Trying to dethrone Pennywise as the scariest clown out there might sound like sacrilege to many Stephen King fans, but when looking at the matter objectively along with Jack Wilhelmi of Screenrant, it becomes kind of obvious that Art the Clown, a truly terrifying figure, might actually have the edge in terms of scare power. When it comes to who’s more powerful that’s another conversation since for all intents and purposes Art isn’t some ancient, cosmic entity like Pennywise, which might give the creature a chance at being able to take the demonic Art in a fight, but the mime-like clown does have a host of other qualities that make him yet another entity that can’t really be beaten by anyone but the writer if they so choose. On top of being invulnerable, able to regenerate, and immortal, Art is also the silent type which makes him a LOT scarier since a lot of people expect clowns to be chatty, loquacious, and as out there as they can be. Art doesn’t talk at all, but despite being cliche, his expressions and his actions speak volumes. For some he can do more with a grin and a raised hand than Pennywise can do with a full-on, pants-soiling freakout. One might think that I’m being a little too kind to Art in this estimation, but were I his writer I would have written a line in his story that displayed an obvious weakness that’s still difficult to note since it would mean sticking around him long enough to find it.
In a way Art doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses since he doesn’t depend on fear to survive. He’s simply there to kill, maim, and terrify his victims, whereas Pennywise needs his prey to be afraid of him, as it makes the victim that much tastier and as a result he can feed and feed in order to survive. Art just likes to perform and, at the same time, plan out each death in his head as he goes over in his mind just how he’s going to kill his next victim. One has to wonder if Pennywise plans all that much, especially given that he’d already terrified the Losers so much that they were ready to leave, meaning he could have sprung the trap and taken them all without warning. But unfortunately one of Pennywise’s failings is a strength of Art’s, as he uses it quite easily and proficiently in his kills. They’re both showmen. After all they are clowns and the whole point of the appearance is to get people to loosen up, not be suspicious. Of course looking at either clown it’s hard to be anything but suspicious since both of them are pretty freaky. Art looks like a walking cadaver while Pennywise always looks as though he’s wondering if your liver might taste nice. Getting anyone to trust them long enough to stick around is a matter of pure manipulation, and even without a voice Art is somehow good at this, as some people still trust clowns.
But one of the big differences is that Art doesn’t function on ego. This might bring up a sore spot for a lot of King fans when it comes to the latest movie since that moment when the Losers are just about cornered and should by all rights be outmatched is when we get to see just fragile Pennywise’s ego is. One could argue that he was sent scurrying because they were no longer afraid of him, but the name-calling that eventually drove him back and weakened the creature to such a degree was cringe-worthy at best and absolutely WTF at worst. To think that a creature as ancient as the thing behind the clown could suffer from such an inferiority complex was enough to make a person bury their head in their hands and wonder what in the hell the director was thinking when coming up with that scene. At least in the miniseries back in 1990 they confronted the creature and kicked the hell out of it, but to insult it to death was something worthy of this current era in which feelings are just that fragile that even the movie monsters can get the hell beaten out of them by words. Art though wouldn’t be fazed by this, and that’s another thing that makes him scarier at this point, he’d likely give one of his silent laughs when someone decided to insult and belittle him, and would then keep on cutting or doing whatever else he was engaged in at the moment.
It’s kind of necessary to say sorry to Pennywise at this point since he’s been a legend for a long while and still is, but somehow, Art just upped the terror level in a big way.
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