Jim Knipfel Sep 18, 2017
One of the earliest scary clown movies, The Man Who Laughs was also an influence on the creation of Batman villain, The Joker...
Clowns, both creepy and, well, slightly less creepy, were lurking about in the shadows for thousands of years before Stephen King’s evil clown Pennywise shambled along with those sinister red balloons of his. The Egyptians had them, the Greeks had them, the Romans had them. But in the 17th and 18th centuries, an interesting and telling thing happened.
See related The Croods 2 has been cancelled
During the Middle Ages, the clown and the performing freak were essentially one and the same. The jesters and fools who entertained in the royal courts of Europe were usually attired in flamboyant and garish costumes and makeup, and were often physically deformed in some way. After that, however, the two began to tear themselves apart, with the...
One of the earliest scary clown movies, The Man Who Laughs was also an influence on the creation of Batman villain, The Joker...
Clowns, both creepy and, well, slightly less creepy, were lurking about in the shadows for thousands of years before Stephen King’s evil clown Pennywise shambled along with those sinister red balloons of his. The Egyptians had them, the Greeks had them, the Romans had them. But in the 17th and 18th centuries, an interesting and telling thing happened.
See related The Croods 2 has been cancelled
During the Middle Ages, the clown and the performing freak were essentially one and the same. The jesters and fools who entertained in the royal courts of Europe were usually attired in flamboyant and garish costumes and makeup, and were often physically deformed in some way. After that, however, the two began to tear themselves apart, with the...
- 9/13/2017
- Den of Geek
Next month, Rob Zombie’s crowdfunded horror film 31 will be released, featuring kidnapped carnival workers under attack by a troupe donning clown masks. Next year in It, we’ll see Stephen King’s Pennywise come to life once again, this time by Bill Skarsgård. One of the most frequent questions I am asked as someone who studies fear is: why? Why do we continue to make the clown the ultimate American monster?
Well, here are just a few reasons:
First, historically the clown character has spent more time as a foe rather than a friend. Clowning entertainment (like court jesters) was built on violating the expected “appropriate” social behavior, e.g. portraying those who drank too much, were hyper-sexual, said awful things, and were in every way total assholes. Court jesters and clowns would often mock their audience with rude comments and behaviors that were far from socially acceptable, and...
Well, here are just a few reasons:
First, historically the clown character has spent more time as a foe rather than a friend. Clowning entertainment (like court jesters) was built on violating the expected “appropriate” social behavior, e.g. portraying those who drank too much, were hyper-sexual, said awful things, and were in every way total assholes. Court jesters and clowns would often mock their audience with rude comments and behaviors that were far from socially acceptable, and...
- 8/19/2016
- by Margee Kerr
- DailyDead
Ron Moody in Mel Brooks' 'The Twelve Chairs.' The 'Doctor Who' that never was. Ron Moody: 'Doctor Who' was biggest professional regret (See previous post: "Ron Moody: From Charles Dickens to Walt Disney – But No Harry Potter.") Ron Moody was featured in about 50 television productions, both in the U.K. and the U.S., from the late 1950s to 2012. These included guest roles in the series The Avengers, Gunsmoke, Starsky and Hutch, Hart to Hart, and Murder She Wrote, in addition to leads in the short-lived U.S. sitcom Nobody's Perfect (1980), starring Moody as a Scotland Yard detective transferred to the San Francisco Police Department, and in the British fantasy Into the Labyrinth (1981), with Moody as the noble sorcerer Rothgo. Throughout the decades, he could also be spotted in several TV movies, among them:[1] David Copperfield (1969). As Uriah Heep in this disappointing all-star showcase distributed theatrically in some countries.
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ron Moody in 'Oliver!' movie. Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' actor nominated for an Oscar dead at 91 (Note: This Ron Moody article is currently being revised.) Two well-regarded, nonagenarian British performers have died in the last few days: 93-year-old Christopher Lee (June 7, '15), best known for his many portrayals of Dracula and assorted movie villains and weirdos, from the title role in The Mummy to Dr. Catheter in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. 91-year-old Ron Moody (yesterday, June 11), among whose infrequent film appearances was the role of Fagin, the grotesque adult leader of a gang of boy petty thieves, in the 1968 Best Picture Academy Award-winning musical Oliver!, which also earned him a Best Actor nomination. Having been featured in nearly 200 movies and, most importantly, having had his mainstream appeal resurrected by way of the villainous Saruman in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies (and various associated merchandising,...
- 6/12/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Beyond The Joker: The Man Who Laughs
Story by Valerie D’Orazio
Art by Dan Lauer
Edited by Darren G. Davis
Letterer Gary Scott Beatty
Cover by Dan Lauer and Graham Hill
Publisher Blue Water Comics
-
Is there a Joker curse? Beyond The Joker:The Man Who Laughs attempts to answer this question by examining the clown as an archetype throughout history. The story starts out by detailing Heath Ledger’s experience during the shooting of The Dark Knight up to his tragic death after the film wrapped. The book then jumps to 1802 the year that Joseph Grimaldi created the familiar white-face look that we still associate with clowns today. Grimaldi it seems was the prototypical “sad clown” hiding his tears behind a smile and eventually a bottle. The story makes it’s way to John Wayne Gacy the serial killer who famously worked as a clown when he...
Story by Valerie D’Orazio
Art by Dan Lauer
Edited by Darren G. Davis
Letterer Gary Scott Beatty
Cover by Dan Lauer and Graham Hill
Publisher Blue Water Comics
-
Is there a Joker curse? Beyond The Joker:The Man Who Laughs attempts to answer this question by examining the clown as an archetype throughout history. The story starts out by detailing Heath Ledger’s experience during the shooting of The Dark Knight up to his tragic death after the film wrapped. The book then jumps to 1802 the year that Joseph Grimaldi created the familiar white-face look that we still associate with clowns today. Grimaldi it seems was the prototypical “sad clown” hiding his tears behind a smile and eventually a bottle. The story makes it’s way to John Wayne Gacy the serial killer who famously worked as a clown when he...
- 5/28/2014
- by Zachary Zagranis
- SoundOnSight
Go ahead, admit it. You're scared to death of clowns. You're definitely not alone in this fear, and while we horror fans are totally familiar with all of the evil personifications of clowns in movies, comics, stories and artwork, some of us are still wondering why a traditional figure of fun, humor and entertainment is now more commonly considered one of the scariest damn things ever to walk the earth. While the world of clinical psychology has not yet recognized the fear of clowns as an official condition, it does have a scientific name: “Coulrophobia.” An amazing new essay in Smithsonian Magazine examines this phobia in depth (with lots of nightmare-inducing photos, of course), and attempts to trace its origins, as well as speculating on exactly when in history clowns suddenly went from happy to horrifying. The thesis, which includes input from several academic authorities, ventures back through recorded history...
- 9/10/2013
- by Gregory Burkart
- FEARnet
Illustrations by Tavis Coburn
Advertising is on the cusp of its first creative revolution since the 1960s. But the ad industry might get left behind.
Illustrations by Tavis Coburn
Twenty creative directors, planners, media strategists, and account executives from agencies across the country are down on all fours on the floor of a 100-year-old tenement on Manhattan's Lower East Side. They are each staring down at a blank poster-size sheet of paper, contemplating their most abject fears about their careers, their livelihoods, and their future. They have reason to worry. They are, after all, in the business of advertising.
This slight three-story brick building on the edge of Chinatown has been taken over by Hyper Island, a school based in Sweden renowned for producing the most coveted digital talent in the ad industry. That school is located in an old prison on the Baltic Sea, and students are taught that...
Advertising is on the cusp of its first creative revolution since the 1960s. But the ad industry might get left behind.
Illustrations by Tavis Coburn
Twenty creative directors, planners, media strategists, and account executives from agencies across the country are down on all fours on the floor of a 100-year-old tenement on Manhattan's Lower East Side. They are each staring down at a blank poster-size sheet of paper, contemplating their most abject fears about their careers, their livelihoods, and their future. They have reason to worry. They are, after all, in the business of advertising.
This slight three-story brick building on the edge of Chinatown has been taken over by Hyper Island, a school based in Sweden renowned for producing the most coveted digital talent in the ad industry. That school is located in an old prison on the Baltic Sea, and students are taught that...
- 11/29/2010
- by Danielle Sacks
- Fast Company
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