There are very few things in the world that most people would universally agree on. But the fact that Pennywise the dancing clown is one of the creepiest, scariest, and most unsettling film and book villains of all time is something that most people wouldn't ever argue with. Stephen King's ability to capitalize on what scares people is obviously something that has taken him very far in his career as a writer, but Pennywise may be his most frightening villain of all time.
A lot of details that went into crafting the character of Pennywise and a lot of those details wound up on the cutting room floor when it came to the films IT and IT Chapter Two. Some of these tidbits were briefly mentioned in the movie and some of them were completely omitted. Here are some facts about Pennywise the clown that were left out of the IT movies.
Updated October 8th, 2020 by Zach Gass: The cinematic adaptation of Stephen King's It is quite possibly the greatest version of the author's work ever put to film. Taking as much from the novel as it does original concepts, chapters one and two combined for a horror experience that is as fine as it is frightening. However, as iconic as its red-nosed star might be, the films leave more than a few things out about Pennywise. Some are understandably cut due to time and budget, but others could have easily been handled given the right direction.
The Clown Form Isn’t Creepy… At First
Bill Skarsgård's adaptation of Pennywise will be forever imprinted on the horror genre, much like the version set forth by the great Tim Curry. However, Curry's version did something directly from the book that Skarsgård did not. Curry made Pennywise friendly and approachable, making him more alluring to his young victims.
In the book, Pennywise originally comes off as warm and friendly with a big smile and "the bluest eyes." No kid in their right mind would come within three feet of the Pennywise shown in the film. With his bulbous head and lazy eye, he already looks like a Tim Burton character gone wrong. He's scary before he even utters "Hi there, Georgie."
His Overall Appearance
On the subject of It's form, while the filmmakers were definitely original with their artistic interpretation, It still leaves a lot from the book version out. This might be because the version of Pennywise's clown form in the book is not as complicated. It's simple but effective for luring out his prey.
On the other hand, even in the final confrontation where the monster's "true form" is exposed it just becomes a monster clown, not the Lovecraftian spider it should have been. Sometimes less is more.
It’s Clown Form Is Seen More In The Movie Than In the Book
In both the book and the movie, Pennywise the Dancing Clown is It's favorite form to take. That being said, the clown really doesn't appear as often as one might think in the original novel. It is a shapeshifter, and it loves to show off the various things its victims are afraid of.
This could have allowed for some seriously creative monsters and nightmarish forms for It to take. Instead, the filmmakers opted for focusing mainly on the clown to reach a more universally scary appearance. Understandably so, as to say that "it worked" is a woeful understatement, but a less on-the-nose motif might have been appreciated and allowed more creative freedom.
The Swarm of Flying Leeches
Speaking of forms It could have been, one of the biggest let-down for fans of the novel was not seeing a swarm of flying leeches devour the pyromaniac Patrick Hoffsteader. Although the scene in the book was referenced by seeing Pennywise contort himself out of an old refrigerator just as the leeches spawned from in the novel, it was a missed opportunity for a glorious, gory, and disgusting death.
While this would no doubt have been a task for the CGI department, it can't help but come off as something that fans regret not seeing in the final film.
The Classic Horror Monsters
Although Pennywise was briefly shown with a mummy head towards the ending of Chapter 1, that's not the only classic monster he turned into in the novel. Granted, these sequences probably wouldn't have been the most terrifying, but they would have matched the goofy, gory, haunted house motif the first film was trying to go for.
A clownish version of Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon would have been entertaining, to say the least. If anything, it could have simply served as a horror movie throwback, or a reference to the original Stephen King miniseries.
The Deadlights
IT Chapter Two does cover the concept of the Deadlights in some way, however, the explanation for what the Deadlights actually are is pretty much nonexistent. Yes, seeing the Deadlights is what allowed Beverly to have her premonitions, but the movie didn't explain that looking into the Deadlights is enough to kill a human being or drive them to permanent insanity.
The Deadlights aren't something that Pennywise has control over. They're actually as close to his true form as he can appear on earth and as a human being is capable of perceiving.
No One Knows It's True Form
Although Pennywise almost always takes on an appearance that is recognizable to the human beings that see him, the true form of It is something that is completely unknown and completely incomprehensible to the human mind. It's originally from something that Stephen King calls the macroverse, which is basically a universe that contains a multitude of universes within it, including our own universe.
Obviously It is now in this universe, however, it's unclear if It can really revert to its true form within this world and how the human mind would perceive It if they saw it. It seems likely any person wouldn't be able to comprehend It at all.
It's Real Form Is Inspired By H.P. Lovecraft
Unless you're an avid horror fan, the name H.P. Lovecraft is probably a name that you've heard in ing at best, but this author's work has inspired a lot of the horror genre for over a century. Pennywise the clown very clearly draws inspiration from some classic Lovecraftian ideas.
A running theme within Lovecraft's work is the idea of monsters that are from another dimension and are incomprehensible to humankind. Another common theme is the idea of seeing something that is so horrifying that it kills the person who sees it or drives them insane. The true form of It is very clearly a Lovecraftian monster.
Pennywise Is Awake For A Year
The time span of both It movies feels like it takes place over a relatively short period of time. However, Pennywise's hibernation cycles seem to be pretty specific. Pennywise goes into a deep sleep state for 27 years at a time, but when he awakens to feed, he's awake for about a year at each time.
So although the Losers Club seem to discover Pennywise and go toe to toe with him pretty quickly afterward, he may have been awake for quite a bit of time before actually getting into it with the Losers.
Pennywise May Be Female
It's difficult to nail down what exactly Pennywise looks like in his most fundamental form, and Stephen King has been clear that his true form is not something that can really be perceived by a normal human anyway. But the spider form of It that occasionally rears its ugly head may be the closest to his real appearance as he can get in his earthly form.
To add onto the creep factor, even though It seems to take on the appearance of masculine entities more often than not, his spider form appears to be a pregnant female spider, leading some characters in the book as well as fans of the book to speculate that he's actually a she.
