10 Stupid Movies That Will Help You Conquer Fears

9. Stephen King's It (Clowns)

Though I promise that all of these entries won't be personal anecdotes, I did develop a childhood fear of clowns because of this movie, which my dad left on the TV while he went to shower. I stumbled across it, and soon enough ran upstairs in an act of irrational terror at having seen a boy just get murdered by Tim Curry's Pennywise. Years later, I finally mustered up the courage to watch the film, and my fear was promptly torn down by, again, a totally daft finale that completely undoes the prior terror. Yes, Tim Curry is excellent in the role, but given that this TV film clearly lacked the budget to adapt the ending of Stephen King's novel properly, why didn't they just alter it? Instead, it turns out that this clown's "real form" is an unconvincing papier mache spider, though I suppose if you're still scared of spiders at this point, it might not do a whole lot for you...