Coulrophobia

While breaking the story of the 2016 ‘killer clown’ epidemic, a journalist with a childhood phobia is stalked by a sinister clown that may not be human.

  • Gary Davies
    Director
  • Gary Davies
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Number of Pages:
    100
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 2020 Independent Horror Movie Awards (Spring Edition)

    Winner Best Feature Script
Writer Biography - Gary Davies

GARY DAVIES – WRITER-DIRECTOR

With a distinct interest in belief systems, Buddhist philosophy, and the uncanny, Gary is an award-winning New Zealand filmmaker who loves creating nightmares and dreamscapes to provoke and entertain; scary, cerebral horror films that explore the modern human condition.

Gary jumped in at the deep end - writing, directing, shooting, producing and editing the horror-comedy feature FLATMATES WANTED which, despite having no budget, obtained NZ-wide DVD release via Vendetta Films.

He has developed his original horror feature script PSYCHOMANTEUM with UK and NZ producers, and was represented by Atchity Entertainment International for his horror-thriller feature script IN THE MOONLIGHT prior to the project receiving NZ Film Commission Early Development Funding.

Gary has been short-listed for NZFC funding schemes, and his short films and feature screenplays have taken part in and won accolades at festivals and competitions around the world. SECOND SKIN was a Top 10 Finalist in the 2020 Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition out of 765 entries, and COULROPHOBIA won Best Feature Script at the 2020 Independent Horror Movie Awards.

Gary's short film BE QUIET has won numerous awards, and played at Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas all across the USA as the preshow for franchise horror hit A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE.

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Writer Statement

A combination of childhood fears, social media and psychology fuelled the ‘Great Clown Panic’ of both 2016 & 2017 – a craze that quickly became a worldwide phenomenon.

Coulrophobia is an atmospheric psychological horror film that explores this bizarre epidemic. With its themes of cultural fears and mass hysteria more relevant now than ever in the post-COVID zeitgeist, the film presents these themes via a creepy, compelling mystery that packs frightening twists and turns for a tough heroine who suffers from a childhood fear of clowns...

There are many clown horror films, but most of them are cheap, simplistic, crude affairs. COULROPHOBIA is a high-quality psychological horror film more akin to IT than your typical ‘killer clown’ movie.

COULROPHOBIA is a creepy, atmospheric mystery in the vein of IT FOLLOWS and THE RING, featuring likeable characters, humour and moments of levity with witty dialogue, alongside nuanced themes of repressed fear, scary cultural archetypes, and societal mass hysteria.

‘CAN’T SLEEP, CLOWNS WILL EAT ME...’ Alice Cooper

And people think COVID is scary...