10 Most Hysterical Characters In Horror Movie History

Yet another villain clawed straight from the mind of Stephen King, Pennywise is single-handedly responsible for renewing the world's fear of clowns in the modern age. Whether it's the giant forehead, the bright red slashes down his face, or the fact that he can literally transform into your worst fear at any given moment, we have good reason to steer clear.

Brought to life in 2017's It and 2019's It Chapter Two by a magnificently well-cast Bill Skarsgård, the dancing clown of death and doom emerges every 27 years in the fictional town of Derry, intent on satiating his appetite and relieving the town of as many children as he can consume. But he's not without his flaws.

Pennywise is prone to strops of a hellish magnitude, turning on a smile for playtime and throwing all his toys out of the proverbial pram when he doesn't get his own way. Hysterical to a fault, his emotions often have a physical manifestation – not just in his shouting and wailing, or his mood, but in the way he looks and speaks as well. In fact, he is so incapable of reigning himself in that he quite literally shrinks into a moaning, squealing caricature of himself who screams his last as the Derry natives' control of their own emotions kills him.