While Pennywise the Dancing Clown developed audiences' fear of clowns in Art the Clown through various found-footage style videos, providing fans their first feature-length exposure to the blood-soaked antics of a very twisted, homicidal clown.
Art the Clown in All Hallows' Eve was so popular that Leone developed a feature film-length story for Art with Terrifier, which was released in 2016, followed by Terrifer 2 in October 2022. After Terrifier, Art the Clown became a sensation and quickly rose to fame as a modern horror icon. Though he doesn't have the historic presence of other killer clowns like Pennywise, his popularity speaks for itself, and part of the reason for this acclaim is that he's genuinely horrifying despite the comedic angle of his persona. Pennywise is certainly a notable villain, and his legacy as the chief cause of coulrophobia for generations is undisputed, but Art the Clown has the edge — here's why.
Why Art The Clown Is The Scarier Than Pennywise
First and foremost, Art the Clown is a human serial killer, unlike Pennywise. Though he does possess supernatural abilities, his kills are marked through very brutal — and very human — means. One particular scene in Terrifier, where Art the Clown suspends a woman upside down and proceeds to saw her in half in a very disturbing fashion, has become the subject of memes and saw acclaim for being one of the most inventive, and brutal, sequences in modern horror cinema. This scene is topped in Terrifier 2, when Art skins, scalps, and dis Allie (Casey Hartnett) in her bedroom.
While Pennywise is known for his charm and allure in luring victims, Art the Clown is mime-like in appearance and personality. The film's director has said that he aspired to make a character that was the opposite of Pennywise, so he tweaked the villain's iconic red and white color scheme and took away Art's voice. Initially played by Mike Giannelli in Leone's short films, The 9th Circle and Terrifier, David Howard Thornton gained infamy by bringing the villain to the feature-length Terrifier movie, and reprised the role Terrifier 2. Thornton's performance is where Art shines — he's playful and curious about his victims, and since they're adults instead of children, he has to apply a different appeal.
Thornton gives another nod to Pennywise for his performance as Art, since he was partially inspired by Tim Curry in the 1990 IT adaptation, along with one of the most iconic clowns of all time: the Joker himself. Like the Joker, Art's facial expressions and over-the-top antics almost make him likable, at first. This is key to the terror he inspires. It's an understated quality that seems to make his victims not take him seriously at first, only to find out too late that he's masterminded their demise. While Pennywise in IT chapters one and two does crack jokes, he's rarely if ever funny. Art has audiences genuinely laughing at points, only to follow it up with a swift and shocking kill. The rollercoaster from mirth to misery can be genuinely terrifying. This gives Terrifier an edge in the fight for the scariest killer clown movie top spot — one that's cemented even further by Art the clown never having to change forms to inspire fear.
Stephen King Is A Terrifier Fan
One would think that The Evil Dead to cult-classic status. So, while the clown from Terrifier and Pennywise from IT may be battling it out for who is the scariest, at least Art the Clown has Stephen King's stamp of approval — proof that, as far as the creator of the archetypal movie killer clown is concerned, Art the clown is a worthy successor to Pennywise.
