There was a big problem in 2016. A clown problem.
It seemed like you couldn’t turn on the television or scroll through social media without seeing another report about somebody spotting a creepy clown lurking somewhere they absolutely shouldn’t be. The sightings weren’t limited to the United States, either. The United Kingdom had its own strange encounters, and before long, the whole thing had become an international circus.
Now Hulu is going back to the beginning with Clown Panic, a feature-length documentary examining the bizarre phenomenon that turned creepy clowns into one of the strangest cultural stories of the decade.
Hulu has released the first trailer ahead of the documentary’s October 12 premiere as part of its annual Huluween lineup. The film will stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ in the United States, with Disney+ handling international distribution.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR “CLOWN PANIC” BELOW
If you were online during the 2016 craze, you probably remember the blurry photographs, shaky videos and endless reports of clowns appearing in places where nobody expected to find one. What started with sightings in South Carolina quickly spread, with police departments getting involved, schools taking precautions and social media helping every new report reach a much larger audience.
Of course, once the internet got involved, things became considerably harder to sort out. Some sightings were legitimate reports, others were staged, and plenty of people seemed perfectly happy to put on clown makeup if it meant getting attention online.
Clown Panic looks at how that strange combination of fear, publicity and social media turned a handful of creepy sightings into a nationwide phenomenon. The documentary features interviews with witnesses, law enforcement, professional clowns and cultural commentators while examining the impact the panic had on people who actually worked in the profession.
For professional clowns, 2016 wasn’t exactly a banner year.
Clown Panic is directed by Ed Perkins, with Jonathan Chinn and Simon Chinn producing through Lightbox, the company behind Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, Twisted Yoga and The Diamond Heist.