Penny(super)wise, and Other Coulrophobia-triggering Figures

One of the worst jump-scares of the movie for me

[Disclaimer:]

Forgive the oft stream-of-consciousness style writing.  There are a few narrative hoops to jump through, but once I get into the film, there will be some spoilers from "It" the book, movie, and 1990 miniseries so, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I went and saw "It" on opening night (09.08.2017), with my family (So, a small army of 6).  

We only go Cinema 33 in Hartford, because Regal Cinemas has gotten so insanely expensive.  I highly recommend you give them a shot, if you're in the area.  Its a 2-screen theater, that's been around for decades. 

Though, I'm a woman of science, so just for "fun," I did the math. 6 adults at a Great Escape theater would have been $79 instead of the $36 we paid. 

Anyway, I digress, we got there over an hour before the show started and there was  a line out the door before tickets even went on sale! 

The movie itself: 

I'm a huge fan, and yes, I did see the 1990 TV miniseries, and I did read (some) of the book.  Until my tablet crashed...spooky. 

Everyone knows how it starts out (in the book and 2017 version, at least.  Poor Georgie.)  See, I told ya, spoilers. 

There's the loser's club, obviously...
My absolute favorite of which being Richie Tozier.  Richie's character, if you've read or seen the 1990 miniseries,  *spoiler if you haven't*  becomes known as the "man of a thousand voices," or something along those lines.  There's a point early on in the novel where he phones someone and, quite convincingly, pretends to being JFK havng a conversation with/about Jackie O.

Now, that is a part of the book and the miniseries, but not so much in the 2017 remake.  He's a quick-witted "Trashmouth," but I don't recall them acknowledging his impersonations at all. 
The casting throughout is fantastic, proving that you really don't need a "big name" cast if your story is there, considering that (at the time of writing this) the movie has made nearly $400 million in less than one month.

Finn Wolfhard, who played Richie, was the only actor  I had heard of when the movie came out (as I'm sure was the same with most).  Though I wasn't a huge fan of "Stranger Things," I did  see a tiny part that Finn had in an episode of "Supernatural" about the Lizzy Borden house (Season 11, Episode 5). 

On to the main event, Pennywise himself... well, itself?  While "he" does call himself "Robert (Bob) Gray" in the novel, Pennywise isn't human at all. *spoilers*
Now the 2017 version touch on this but for a brief easter egg, but Pennywise is actually a shape-shifting alien that's existed since before the universe. 
All of Tim Curry's characters hold a special dark and twisted place in my heart, but 

Bill Skarsgård absolutely takes the cake as Pennywise.  

*fun fact* His twisty-eyed weirdness is NOT CGI, that's all Bill. 

Alright, before I bore you to death, I do want to delve a little deeper and see if I can trigger some poor soul's Coulrophobia:

Just a day or so ago, we picked "Killer Clowns from Outer Space" from the cheapo bin at Walmart.  Now, this movie came out in 1988, so 2 years before the "It" miniseries aired, no doubt planting the seed of coulrophobia (aka the severe and irrational fear of clowns)


Essentially, they too are aliens.  Their spaceship is a circus tent, and they spin people up in webs of pink cotton candy...it's chaos.  The clowns, yea they're unsettling.  The movie, my dad has been trying to get us to watch for nearly a decade, is a bit laughable.  It was the 80s, so its cheesy, kinda bad acting and lame references.  I suppose to a kid in the 80s, though it would be pretty terrifying.  So this is where I leave you, yea, that is a movie-- a good one too.  

Are you afraid of clowns?  Have you seen the new "It" remake?  Let me know in the comments, or on Instagram @miz_motionless