IT -Official Trailer

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
17,221
82,822
47
United States
I think I cried a little when I saw the trailer. I love the mini series and I love Tim Curry(and always will!) but this looks to be a whole new ballgame. Darker, a much more vicious Pennywise, no commercial breaks and an R rating. That last scene in the water where he comes running? Divine!!
I too have read this book many times as it's my favorite King novel and from the images and stills shown so far I think this will adhere pretty close to the original source material. Pennywise is also my favorite character from King's books and I love this interpretation of him. From the outfit to the look as a whole. Excited to hear him! I also don't mind the change from the 50's to the 80's, especially since I grew up in the 80's. The projector must take the place of the photo album which is fine seeing what they did with it! One question though, where was Bill's stutter? I do hope they didn't take that away.
There is also this in case some of you missed it. If you listen closely you can hear a little clown laughter in the background.....(this was a teaser for the teaser!)
I wondered the same thing. Each member of the Loser's Club had at least one flaw (or perceived flaw) that made them "losers"...stuttering was Bill's. It was very important to the book and even the climax. Maybe he does stutter in the new film or the kid actor wasn't able to pull off a stutter convincingly. I did notice Eddie with his inhaler. I hope they use some '80s music in this, too, btw.
 

misery chastain loves co.

MORE Count Chocula please.....
Jul 31, 2011
2,642
15,099
51
Brewer,ME
I wondered the same thing. Each member of the Loser's Club had at least one flaw (or perceived flaw) that made them "losers"...stuttering was Bill's. It was very important to the book and even the climax. Maybe he does stutter in the new film or the kid actor wasn't able to pull off a stutter convincingly. I did notice Eddie with his inhaler. I hope they use some '80s music in this, too, btw.
Barbara Muschietti herself cleared this issue up. Someone asked the same thing on her Instagram page and she said "of course he does. Stuttering Bill!" so yay! They wanted to save some surprises I guess.
 
Mar 30, 2017
11
51
35
I'm new here. Just started reading IT for the first time so my opinion probably doesn't matter as much and it's certainly not as informed as most of you so correct me wherever I'm wrong as I'm bound to be.

I'm mixed on the trailer for a few reasons.

1. The tone of it feels much more like a modern horror movie. Especially with Pennywise rushing Bill like that. It just doesn't seem like the more tormenting and toying aspects of him. The design of him further cements this, he no longer looks like an ordinary but off clown he seems like he's a monster from square one. Even his smiling self still has a pure evil look whereas Tim Curry knew how to make being happy scary.

A good example is this comparison -

9rayamv-2.jpg

new-pennywise-it.jpg

The actor playing the new Pennywise keeps tilting his head down and it's obviously done to make him look more evil. While Tim Curry doesn't rely on that because just seeing Pennywise in random locations as a clown is scary naturally. Being subtle to me is always far more effective.

2. The music - Oh man do I miss the TV series theme. I don't know if the music in the trailer is actually from the movie but again it did nothing for me. It wasn't haunting, it wasn't dread inducing.....the original IT tv series theme was such a huge part to making Derry feel off and like a character itself. The music in this trailer just sounded like music you could have inserted into any horror movie trailer.

3. Back to Pennywise. Does anyone think casting someone young was the wrong idea? It just looks.....wrong to me again. It feels weird that he's a young looking clown.

4. I still wish they went with the 50's, as much as I love the 80's the 50's era was a huge part of the spirit to the story. Even as someone who hasn't even finished reading it you can just tell how essential it is to Derry. While the 80's works as well, to this day I have no clue why they had to make that change. There's plenty of period piece movies that work.


Anyone have thoughts on my points whether you agree or disagree..I'd love to be reassured or even explain why certain things could work well. I want to love this movie, I want it to succeed.
 

recitador

Speed Reader
Sep 3, 2016
1,750
8,264
41
Barbara Muschietti herself cleared this issue up. Someone asked the same thing on her Instagram page and she said "of course he does. Stuttering Bill!" so yay! They wanted to save some surprises I guess.

i actually thought i heard a hint of it at one point in the trailer, but it was almost imperceptible. there wasn't a huge amount of dialogue for him post george in the trailer, and he never did stutter as bad before george's death, so it makes sense that you didn't hear it really in the opening part of the trailer
 

recitador

Speed Reader
Sep 3, 2016
1,750
8,264
41
I'm new here. Just started reading IT for the first time so my opinion probably doesn't matter as much and it's certainly not as informed as most of you so correct me wherever I'm wrong as I'm bound to be.

I'm mixed on the trailer for a few reasons.

1. The tone of it feels much more like a modern horror movie. Especially with Pennywise rushing Bill like that. It just doesn't seem like the more tormenting and toying aspects of him. The design of him further cements this, he no longer looks like an ordinary but off clown he seems like he's a monster from square one. Even his smiling self still has a pure evil look whereas Tim Curry knew how to make being happy scary.

A good example is this comparison -

9rayamv-2.jpg

new-pennywise-it.jpg

The actor playing the new Pennywise keeps tilting his head down and it's obviously done to make him look more evil. While Tim Curry doesn't rely on that because just seeing Pennywise in random locations as a clown is scary naturally. Being subtle to me is always far more effective.

2. The music - Oh man do I miss the TV series theme. I don't know if the music in the trailer is actually from the movie but again it did nothing for me. It wasn't haunting, it wasn't dread inducing.....the original IT tv series theme was such a huge part to making Derry feel off and like a character itself. The music in this trailer just sounded like music you could have inserted into any horror movie trailer.

3. Back to Pennywise. Does anyone think casting someone young was the wrong idea? It just looks.....wrong to me again. It feels weird that he's a young looking clown.

4. I still wish they went with the 50's, as much as I love the 80's the 50's era was a huge part of the spirit to the story. Even as someone who hasn't even finished reading it you can just tell how essential it is to Derry. While the 80's works as well, to this day I have no clue why they had to make that change. There's plenty of period piece movies that work.


Anyone have thoughts on my points whether you agree or disagree..I'd love to be reassured or even explain why certain things could work well. I want to love this movie, I want it to succeed.

I don't believe pennywise's appearance in terms of age was ever discussed in the novel, so i don't see that as a problem. I don't particularly see how appearing middle aged lends anything to the scary factor. As far as his appearance in this trailer, they barely showed him at all, because at this point they're still trying to preserve some mystery, so of course the focus is going to be on scary for now. It doesn't mean he won't ever display a reassuring demeanor as a lure. Tim curry did fine, but at no point did he induce the level of fear and terror inspired by the novels pennywise, and this trailer seems to show that the performance will do more justice to just how terrifying It could really be.

Don't know what to tell you about the music, that's a personal opinion thing really. I found it creepy and effective regardless of any other movies it might bring to mind.

The setting: i wasn't thrilled they changed it, but after seeing this trailer and how they updated the photo album incident, here shown with a projector, it looks like they're going to do fine doing justice to the source material without slavishly adhering to it. The tv miniseries left off so much that it changed the story by a lot. Despite changes, we're still getting more stuff from the novel then we did before. Neibolt street. Patrick hockstetter. Maybe even a few more nods to the history provided in the interludes. So at this point, as a hardcore fan of the novel who's read it about once a year for 20 years or so, i'm comfortable with where we're at right now
 
Mar 30, 2017
11
51
35
I don't believe pennywise's appearance in terms of age was ever discussed in the novel, so i don't see that as a problem. I don't particularly see how appearing middle aged lends anything to the scary factor. As far as his appearance in this trailer, they barely showed him at all, because at this point they're still trying to preserve some mystery, so of course the focus is going to be on scary for now. It doesn't mean he won't ever display a reassuring demeanor as a lure. Tim curry did fine, but at no point did he induce the level of fear and terror inspired by the novels pennywise, and this trailer seems to show that the performance will do more justice to just how terrifying It could really be.

Don't know what to tell you about the music, that's a personal opinion thing really. I found it creepy and effective regardless of any other movies it might bring to mind.

The setting: i wasn't thrilled they changed it, but after seeing this trailer and how they updated the photo album incident, here shown with a projector, it looks like they're going to do fine doing justice to the source material without slavishly adhering to it. The tv miniseries left off so much that it changed the story by a lot. Despite changes, we're still getting more stuff from the novel then we did before. Neibolt street. Patrick hockstetter. Maybe even a few more nods to the history provided in the interludes. So at this point, as a hardcore fan of the novel who's read it about once a year for 20 years or so, i'm comfortable with where we're at right now
As I said, many of you who have actually read the novel will have more insight to what they're doing than me. I did hear they were using more from the book which makes me happy as well. I guess I'm just not excited about the new look of Pennywise. I'm not saying the book described him or old or not, I just thought the older man dressed as a clown was a creepier aspect when dealing with children. It's a creepy mix of an older guy dressed as a clown messing with kids. Compared to a younger looking clown... Personal preference for sure I'm just curious why they went younger. He may nail the performance though for all I know!
 

recitador

Speed Reader
Sep 3, 2016
1,750
8,264
41
As I said, many of you who have actually read the novel will have more insight to what they're doing than me. I did hear they were using more from the book which makes me happy as well. I guess I'm just not excited about the new look of Pennywise. I'm not saying the book described him or old or not, I just thought the older man dressed as a clown was a creepier aspect when dealing with children. It's a creepy mix of an older guy dressed as a clown messing with kids. Compared to a younger looking clown... Personal preference for sure I'm just curious why they went younger. He may nail the performance though for all I know!

Speaking from the perspective of luring young children, younger looking might work better. If a weird looking clown came up to a kid, i'd think a youthful appearance would lend itself to easier disarming of distrust
 
Mar 30, 2017
11
51
35
Speaking from the perspective of luring young children, younger looking might work better. If a weird looking clown came up to a kid, i'd think a youthful appearance would lend itself to easier disarming of distrust
Which I probably would have no problem with if the design didn't already look like an evil monster in default clown mode. I've yet to see a picture of the new Pennywise where he looks the least bit inviting at all, even when he smiles he looks pure evil. They struck an incredible balance with the old pennywise.

Tim Curry's looked more like your average clown but you knew something was off about him. The new pennywise doesn't look like your average clown at all. I wish there was more of a middle ground between the two.

You know though, people said the same about Heath Ledgar and it turned out quite excellent. Just gotta wait and see.

What's done is done. I'll have to live with this new take :p
 
Last edited:

twiggymarie

Daughter of One
Mar 17, 2011
332
1,911
Texas, United States
Which I probably would have no problem with if the design didn't already look like an evil monster in default clown mode. I've yet to see a picture of the new Pennywise where he looks the least bit inviting at all, even when he smiles he looks pure evil. They struck an incredible balance with the old pennywise.

Tim Curry's looked more like your average clown but you knew something was off about him. The new pennywise doesn't look like your average clown at all. I wish there was more of a middle ground between the two.

You know though, people said the same about Heath Ledgar and it turned out quite excellent. Just gotta wait and see.

What's done is done. I'll have to live with this new take :p

I think this edition of Pennywise is more in step with what the books outlines, honestly: silvery suit, orange pompom buttons, even the facepaint... As for age, it could well have a little to do with the era change. Kids were more open to talking to adults in the 50s versus the 80s.

One thing to remember, however, and I'm going to spoilerize this next bit,
It isn't a clown. That's just a luring persona. Think of it like an anglerfish and its phosphorescent blob thing.
As someone else mentioned earlier, Skarsgard's success is going to hinge on his vocal delivery, and if he's able to mix Pennywise's personality like it ought to be. (like Curry was able to do) Just remember that the first cinematic version of this came out on TV in the 90s, when rules were a lot more strict about blood and gore on the telly.

I like that Skarsgard is going for his own version, because honestly, going head to head with the Master of Creepy (Curry) would be nearly impossible. Judging from the trailer, he has no worries about pulling off the creepy part. All I know for certain is I'm going to watch it!
 

Grace82

Well-Known Member
Oct 8, 2007
582
2,435
NC
I'm super excited about this movie...but agree..that this version is more.... new age horror (probably a lot of jump scares).

I think what made the original movie so good...is that Pennywise looked like a regular clown..but then he would say something so sinister that it would haunt you for life! lol

I think this movie will be good....but not something that you can think back on 10, 20 or even 30 years later and get the chills (not like the original).
 
Mar 30, 2017
11
51
35
I'm super excited about this movie...but agree..that this version is more.... new age horror (probably a lot of jump scares).

I think what made the original movie so good...is that Pennywise looked like a regular clown..but then he would say something so sinister that it would haunt you for life! lol

I think this movie will be good....but not something that you can think back on 10, 20 or even 30 years later and get the chills (not like the original).

It'll be a while I imagine till we get to see more from the movie...so I guess we will wait and see on how it all works out. I'll say the little laugh you can barely hear is quite creepy.
 

recitador

Speed Reader
Sep 3, 2016
1,750
8,264
41
I think this edition of Pennywise is more in step with what the books outlines, honestly: silvery suit, orange pompom buttons, even the facepaint... As for age, it could well have a little to do with the era change. Kids were more open to talking to adults in the 50s versus the 80s.

you beat me to it somewhat. the costume argument is one reason why i hate that people keep trying to use the miniseries as their bar of measurement. this isn't a remake of the miniseries, this is a movie based off the novel. tim curry's pennywise costume may have been bright, colorful and inviting, and even denoted an "average" clown (of the time), but it wasn't a costume based off the novel. as you described above, silver suit, orange pompom buttons . . .which is exactly what we've got here. as to the aged look of the costume, we're talking about a creature that has been using this clown persona since clowns first became popular. a creature that has no human style concept of time, and therefore wouldn't be thinking of things like updating It's look for the era. so exactly what costume would you expect It to be wearing? an older style. you're looking at it through an adult's eyes, as in, hey, that looks old and weird. a kid isn't going to look at this Pennywise and think "the 1800's called and they want their clown suit back", they're going to think, hey, a clown.

to me, this costume is a point in favor of the moviemakers, because it shows they put thought into what Pennywise should actually look like. i don't think they should be screwing with the look because people can't seem to handle an anachronistic appearance. i think said appearance might even lend itself to a certain amount of fascination amongst young children, who have better imaginations than adults. and even in the novel when It was using Pennywise as a lure, the kids involved always sensed something a little off about him, it just boiled down to whether they chose to ignore their baser instincts.
 
Mar 30, 2017
11
51
35
you beat me to it somewhat. the costume argument is one reason why i hate that people keep trying to use the miniseries as their bar of measurement. this isn't a remake of the miniseries, this is a movie based off the novel. tim curry's pennywise costume may have been bright, colorful and inviting, and even denoted an "average" clown (of the time), but it wasn't a costume based off the novel. as you described above, silver suit, orange pompom buttons . . .which is exactly what we've got here. as to the aged look of the costume, we're talking about a creature that has been using this clown persona since clowns first became popular. a creature that has no human style concept of time, and therefore wouldn't be thinking of things like updating It's look for the era. so exactly what costume would you expect It to be wearing? an older style. you're looking at it through an adult's eyes, as in, hey, that looks old and weird. a kid isn't going to look at this Pennywise and think "the 1800's called and they want their clown suit back", they're going to think, hey, a clown.

to me, this costume is a point in favor of the moviemakers, because it shows they put thought into what Pennywise should actually look like. i don't think they should be screwing with the look because people can't seem to handle an anachronistic appearance. i think said appearance might even lend itself to a certain amount of fascination amongst young children, who have better imaginations than adults. and even in the novel when It was using Pennywise as a lure, the kids involved always sensed something a little off about him, it just boiled down to whether they chose to ignore their baser instincts.
Sorry, I'm probably not clear in what I'm saying. The costume's color scheme IS very accurate to the book but that wasn't my complaint. It was the costume looking ancient and his face, I don't believe the book comments on it looking like it was from a different time period entirely did it? I remember fairly recent comparisons named in the book like Bozo the clown which would be more in line with the tv series in terms of "STYLE" not color. To be fair though I think your reasoning for why his costume looks old is completely sound and an interesting and logical take of it. The costume itself looks cool it just looks old, it's the face that I'm not sold on. No kid would be lured to a clown that looked that much like a monster even when he smiles :p

It's helpful when you all point to the book because like I admitted in my first post I haven't even finished reading it, so any clarifications on things would be greatly appreciated. I may be basing most of my opinions on the TV series and despite my lack of knowledge on the book I still would want it to follow the book above all. So if they're doing that then great! I just won't be aware of it till I finish.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
you beat me to it somewhat. the costume argument is one reason why i hate that people keep trying to use the miniseries as their bar of measurement. this isn't a remake of the miniseries, this is a movie based off the novel. tim curry's pennywise costume may have been bright, colorful and inviting, and even denoted an "average" clown (of the time), but it wasn't a costume based off the novel. as you described above, silver suit, orange pompom buttons . . .which is exactly what we've got here. as to the aged look of the costume, we're talking about a creature that has been using this clown persona since clowns first became popular. a creature that has no human style concept of time, and therefore wouldn't be thinking of things like updating It's look for the era. so exactly what costume would you expect It to be wearing? an older style. you're looking at it through an adult's eyes, as in, hey, that looks old and weird. a kid isn't going to look at this Pennywise and think "the 1800's called and they want their clown suit back", they're going to think, hey, a clown.

to me, this costume is a point in favor of the moviemakers, because it shows they put thought into what Pennywise should actually look like. i don't think they should be screwing with the look because people can't seem to handle an anachronistic appearance. i think said appearance might even lend itself to a certain amount of fascination amongst young children, who have better imaginations than adults. and even in the novel when It was using Pennywise as a lure, the kids involved always sensed something a little off about him, it just boiled down to whether they chose to ignore their baser instincts.
It wasn't just the kids that sensed something was 'off' about Pennywise, there were a couple of adults who said the same thing. One of them was the boyfriend of the man who was thrown off of the bridge in Derry- he said he saw a clown under the bridge when the gay bashing was happening and knew something was wrong with it just from a not-too-near glimpse. There were other adults who saw Pennywise and knew to stay away.
 

recitador

Speed Reader
Sep 3, 2016
1,750
8,264
41
Sorry, I'm probably not clear in what I'm saying. The costume's color scheme IS very accurate to the book but that wasn't my complaint. It was the costume looking ancient and his face, I don't believe the book comments on it looking like it was from a different time period entirely did it? I remember fairly recent comparisons named in the book like Bozo the clown which would be more in line with the tv series in terms of "STYLE" not color. To be fair though I think your reasoning for why his costume looks old is completely sound and an interesting and logical take of it. The costume itself looks cool it just looks old, it's the face that I'm not sold on. No kid would be lured to a clown that looked that much like a monster even when he smiles :p

It's helpful when you all point to the book because like I admitted in my first post I haven't even finished reading it, so any clarifications on things would be greatly appreciated. I may be basing most of my opinions on the TV series and despite my lack of knowledge on the book I still would want it to follow the book above all. So if they're doing that then great! I just won't be aware of it till I finish.

the book didn't particularly comment on the costume looking aged or not, however, i think the references to bozo and clarabell and other clowns was strictly related to the face and the hair, rather than the costume. they really aren't going to show us happy go lucky pennywise right out of the gate, because they're trying to scare us. so i'd counsel patience in regard to thinking he looks too evil. that's exactly what they're trying to convey in the trailer