Stephen Kinghas written a plethora of great novels over his half-century career.There are plenty of favorites to choose from, likeCarrie,The Shining,Misery, and countless more, but his most terrifying is 1986’sIt,thanks to his iconic villain,an alien in the form of a clown, Pennywise. The novel led to a wildly popular miniseries in 1990, withTim Curryturning the clown into legend. In 2017, Pennywise returned, asBill Skarsgårdgot under the makeup for directorAndy Muschietti’s reboot. His take was somehow arguably even more scary than Curry’s, and 2019’sIt: Chapter Twohas the most shocking, sickening kill.Georgie’s death, in the book, the miniseries, and the first film gets all the attention, and rightfully so, as it’s the inciting incident, but the sequel has a moment where Pennywise not only kills a child, but forces Bill (James McAvoy) to watch, as both he and the audience are helpless to stop the horror.
It Chapter Two
Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back.
Georgie’s Death in ‘It’ Isn’t the Most Horrifying Pennywise Kill
Whether it’s the 1990 ABC miniseriesor the 2017 feature film, that opening scene, with young Georgie meeting Pennywise in the sewer is one of horror’s most famous moments, and it deserves to be. It’s not only the first time (and last time) Georgie meets Pennywise, but it’s the first time we meet it as well. We don’t know what to expect, but we are immediately put on edge. Pennywise is a smooth talker, no matter which actor is underneath the makeup.Tim Curry played Pennywise like a clown, while Skarsgård’s take was of a monster pretending to be be a clown.Take your pick on which approach is better, but both are arguably equally brilliant.
That opening kill is one of building tension, as Pennywise slowly gets this young child to trust it and reach into the sewer, luring him to his death. We’re forced to watch, helpless to do anything, as Georgie is dragged to his demise.Pennywise kills away from the prying eyes of other characters, butin the feature filmIt Chapter 2, it decides to murder a child in front of someone else, and not just the viewer.
‘It Chapter Two’ Has Several Frightening Kills From Pennywise
Both the first part of the miniseries and the film version ofItare celebratedfor how well the child characters work. The followups, when the adult versions of those kids enter the picture, are less celebrated due to them not being as interesting anymore and the plot going off in a wild direction (spider Pennywise anyone?)
Despite performances from big name actors like James McAvoy,Jessica Chastain, andBill Hader,It Chapter Twohas its issues, especially in its crazy third act, but the fears are still there. Pennywise is as terrifying as ever, and the kills are just as chilling as the first film. Your heart breaks for Adrian Mellon (Xavier Dolan) in the opening kill when, after being thrown off a bridge during a homophobic attack, the young man becomes a victim of the killer clown. Here, when Adrian’s boyfriend finds Pennywise ready to pounce on its victim, the clown decides to take a bite out of Mellon’s chest while the boyfriend watches. Pennywise wasn’t seeking a witness, but now that there is one, it isn’t afraid of being seen.
A more chilling deathlater on involves a child, Victoria (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), a girl with a birthmark on her face. Pennywise lures her under the bleachers during a baseball game, where it manipulates her, honing in on her insecurity, to tell her that it too is mocked for its looks. Victoria falls for it,a bullied child in need of a friend, and goes to Pennywise, only for it to bite the birthmarkand her face right off.Both of those examples are intense and scary and hard to watch. That’s what makes another kill later on inIt Chapter Twoeven more intense and scary. Pennywise isn’t discovered nor is he lurking in the shadows. Instead, it waits to be found first before tormenting a child, playing with its food in front of another,making one of our heroes watch what Pennywise can dowithout being able to do anything about it.
We Have Jessica Chastain To Thank for All That Blood in ‘It: Chapter Two’
You’ll float too (in 5,000 gallons of fake blood).
Dean’s Death Is the Most Helpless Moment in the ‘It’ Series
The scene revolves around a young boy named Dean (Luke Roessler). Dean is a good kid, a fan of Richie Tozier’s (Hader) comedy, a smiling, happy boy living his life. When a grown up Bill (McAvoy), the brother of poor Georgie, returns to town to find and kill Pennywise, he goes back to the sewer where his younger sibling met his end.Dean sees him, and a frightened Bill tells him to stay away from the sewer drain. Dean does, but Pennywise already has eyes (and teeth) for him. Bill later sees Dean going into afunhouse mirror mazeat the carnival, and he follows the boy in, fearing the worst. Bill quickly gets lost, bumping into the mirrors, able to see Dean in glimpses but unable to reach him. When he finally does reach the boy, with only a pane of glass separating him, the child is scared, but of Bill. That quickly changes whenPennywise appears behind another pane of glass behind Dean, its impossibly long tongue moving slowly up the side of the barrier. Bill begins to cry, begging and pleading to be taken instead, while Dean is paralyzed with fear. The trapped boy can only scream as Pennywise repeatedly bangs its head against the glass, until it shatters, and the kid disappears underneath the clown’s mangle of teeth and a spurt of blood.
Andy Muschetti’s filmssometimes fall into the predictable trap of jump scares, but not here. Instead, he plays with our minds, letting the suspense, the impending doom, and the overwhelming sense of hopelessness scare us. It’s not only that, but also incredibly sad, to the point that you want to cry. This sweet little boy could do nothing to get away, as a broken Bill could only watch, helpless despite his pleas. Pennywise doesn’t speak here, doesn’t draw us in with false promises or torments. He lets his actions fill his silence in a scene where he not only wants to kill a child, but to break Bill’s spirit in the process, a moment that destroys our hero.Pennywise might finally be defeated later, our protagonists victorious,but the fight is still lost.We watched the likes of Georgie, Adrian, and Victoria die, but with Dean, Pennywise took our souls with it.
It Chapter Twois available to rent on Amazon in the U.S.
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