Top 11 scariest movie clowns of all time according to thousands of horror fans

Coulrophobia is a severe phobia that causes people intense fear and anxiety when confronted by a real-life clown in person; even the sight alone can cause them to sweat.

If you clicked on this list, it’s fair to assume you don’t have a major fear of clowns.

However, if you do, you may want to click off now as below we delve through the top 11 scariest movie clowns of all time, as voted on by horror fans.

Starting with…

11/11 The Klowns

At number 11, we have The Klowns.

These guys are from the 1988 horror/comedy movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

Although it’s only rated a 12, the clowns were enough to scar a whole generation of children.

10/11 Killjoy

Killjoy is the demon of vengeance and a trickster god along with his freakshow crew, Punchy and Batty Boop.

Killjoy has six movies in total, the first one released in 2000 and the most recent one released in December 2024.

9/11 Stitches

This comedy slasher movie shows a Clown named Stitches returning from the dead to get revenge on a group of kids who contributed to his death.

The 2012 movie, named after its titular character, stars Ross Noble as the freaky Clown, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Roisin Barrow and more.

8/11 F*cko

A 2012 movie called Scary or Die features a clown named F*cko, a flesh-eating, vengeful necromancer played by Domiziano Arcangeli.

It also stars Disney star Corbin Bleu as Emmett, Hali Lula Hudson and Bill Oberst Jr.

7/11 Clown Doll

Although this clown did not have a major role in the 1982 movie Poltergeist, it was enough to scare young movie watchers of that generation for years to come.

The movie is about a Californian family who start receiving some unwanted attention from the paranormal through a television screen.

6/11 Der Klown

Der Klown is a jack-in-the-box-style clown with big, sharp teeth and big jaws that eat whoever is in its way.

This creepy guy is featured in the 2015 Christmas movie Krampus, a much-watch for any family who loves a good yet relatively tame horror movie during the holidays.

If anything, it may give your children a better perspective on what it truly means to be on the “naughty list” as opposed to the nicer one.

5/11 The Heads

Rob Zombie’s 2016 horror movie 31 is about carnival workers who are kidnapped by maniacs dressed as clowns.

The workers are forced to play a game of life or death for the next 12 hours.

The movie stars Sheri Moon Zombie, Richard Brake, E.G Daily, and more.

4/11 Captain Spaulding

Captain Spaulding, played by the late and beloved Sid Haig, is a homicidal clown featured in The Devil’s Rejects, House of 1000 Corpses, and 3 from Hell.

The movies also star Sheri Moon Zombie, Billy Moseley, Matthew McGory, Ken Foree and Danny Trejo.

3/11 Kent McCoy

This 2014 movie stars Andy Powers as Kent, who mistakenly puts on a cursed clown suit after a birthday entertainer fails to show up.

The horror movie also stars Laura Allen, Peter Stormare and Christian Distefano.

2/11 Pennywise

Although the original Pennywise, played by Tim Curry, scared a huge number of people, he unfortunately didn’t make it on this list as one of the scariest clowns.

He should have though, so consider this an honourable mention.

Instead, Bill Skarsgård’s portrayal was ranked 2nd, he first played Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the 2017 remake of It.

Then again in 2019 for Chapter 2.

He has most recently joined the cast for Welcome to Derry, a prequel series to the movies.

1/11 Art the Clown

According to horror enthusiasts, Art the Clown from the movie franchise Terrifier is simply the best.

He is certainly the sadistic, goriest clown out there.

Actor David Howard Thornton plays the famous Art and has appeared in three movies that took the horror world by storm.

In 2024, writer and director Damien Leone announced that Terrifier 4 is in development and hopefully expected to be released in 2026.