What about it was so scary?

[Guest Black Tiger]

In the scary movie topic, lots of people seemed to agree with me about IT being one of the scariest movies.

 

Most people said Pennywise The Clown was what made it scary. What about Pennywise makes it so scary?

 

For me it's his voice, if you just listen to it and forget your watching a scary movie it sounds like it could be either funny, or evil.

 

What do some other people think?

[Guest]

clowns in and of themselves are scary

in the book, there was more detail of how It was a nameless beast that takes the shape of whatever scares you most. the clown was like its default form cause its a pretty universal fear. parts of that book were seriously fucked up, and I dont mean scary fucked up or evil fucked up, I mean bizarre fucked up

[Guest Anorak]

One of the posters on the original topic made a good point when he mentioned how the films effectiveness lay in us caring about the kids in the film. We cared about the kids and as a result the tension when they were threatened by Pennywise was amplified, this is a key strength for any good horror film of course. There's also something about evil preying on the young which can affect our emotions more directly, almost like we naturally fear more for them and agonise over their fate to a greater degree.

 

As Arkham noted, there's just no getting away from the evil clown image. The clown can be seen as representing the ultimate image of underlying evil which exists in the world and our subconscious. The happy and friendly outward appearance which underneath the surface lies a festering evil of which we either can't or refuse to dwell on. The conventional image of a clown and its traditional relationship with the memories of childhood are deliberately subverted in the most extreme possible way by the character of Pennywise. He represents the most inexplicable and disturbing bogeyman imaginable for not only young children but the fears which are left over somewhere in all of us from our own childhoods. The disturbing power of the evil clown image also has a lot to do with our fear of cruelty, the character is the ultimate macabre joke in that it proves evil can fool us and outmanuvure us by wearing a disguise. Pennywise essentially stands as a disturbing  figure because he subverts our own images of the true 'face' of evil and traces the origins of those associations right back to childhood when we experienced fear most vividly.

 

However valid or barmy people may think my take on IT and Pennywise is there is undoubtedly something unique about how the character disturbs so many people. I wasn't surprised at all it was mentioned so much in the scariest movie thread because endless people i've spoken to about the film over the years always mention Pennywise, there's just something about the image of that evil clown that stays with people.

[Guest Black Tiger]

Anorak, very well said.

 

Every person deep down inside has an issue with clowns. IT took this issue and put in into reality by taking seven different kids, each of whom embodied one trait a viewer could represent. (Smart Ass, Wimp, Overweight, Tomboy etc).

 

This may seen stupid but a great example is in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. When Pee Wee chains the bike to the clown statue it has the big grin, when the bike is stolen it has the evil sadistic grin.  

 

Is there anything outside of Pennywise that made IT scary? I cannot think of one in particular thing that won't somehow make its way back to Pennywise.

[Guest Anorak]

Yeah i agree, Pennywise was an unforgettable monster who made the film memorable. No matter how many snooty critics often look down on Stephen King, he simply wouldn't have been so successful if he didn't have an innate understanding of what we fear and what can get properly under our skin. The most powerful horror, whether it be films or novels, affect us pychologically and has a dreamlike menace which can awake deep fears in us that have lay dormant for some time.

[Guest Vyce]

I personally don't think that IT was that scary of a film.  Chilling at times, but not really scary.  One of the better King films, though.

 

Much praise, however, does go out to Tim Curry for his portrayal of Pennywise.  He really diid make the movie.  Curry has always been an underrated talent, IMO...often times, he adds a lot to whatever role he's in, whether it's a small part or not.  He was fantastic as the Clown.