Movies That Horror Fans Need To Avoid If They Have A Fear Of Clowns

Whether you suffer from fear of spiders (aka arachnaphobia), a fear of crowded or enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), or an irrational fear of puppets (which is pupaphobia), know that you're not alone in the world, as there are potentially millions of folks suffering with you. But whatever it is you're afraid of in the world, you should also know there's a name for it, and there's almost a certainly a horror movie that can lead you into a sweaty-palmed psychosis.

For a certain subset of individuals, clowns are the only thing on Earth worth fearing. If you're one of them, you suffer from what's called coulrophobia. And if that's the case, there are dozens of scary movies that you should never, under any circumstances, consider watching. Odds are, however, that any coulrophobic out there is well aware that creepy clown fiction has become a cornerstone of the horror genre over the years. Perhaps more so than any other horror sub-genre, it's the one most uniquely capable of driving phobics and non-phobics alike to push the panic button. 

That being said, if your heartbeat elevates at the mere tease of a red-nosed creeper, don't fret too much. Horror fans all over the world have taken to Reddit to assemble a list of creepy clown classics that should never show up in your watch list.   

As far as titles go, few have so succinctly captured a film's premise as Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The film does indeed follow a species of clown aliens from outer space besieging a small town by killing and consuming any human who gets in their path (in an often comically brutal fashion). Killer Klowns also boasts a brilliant blend of campy B-movie spectacle and gory grotesquerie that plays as a legitimately unnerving yet often laugh-out-loud funny feature.

However, while the film really is a laugh riot from beginning to end, it's still best left a no-go for those who are afraid of clowns. The film's unsettling creature design will definitely be enough to scare most off, because the hideously indifferent smiles and ghastly, contorted faces of each killer clown really is the stuff of a coulrophobe's nightmares.

Few figures in the horror game garner as much reverence for their ability to incite fear, paranoia, and nightmares in the masses as Stephen King. It seems no other figure in the history of horror fiction can claim to be the reason so many people have an irrational fear of clowns. King essentially popularized the concept of the evil clown in the pages of his iconic 1985 novel It. And while King's novel continues to make coulrophobics of readers from every demographic, director Andy Muschietti's big-screen adaptation of It feverishly doubled down on the clown terror when it hit theaters in 2017.

With his surrealistic, sinister flare for the ghastly, an insatiable taste for human fear (not to mention flesh), and a soul-piercing stare that would freeze even Art the Clown in his tracks, Pennywise is arguably the king of all killer clowns in both the cinematic and literary realms. But purely in reference to the It adaptation, it's safe to say that — coupled with some nightmare-inducing special effects makeup — Bill Skarsgård's giddily demented take on the character upped the Pennywise fear factor to infinitum. In turn, Skarsgård's work helped make It not only one of the best horror films of 2017, but also one of the best of the past decade.

Of course, those who are afraid of clowns should've known to avoid It altogether when it was released, because Pennywise's fright-inducing reputation precedes him in ways few characters can claim. But just to be crystal clear on the matter, for anyone who fears the clown in any fashion, It and its 2019 sequel It Chapter Two are to be avoided at all costs.