Why Pennywise Fell Short as the Weakest Element of IT – Update

Stephen King’s Pennywise The Clown has become one of the most recognised and iconic villains of this generation’s pop-culture. The orange tufts, the silver suit and the sinister blood-red smile, all coming together to create the face of modern horror. Although having now seen both chapters of It, I can officially say that I believe that the nefarious killer clown is the absolute weakest part of the newest King franchise. This version of Pennywise comes across as a hammy, generic attempt at what could be one of the most intriguing, mind-bending characters to ever appear on-screen. Quite frankly, Stephen King’s greatest character deserved a much better portrayal than the one Bill Skarsgård gave him.

As a preface to the rest of this article, I’d like to warn you that I’ll likely be throwing down some spoilers to It: Chapter Two as well as the novel that the films were based on, so consider yourself in dangerous territory if you’re avoiding spoilers for whatever reason.

In a year where psychotic clowns are being put in the spotlight, Bill Skarsgård returns to his career-defining role as Pennywise as part of It’s thrilling conclusion. One thing that I do respect about the performance was just how much Skarsgård did to make sure his performance was unique to the legendary Tim Curry. He kept himself secluded from the rest of the cast and spent significant amounts of time re-acclimating himself into the role of the deranged monster. While we applaud his method acting, his efforts just didn’t translate well on screen.

In Skarsgård’s hands, Pennywise was quickly reduced into a corny version of itself, made to live up to the various tropes that the character has become known for in modern pop-culture. Of course, everyone loves hearing the sinister entity throw down a reference to floating, but less is more in my opinion, and having his signature catchphrase be shoehorned into almost every line of dialogue became almost comedic. In the novel, Pennywise has a way of getting under the Losers’ skin, not just with his range of creepy manifestations but also through his prophetic ramblings. In the latest film though, he may as well be jumping out of the shadows and yelling “boo, time to float”.

Granted, the clown does have some genuinely spooky moments, but very rarely do those come when he’s actually speaking to one of his victims. Quite frankly, I think he would have had much more of a presence if he was kept to a non-speaking role. The fuzzy sight of his figure while Adrian Mellon was drowning during the film’s opening act was a lot scarier than seeing Pennywise prance about in Derry Park and morph into the latest Snapchat filter.

It’s almost like the writers weren’t really sure what side of Pennywise they wanted to focus on. There’s not much of a distinction between when he’s goofing it up and when he’s genuinely trying to kill them. This could have easily been fixed in both of the film’s final acts, when the Losers traveled down into the sewer system underneath the house of Neibolt.

Pennywise’s character should have undergone a drastic change as soon as his prey entered the lair, he should have delved into that twisted philosophy that It lives by, yet he remained that goofy clown that did a silly dance and continued to spout out typical baddie one-liners. There was absolutely no reason to see him as a threat.

Another thing that really killed Pennywise’s credibility for me was his final form. The book and miniseries both presented Pennywise in a form that embodies irrational human fear – the body of a giant, deformed arachnid. The latest interpretation of that definitely took inspiration from the spider-like creature, but meshed it with the upper body of the clown, making a very strange CG monster-movie reject. Again, it was downright laughable, in fact there were a few other cinema-goers a few rows behind me who couldn’t help but cackle at the sight of the infamous final form.

Of course the cast of talented a-listers did their utmost to make out like this was the most horrifying sight that any person has ever bare witness to, but for us audience members, it was just silly. Seeing the clown-spider-thing give chase to the Losers seemed totally juxtaposing to the ‘final battle’ in the book, which consisted of a very trippy battle of wits between Bill, Richie and It. Obviously that particular sequence may not have translated well onto the big screen, especially without another hour’s worth of exposition. Nevertheless, I think this could have certainly been handled a lot better.

The whole suspense surrounding Pennywise is what exactly his final form is going to be, everyone knows that whatever It is, is only taking the form of a clown to try and tempt children into its deadlights, so surely they could have conjured up something a bit less cringey than what they did in It: Chapter Two.

It’s hard to pull off a Pennywise when your only standard has been set by Tim Curry, arguably one of the greatest casting choices of all time. Curry managed to ham it up enough while also maintaining a necessary degree of threat when he’s facing off with the adult losers. Skarsgård’s Pennywise just doesn’t match up. Visually, sure, the latest iteration is a lot more true to King’s description, but there’s just something about the modern Pennywise that doesn’t sell the character as a true threat.

What I will say is that the two recent films are fantastic for everything other than It itself. Both chapters are strong re-imaginations of Stephen King’s most popular piece of work, with excellent character development and career-making performances from both the child and adult troupes. Luckily, the two films had enough heart to carry them into the conversation of being some of the best horror movies of our generation. If the producers wanted to focus more on Pennywise’s plight against Derry, then the films wouldn’t have been nearly as fun as they were.

Whether you’re a big fan of Skarsgård’s portrayal or not, do go and watch It: Chapter Two, Bill Hader steals the show with his phenomenal performance as Richie. I’m sure the horror fandom will continue to champion Pennywise as one of the most intimidating figures in film history, but I personally will be sitting in the minority, seething about what could have been.