Stephen King has made it his life’s work to inspire fear from even the most innocuous things. That list includes kittens, puppies, little kids, hotels, mist, windows, prom, domes, and literary superfans, among many others. But nothing has been quite so ruined by Mr. King than the common clown, courtesy of his 1986 novel It. Even if you managed to avoid the book, odds are you’ve caught at least a clip or two of the 1990 TV movie adaptation, which gave bloodthirsty harlequin Pennywise the frightful form of Tim Curry. And if you’ve somehow skirted such a fate for these past 27 years, good luck to you in keeping clear from the new big screen version of the tale, which has just dropped its first trailer.
In teaser tradition, we don’t get a ton of face time with Pennywise himself, instead spending most of our time with the troupe of self-proclaimed private investigators–read: curious kids, the sort that have made most of Stephen King’s books and movies so much fun–who aren’t going to let their small town of Derry suffer the wrath of whatever “it” is any longer.
Though Pennywise seems to have his town over a barrel in fright, he may not ring quite as chilling to those of us watching from the safe distance of across the internet. Though this first glimpse of It may not guarantee that the film will be as scary as we’d hope, it does seem to suggest a good deal of charm attached to its non-clown characters and elements. The collective of preteens taking on the case gives a distinct Stand by Me vibe–not a horror flick, perhaps, but one of the most beloved Stephen King adaptations.
With this kind of human charm being just as important to the equation as the instillation of coulrophobia, It may well be able to win us over yet. Let us know what you think of the trailer!
Images:Â Warner Bros
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