Clown

While clowns are scary to many, filmmakers Christopher Ford and Jon Watts give the white-faced subject matter behind this loathsome horror movie only a cursory exploration; the result isn't much fun. (Frankly, the story behind Clown is actually better than the movie itself: Apparently director/writer Watts and co-writer Ford -- who later made Cop Car -- created a fake trailer for a non-existent movie, crediting it to Eli Roth. Roth saw it and commissioned an actual movie ... and also played a clown.)

The story could have been funny, which it isn't, or it could have been scary, which it also isn't. It could have been original, but it isn't that, either; it more or less uses the same historical idea as the terrific Krampus, about an evil demon morphing into a children's favorite. Instead, it callously focuses on grown-ups terrorizing children, particularly a father terrorizing his own child. It's no wonder this sat on the shelf for years.