Pennywise – FRAGMENTEN UIT HET SCHEMERLAND

2017 and 2019 brought a fresh interpretation of Stephen King’s horror masterpiece ‘It’ (1986) – one of the scariest concepts ever conceived – with Bill Skarsgård starring as the demonic entity It, aka Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The first film follows the Losers Club, seven kids from Derry terrorized by It, an entity dwelling in the sewers that feeds on fear. The second, a three-hour monsterpiece, sees them return as adults to face Pennywise again. The timeline shifts from the book’s 1950s and 1980s to the 1980s and modern day. The script invents many new terrifying encounters with the clown, and the excellent special effects mark a major upgrade from the 1990 TV movie. Add to that Skarsgård’s fantastic performance – he truly makes the role his own – and strong turns from many of the child and adult cast (including James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, and Bill Hader), and you have one of the scariest film series of recent times. It’s the ultimate story about fear: how it takes hold, and how breaking free can seem impossible. It also tells a great psychological story of how we get trapped in childhood roles – Eddie married his mother, Richie wants to steal the show, Bev has an abusive boyfriend like her father, and so on. The film pays great homage to the 1990 miniseries, with Richie getting trapped in a room full of clown dolls, including the original Pennywise portrayed by Tim Curry. Stephen King even makes a cameo in Part 2. A must-see for horror fans: your heart will definitely be beating a lot faster during much of its runtime.

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

IT (1990, USA)

Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Cast: Richard Thomas, Tim Reid, Annette O’Toole, Tim Curry
Running Time: 192 mins.

Before the cinematic It movies from 2017 and 2019, there was this beloved TV mini-series adapted from Stephen King’s horror masterpiece ‘It’. IT revolves around an evil entity living in the sewers of Derry, Maine, which feeds on the fears of people – children especially – and usually appears as the terrifying clown Pennywise. The structure of this TV production is very well done. The story is told as the adult members of the Losers Club are called back to Derry by their old friend Mike Hanlon when Pennywise returns after 30 years (“It’s back!”) and begins killing children again. They have all forgotten their horrific childhood encounters with Pennywise and must relive them before returning to Derry to finish him off for good. It’s a very intelligent metaphor for traumatic childhood experiences and how the past – and its many fears – remains very much alive in adults. The youth cast is very impressive, drawing you in and making their experiences believable. Tim Curry is absolutely great as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Bill Skarsgård definitely had huge clown shoes to fill when he took on the role in the reboot. The effects are dated nowadays, but IT still retains that eerie atmosphere that makes it so effective as a horror experience. The only flaw is that ending with the fake spider doesn’t cut it anymore (it never really did). Still, there are some genuine scares, and it still has some of that Losers Club magic going for it.