Thread: Help on being a creepy clown

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hey everyone, i was watching a video on youtube of people who didnt get scared of this one clown. But the same people got scared of another guy also wearing a clown mask. so my question to you is what makes the clown scary. what does it take to creep people out. Tell me how you do it.
thanks
(this is kind of a survey)

last halloween i was a clown. i bought a costume from spirit.
i was in my friends little maze and got rightin peoples faces.
also i had a air horn to lure tots in and confetti poppers (the spring ones)
to shoot them with as they walked by. hope thin helps

i have noticed that Halloween and being scary is all about the presentation and looks. things that jump out are good, building up a suspenseful atmosphere are good, and showing people what they want to see (ok well what they expect to see). I.E. my electric chair prop... if i had built it true to an electrocution it would actually be boring. the body doesn't really thrash around like in movies and haunted houses. People however expect it to be violent so i built the chair and dummy to flail about wildly... I was a headless clown 2 years ago and it scared everyone shitless! The shoulders were up at about 6.5' and my head stuck out so it gave the illusion the clown was holding his head. i used a severed leg prop to make a gory neck stub and my grandmother stitched the costume based off of some sketches I drew up.

wow very nice. Well im actually going to have a chainsaw and i built a drop panel so those are two good scares i guess

Anyone else have any scare tactics to share

I think a lot of it is natural. If you have a creepy dark side all the better. Some acting ability is good, but really getting into it is the key. Over the last few years I was helping in a haunt and I was not even a character. I just made sure everythng was going right and did the sound and lighting. But I have this creepy dark side and I would stand next to the door as people were waiting to go in. I would just stare at them right in the eye, and not have any facial expressions what so ever. I creeped one girl out so bad, she would not go in. Hell I did not even have any makeup. Guess my face is that creepy lol.

you can never go wring with a chainsaw... no matter what your theme may be. Getting into character is also very important. last year i was a mental patient in my yard haunt and i had a straight jacket and white pants and a hannibal lector type mask. laughing hysterically and tilting my head at odd angles while licking my lips really sold the show! Just think to yourself "what would the character do?" and then do it... dont worry, your in a mask or have heavy make up in the dark no one will recognize you!

Exactly. You should never worry about what people think, let it all go. I think there are 2 ways you can go about really getting into peoples heads, I know one guy that in real life is just a loud in your face kind of guy that used to always get in fights ect.. and he was an awsome yell at you with a gun in your face character, I am more layed back so the other way is to just be creepy and stare them down. I like the licking lips stuff you described. So I think some of it is injecting a little of your natural personality and over exagerating it. You get to do stuff you would be locked up for on the streets lol.

Halloween is the one time you can let go and not be frowned upon! If I acted like a lunatic on any other day people would give me weird looks and wonder about my sanity. That's what I love about Halloween, the freedom to break sociatal norms.

thank you everyone so far. Well i for one can not wait to get my big top clown mask and just chase everyone with a chainsaw while doing an evil clown laugh muhahahaha