NAMPA, ID—After the release and box office success of the latest film adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel, IT, killer clowns across the nation are feeling as if the people of the world are misunderstanding what they're all about.
The novel and subsequent films about the same story portray a demonic force that often takes the form of a clown as it terrorizes the residents of a small fictional Maine town. Moviegoers have expressed changes in attitudes about killer clowns since seeing the films, leaving clowns who take human lives left struggling to maintain their identity.
"The movies portray a lot of inaccurate stereotypes," shared Razorface, an area killer clown. "First of all, almost none of us in the killer clown community is a demon or supernatural at all. We have to wait in the back of cars for unsuspecting victims just like any other serial killers. Also, I don't know any one of us who can go 27 years without taking a life. I mean, maybe the retired ones, I guess."
Razorface and his community worry that their thirst for human suffering is being lost by these media portrayals. "Yes, just like [the demonic force in clown form] Pennywise, we enjoy seeing the fear in our victims' eyes, the quiver in their voices, and so on, but unlike him, very few of us killer clowns actually eat parts of our victims. I mean, there's Gus, but he's on the fringes of the community as it is."
It seems that potential victims of the killer clowns often have unrealistic expectations of what their murders will be like, thanks in part to King's story and subsequent films, thus ruining the experience for both the clowns and the victims. "Just imagine for a moment," continued Razorface, "You see a guy like me staring at you through your window. If you know about Pennywise, you probably think I'm just going to pop through the wall and be twice as big, or I'll transform into a walking corpse with snake eyes or something. So now if that's what you're expecting, just think of how I look, just staring through the window. I still have to actually get through the physical barriers of the walls and doors and such. That's way harder for me than it is for an entity like Pennywise, so when I'm sitting there struggling with a locked door like an idiot for 4 minutes, the victims just aren't all that impressed. It really kills the mood, no pun intended."
It appears that many of the killer clown community have slowed their murder sprees due to these disappointing experiences. Many have also tried re-branding, including going for the more mainstream serial killer persona of middle-aged white males who have trouble with women and work at K-Mart.
"It's just so frustrating," said Razorface. "You work your whole killer clown career making an image for yourself, and then with a couple of high-budget films, you're just another psycho with a dull knife in makeup."
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