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"What if it's just some crazy guy in a clown suit?" ”“ Remembering 'It' after 25 years

In the great pantheon of horror entertainment, has there ever been a character better realised an...
Newstalk
Newstalk

18.10 20 Nov 2015


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"What if it's...

"What if it's just some crazy guy in a clown suit?" ”“ Remembering 'It' after 25 years

Newstalk
Newstalk

18.10 20 Nov 2015


Share this article


In the great pantheon of horror entertainment, has there ever been a character better realised and as utterly terrifying as Pennywise the Clown? Played with the kind of performance so earnest and creepy that it’s surprising it didn’t garner some award nominations, Tim Curry incarnated evil itself on television screens 25 years ago today, as Stephen King’s IT played out over two nights on TV.

Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, a schlock helmer best known for the largely forgotten Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the story whittled down the writer’s trying 1100+ page novel set in his fictional town of Derry, where more than 20 of his bump-in-the-night adventures take place.

A group of seven kids, the so-called ‘Losers’ Club’ of social outcasts, band together and cope with the loss of one member’s brother, killed by the evil that sporadically pops up, taking the shape of the most frightening clown ever committed to celluloid. Wounding him in battle, Pennywise retreats, and the children swear an oath to come back to Derry and take it on again, should the titular It ever return.

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via GIPHY

The second part is set 30 years later, when the only loser left in Derry calls his allies after a vicious murder suggests the resurgence of Pennywise, with Tim Curry’s voice and facial work stirring up fear and scaring the bejesus out of everyone on screen – and everyone watching at home.

With just two episodes to work with, it is incredible the lasting effect Tim Curry’s role as Pennywise has endured, becoming as much of a horror icon as Freddie or Jason. Casting Curry in the role was a masterstroke, his theatricality and physicality owning the screen. It’s also said that he didn’t wear a wig, choosing to dye his own hair the blood-red of Pennywise’s barnet. But while under a thick layer of white make-up, his facial expressions pour through the war paint, a playfully wicked mix of charm and terror that kept many people, children of all ages, awake and tossing-and-turning for more nights than they’d probably like to admit after the show was over.

via GIPHY

A new version of IT is currently in pre-production, with British actor Will Poulter rumoured to be taking on the iconic Curry role. The film is expected to start shooting in the summer of 2016. Whether or not people will remember being terrified by it in 2041 is something we’ll just have to wait and see.

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