25 Scary-Clown Movies That'll Give You Nightmares for Days

The 1924 silent psychological thriller film "He Who Gets Slapped" arguably kicked off the scary-clown movie genre. In the film, a scientist named Paul (Lon Chaney) gets one of his ideas stolen by his patron (Marc McDermott). Paul ends up working as a clown who calls himself "He Who Gets Slapped," with his dark schtick involving other clowns slapping him (which is what the patron did when he stole Paul's idea). Eventually, Paul and the patron fall for the same woman, Consuelo (Norma Shearer), and Paul will do whatever it takes to stop the patron from making a move.