Pee-wee’s bicycle as the menacing ”Clown Dream” score plays, making for a scene that’s less clown dream and more clown nightmare. — Ariana Bacle

At first, Kefka isn’t all that intimidating — he’s just a jester, y’know? Small potatoes on your mission to save the world. But then his madness and power both begin to grow, and everything changes. And few videogame villains have managed to be as memorable, or as unsettling, since. — Joshua Rivera

In 1989’s ”The Greatest Show In the Galaxy,” the Doctor and sidekick Ace — who has a decidedly rational fear of clowns — visit the interstellar Psychic Circus, where a sinister troupe of dead-eyed robot clowns lure victims into the deadly ring. All eerily mute, save for the cockeyed Chief Clown (a chilling Ian Reddington), they prowl the barren landscape in a hearse, capturing runaway performers and imprisoning them in a nightmarish robot clown repair room. — Carolyn Todd

For a children’s movie, Dumbo has a number of moments of heartbreak (cue sobs thinking of ”Baby Mine”) and terror. The latter category includes these clowns. The clowns trap Dumbo in a burning building, forcing him to jump out of a window as part of an act. They also inadvertently get Dumbo drunk, leading to the ”Pink Elephants on Parade” sequence — truly the most terrifying part the movie. — Esther Zuckerman

At first, The Clown appears to be nothing more than a repulsive demon sent to antagonize Spawn into fulfilling his role as one of Hell’s soldiers. But when grossness and insults won’t work, The Clown will terrify you instead — transforming into the Violator. — Joshua Rivera

Appearing in the 1968 TV episode ”Look — (Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One) — But There Were These Two Fellers…,” the homicidal jokesters pull a bait-and-switch by brandishing a fake gun then knocking off their victim with a real one. That’s not funny! —Lanford Beard

The clown doll lurking in the room of siblings Carol Anne and Robbie Freeling is basically the Chekhov’s gun of Poltergeist — when viewers see his sinister grin and dead eyes early in the film, it’s understood that he’s going to come to life in the third act to murderous effect. — Kyle Ryan

Wielding a knife and running crime impresario Mr. Big’s porn racket, this murderer only needed 32 bits to give arcade-visiting ’80s children thousands of nightmares. — Lanford Beard

A mother’s nightmare: When you hire your kid’s childhood hero (admittedly, for the red flag-raising price of $5), and he turns out to be a psychopath with a habit of getting stabby with stuffed animals. Silver lining: Peg Bundy is only out $5. — Lanford Beard

Remember the time Jerry Lewis directed and starred in a movie about a German clown who’s sent to a concentration camp to entertain Jewish kids before they’re led to the gas chambers? No? That’s probably because The Day the Clown Cried was never released in theaters — maybe because of rights issues, maybe because its producer ran out of money, or maybe, just maybe, because it’s just too heinous ever to see the light of day. Perhaps the scariest part of all, though? That this movie was ever made in the first place. — Hillary Busis

The Sam Rockwell-starring remake of director Tobe Hooper’s classic 1982 supernatural saga retains a host of elements from the original, creepy toy clown included. The twist? Its nose is on a string. It’s creepier than it sounds.