The first trailer for the new adaptation of Stephen King’s IT has landed, and there’s a decent chance the film will scar a new generation of viewers from clowns, while also reigniting the coulrophobia of 90s kids (raises hand) who were beyond terrified by the 1990 TV miniseries featuring Tim Curry in an iconic performance as the titular child-eating shapeshifter, whose primary form is the guise of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (seriously, that miniseries gave me recurring nightmares for a good part of an entire decade, even after I discovered Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show as Dr. Frank-N-Furter).
The new IT will also be R-rated, so we should expect the film will depict more of the gruesomeness from King’s novel that the miniseries could not. For example, the infamous encounter between Pennywise and Beverly Marsh in her bathroom that ends with a geyser of blood has received a gushing upgrade. This IT fan also give a thumbs up to Georgie Denborough’s paper boat, the “Missing” poster of Patrick Hockstetter, and the house on Neibolt Street getting featured prominently. Hopefully the rest of Derry receives the same faithful treatment, as the town is very much its own character in the novel and integral to Pennywise’s power.
Directed by Andres Muschietti (Mama), the new IT updates the setting of King’s novel from the 1950s to the 1980s, with a planned second movie to take place in the modern era. There are a bunch of new young faces portraying the plucky Losers Club – the group of seven misfit kids who band together to fight off Pennywise. And Bill Skarsgard (son of Stellan and brother of Alexander) takes over as Pennnywise, who now has a Victorian-era look.
IT arrives on September 8. Keep on floating on and have a balloon while you’re at it, kids.