God help us, Eli Roth’s ‘Clown’ just landed a summer release date

Good news, coulrophobes (i.e. all of us!). With the It remake currently stuck in development limbo, you've been spared a new iteration of Pennywise the Clown for the time being. 

Bad news, coulrophobes! After sitting on the shelf for a number of years, the Eli Roth-produced, Jon Watts-directed Clown (based on a fake trailer that went viral in 2010) has been slated for limited theatrical release on June 17 by Dimension Films, according to Deadline. The movie follows a father (Andy Powers) who dresses up as a clown for his son's sixth birthday party — first mistake! — before coming to the horrifying realization that the costume and makeup won't come off, and that his personality is beginning to change…in a very, very bad direction.

Clown is one of the rare films to be inspired by a fake trailer (Machetes 1 & 2 and Hobo with a Shotgun share that distinction), and while results on that front have been pretty mixed so far, this one looks legitimately scary. Releasing this one at the height of the blockbuster summer season is an interesting counter-programming strategy, but I predict it might actually help that weekend's Disney-Pixar sequel Finding Dory. Can you imagine all the traumatized inner children who will immediately buy tickets to that after being brutalized by images of a child-devouring clown?

You can watch the Clown trailer below.

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