Scissorman

For the Scissormen of Orquith, see Scissormen.

Scissorman is a fictional character antagonist in the Clock Tower horror series. He is a serial killer who is constantly in pursuit of the protagonist. His trademark weapon is a massive pair of scissors that he uses to stab and cut his victims. He sometimes becomes involved in a hide-and-seek type of chase with his victims. Scissorman first appeared in the 1995 video game Clock Tower.

In video games

Scissorman in the original Clock Tower

Scissorman is introduced as Bobby Barrows, the young son of Mary and Simon Barrows. He is the twin brother of Dan Barrows, and they were both known for their murderous tendencies amongst the locals, however it was in fact Bobby who was the Scissorman. Throughout the game, he chases Jennifer Simpson through the Barrows mansion in an attempt to kill her. He seems to take some childish delight in playing with his victims before he kills them, as he can be seen dancing for a short while if he knocks Jennifer to the floor. It is heavily implied that he is a demon, as it is discovered that his mother Mary was a cultist, and in the opening cutscene the baby Bobby's eyes are completely white. Bobby meets his fate as Jennifer activates the clock tower bells, and the chimes disorient him enough so that he falls off the clock tower to his presumed death.

In Clock Tower 2, Scissorman returns with a blue overcoat, a mask and an exaggerated limp. Scissorman appears in each scenario, and his appearances are mostly triggered by the player's actions . Scissorman appears to be immortal, therefore the player must either try to hide until he is gone, or use an object to knock him out. In one of the levels, he can be found resting in a rocking chair and watching cartoons on TV. It is revealed that the Scissorman in this game can be a variety of people, depending upon the choices the player makes within the game. However, no matter who the fake Scissorman in this game turns out to be, the real Scissorman is always Edward, the only survivor of the original Clock Tower murders apart from Jennifer. It is revealed that Edward is actually Dan, the twin brother of the previous Scissorman, Bobby. In the port of the original Clock Tower for the PlayStation (renamed The First Fear), an Easter egg is added after Dan's apparent death during the explosion: Edward can be seen rising from Dan's charred remains. Edward's role as Scissorman comes to an end as Jennifer and Helen find a spell to open a massive door, which sucks the Scissorman in.

According to the second game of the series, another Scissorman (also known as Little John) prior to Bobby and Dan had lived a long time ago. He had been stopped from murdering people by his father, Quinten Burroughs. His corpse can be found in the Burroughs Castle (in England) in a stone coffin.

Scissorman does not appear in Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within, which is named Clock Tower Ghost Head in the original Japanese and greatly disconnected from the main series in terms of plotline, but makes a brief cameo in the Clock Tower: Ghost Head loading screen.

The Scissorman in Clock Tower 3 is not related to any of the previous incarnations. In fact, he is not one but two people: the twins, Scissorman and Scissorwoman. Both look like circus performers, and both wield a pair of knives that they can put together to create makeshift scissors. Their true names are Jemima and Ralph (Janis and Rudy in the Japanese version of the game), and both were servants to Lord Burroughs, acting as his executioners. After the death of Burroughs, they were stoned to death by local villagers in retaliation for their murdering ways. However, both were resurrected, sharing a single entity between them.

In film

The posters for the upcoming live-action film Clock Tower show the Scissorman extensively and it appears as though he will be wielding two knives that can join together into a makeshift pair of scissors (like the Scissorman/Scissorwoman in Clock Tower 3) rather than his trademark pair of shears.

Reception

In 2008, GameDaily included Scissorman as one of the 13 scariest video game villains ever. In 2010, Joystick Division listed him among the top 10 scariest characters in video game history, adding that "he will always be regarded as one of the most nefarious and horrible antagonists in all of video gaming." In 2011, UGO.com featured him in their list of the 25 scariest characters in video games, calling him to be "seriously ... beyond terrifying".