[Near pointless hijack]
Out of curiousity, I went to the IMDb to check on the age of the actor that played the boy in the movie Poltergeist (his real name is Oliver Robins). As I suspected, he’s fairly close to my age, born about two years earlier than me.
What freaked me out was the bit of trivia in his biography section:
See what I mean? Even clown puppets are bad news.
That pretty much sums it up.
Clowns are nasty pieces of work. They don’t actually scare me, but I do find them repulsive. They seem to radiate this subtle twisted sexuality of a violent sort. Maybe it’s the news reports over the years of “Mr Bubbles”-type paedophilia cases, or the fact that circus employees are weird anyway, but I definitely see something really sick in the face of a clown.
Oh yes, and they’re not funny.
I don’t know if it’s still there, but it used to be that on the site Muffin mentioned there was a place for people to submit their reasons for their fear. This movie is one of the biggest reasons people mentioned. The only other reasons that got as much mention were Stephen King’s IT and bad circus/birthday party experiences. Seeing Poltergeist at age four was the catalyst for what has been a life-long fear of clowns in my case, anyway…
That’s an incorrect statement, but to keep this hijack short, I won’t go into it. Search through the archives or e-mail me if you want to know more.
You know, I never saw Poltergeist. I guess I have to, now.
Clowns… Clowns… Clowns…
I hate clowns…
almost as much as I hate mimes…
What about Killer Clowns from Outer Space? That movie left me feeling icky for weeks.
" . . . and I took a trophy for Tramp a year later."
—So did I, in college! I . . . Oh, wait a minute, you meant . . . Never mind.
I always thought they were minorly freaky, but I met a guy in college who was REALLY scared of them. His father would dress up as a clown and stand outside his window, tapping on the glass and saying “Mikey, the clowns will eat you.” Needless to say, the old man had some issues with childraising. Also needless to say, Mike hates clowns deeply. Seeing as how Mike is also a 300 lb. ex-Marine, I pity the clowns.
“While filming the scene where the clown doll scene where it comes alive and tries to pull him under his bed. Oliver went through a near-death experience; the puppet grabbed his legs too hard and cut off his circulation. Steven Spielberg thought he was acting (he even yelled “Keep going! You’re doing great!”), it was only until he saw his face turn red that he realized he was in trouble. Spielberg ran over and pulled the puppet off, saving Oliver’s life”
Wow… that was really something… if I remember the scene correctly the clown doll was grabbing him by the ankles. So, if it grabbed too tight and cut off his circluation… wait a minute while I check my anatomy book… hmmm, that would be to his feet.
Wow… his feet got all tingley and almost fell asleep. Spielberg saved him with only… years… to spare. What a close one.
I’ve always hated clowns because when I was a kid a clown killed my dad.
Hmmm… seems like I’ve heard that before.
Well, it happens a lot. Which would be reason enough to fear clowns, you’d think.
Delphica, you nailed it. I hate clowns, dolls, and crash test dummies. But get this…I actually WAS a clown at a local restaurant at one time. It didn’t bother me in the least to be on the other side of the make-up.
But here’s the thing about dolls. Barbies are OK. Baby dolls are OK. It’s the ones dressed up in “Gone With The Wind” dresses and big hats and shit like that who scare the bejeezus outta me.
I’m not scared of clowns; I usually just find them boring and uninteresting. Plus there has been a glut of third rate clowns over the past couple of decades. People take a class in clowning and think it makes them the life of the party, but they really have no talent for it. As compensation, they get loud and aggressive, and scare kids.
Now a professional clown – the type employed by a circus, not one who does kid’s birthday parties – can be funny and (if you remember Emmit Kelly, poignant). But you hardly ever see that kind of clown (who goes to the circus any more?).
Yep, clowns and mimes bad. Marionettes also bad. The worst would be a clown-mime with a clown marionette.
:shudder: