CLOWN PANIC Trailer Revisits the Creepy Clown Craze That Freaked Out America in 2016
Remember that time in 2016, when people suddenly became convinced creepy clowns were lurking in the woods and around their neighborhoods?
That strange chapter of American history is getting another look in Hulu’s new documentary Clown Panic, and the trailer brings back just how weird things got.
Clown Panic digs into the nationwide scare that erupted after reports surfaced of mysterious clowns appearing in a small South Carolina community. What could have remained a bizarre local story quickly spread across the country, fueled by more reported sightings, social media posts and relentless TV news coverage.
Soon, police departments were fielding reports, schools were going into lockdown, and communities were wondering whether the clowns were harmless pranksters, legitimate threats or simply the product of a growing urban legend.
One official interviewed for the documentary remembers how quickly the reports became concerning, saying: “It was one thing for there to be a single clown sighting, that wouldn’t have troubled me that much, and then there was a second one … how many more of these are we gonna have?”
The documentary brings together witnesses, law enforcement officials, professional clowns and cultural commentators to examine how reports of creepy clowns managed to explode into a full-blown national moral panic.
There’s also an absurdly funny side to the story, especially when the film turns its attention to the actual working clowns caught in the middle of the madness. Professional performers watched jobs disappear as people suddenly became terrified of anyone wearing oversized shoes and face paint.
One clown sums up the ridiculous situation, saying: “I don’t know any clowns that wanna go and kill a bunch of kids. I mean, that’s your customers.”
It’s funny, but it also gets at what makes this whole story so fascinating. The 2016 clown scare took a familiar horror image and turned it into something people were genuinely afraid might be waiting outside their homes or schools.
Ed Perkins directs Clown Panic, with Jonathan Chinn and Simon Chinn producing through Lightbox.
For anyone who remembers watching the creepy clown craze unfold in real time, Clown Panic looks like a fun opportunity to revisit one of the strangest cultural freakouts of the past decade and learn how the hell it became such a huge thing.
The feature-length documentary premieres October 12 as part of Hulu’s Huluween lineup, just in time for Halloween. It will also stream internationally on Disney+.