The consensus is that clowns are funny. However, thanks to multiple movies that depicted them as dangerous or downright murderous, many people suffer from the so-called Coulrophobia, which is a fear of clowns. And even people who don't normally fear clowns might get chills when they watch some of the most terrifying movie clowns.

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Even though some of them belong to the horror genre, like people might expect, not every scary clown appears in a horror movie. Sometimes they grace movies of other genres with their presence, making their atmosphere all the chillier for it and scaring everyone who’s watching the movie.

6 Arthur Fleck As The Joker

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck leaving the elevator in Joker

Unlike other onscreen portrayals of the Joker, Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck takes more time to get scary. It isn't until the movie's finale and Arthur's fateful interview with Robert De Niro's show host Murray Franklin. Initially, Arthur just wants to make people laugh but as his mental health worsen, he loses the grip of what's real and what's not. Until Arthur disappears, and the Joker seems to be the only person left.

It culminates when the Joker shoots Franklin during a live transmission of his show, showing that he's no longer the person he once was, doesn't have a respect for human life anymore. That's what makes his terrifying since nobody can say what the Joker will do next.

5 Tim Curry And Bill Skarsgård As Pennywise

Closeup of Pennywise from It

Despite the large number of novels Stephen King has written, the horror story IT is one of his most known and popular ones. And for a good reason since it's genuinely terrifying. A group of children has to face an ancient evil that goes hunting for children, luring them in and killing them. Both Tim Curry in the 1990 TV adaptation of the novel and Bill Skarsgård in the more modern movie version from 2017 and 2019 do an excellent job of scaring people.

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However, their portrayal of the character and its behavior is different. Tim Curry as Pennywise is more subtle in bringing terror while Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise does his horrible deeds for the viewers to see. So even though the newer movies have better special effects, the acting performances and chilling atmosphere is what makes IT and Pennywise one of the scariest movie clowns ever.

4 Art The Clown

Terrifier

Unlike other more known movies about killer clowns, Terrifier (2017) mostly stands in the background and would have deserved more attention from the audience than it gotten. That doesn't make its main antagonist any less terrifying, though. Most movie villains have a reason for what they're doing, even the Joker, who seems to enjoy causing chaos. Art the Clown is an exception to this rule. He pursues and murders everyone who crosses his path, and he doesn't need any special reason to do so.

It's very difficult to escape him which makes it easy for the viewers to sympathize with the poor people who meet Art, which is usually one of the last things they ever do. What makes Art the Clown even more dangerous is that he might initially seem friendly until he decides to strike. This unpredictability and a threat of sudden violence is what keeps the viewers at the edges of their seats while they're watching this movie.

3 John Wayne Gacy

To Catch a Killer

Even though there's a fair share of scary movie clowns, most of them are fictional. The movie To Catch a Killer defies this established pattern as it's based on real events. John Wayne Gacy was one of the most infamous murderers of the 20th century who killed more than 30 young boys in the 1970s. And one of his alter-egos was the so-called Pogo the Clown.

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Unsurprisingly, this clown isn't the kind and funny type who would cheer up children. Multiple movies have been inspired or directly portrayed Gacy's terrible crimes but To Catch a Killer is one of the best as it delves deep into what Gacy did, despite changing some circumstances of what really happened.

2 Kent McCoy

The Clown Kent McCoy

Most evil clowns commit crimes of their own free will. Kent McCoy is more of a victim than a villain, though. He turns into a murderous clown when he puts on a clown costume he originally bought to cheer up his son. Now, Kent can't take the costume off and as he's turning into something else, his desire to kill people, more specifically children, rises. The movie works with an original idea and is full of tension and horror as the viewers realize Kent isn't responsible for any of the things he's doing, which doesn't make his actions any less horrifying.

The 2014 movie Clown blurs the lines between a victim and a villain and does so in a way that not only frightens people but also has the power to make them think. Of course, in the end, the movie is still about the effort to stop the curse that's changing Kent, and whether the heroes will win or Kent will succumb to evil once and for all.

1 Heath Ledger As The Joker

The Joker (Heath Ledger) - Batman

Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989) had his frightening moments as the Joker but Heath Ledger took the cake and won a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of the Clown Prince of Gotham in the 2008 movie The Dark Knight. Thanks to Ledger, the Joker is a brilliant antagonist who causes chaos, can look deep inside people's heads and use what he finds there against them.

That's how he manages to corrupt Harvey Dent, originally one of the purest and kindest people in Gotham. Joker's intelligence and his ability to figure out what makes other people tick combined with his lack of respect for human lives easily makes him one of the most intense and frightening clowns that have ever appeared on the silver screen.

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