Curly red hair, piercing blue eyes, and a blood curdling laugh. All mixed together, this clown creates one horrifying creature cocktail who will terrorize your thoughts after you see the newest iteration of It.

It, a newly released horror movie, is terrifying people across the nation with the help of Pennywise, a shapeshifting creature, who feeds off the fear of children.

From the makers of Stranger Things, a new and improved It was released on September 8th and gave the new generation a classic horror story. With the original book coming out in 1986, and a previous It film in 1990, the current movie has been 27 years in the making.

In a city called Derry, a creature looms in the darkness, threatening to ruin the existence of children’s lives, and throws an unsuspecting band of misfits on an adventure of their nightmares.

A new cast with updated characters brings a fresh view to the older novel. Sophomore Rachel Priller gushed, “My favorite part was when the little boy [Georgie]’s boat goes into the sewer and the clown introduces himself in a weird way.”

The portrayal of the plot turned what was supposed to be a horror movie into a story that contains frightening scenes but is overridden by the situational irony and comedic interruptions.  

“I hate scary movies, and for me it wasn’t very scary!” spilled Sophomore Alyssa Blasko.  “It had a jumpscare or two that got me, but besides from that [it wasn’t scary].”

Pennywise, on the other hand, is the epitome of horror. The combination of Bill Skarsgard’s acting, special effects, including dripping blood and haunting metamorphosis of Pennywise from Georgie into his regular clown-self, which brings the horror to film, and stunningly realistic makeup turns a regular clown into a convincing creature, that can make anyone think twice about a walk in the woods.

Other notable actors including Sophia Lillis (Beverly Marsh) and Jaeden Lieberher (Bill Denbrough) helped shift this typical scary movie into more, especially when Bill was walking in Pennywise’s lair where he found his brother. Jaeden portrayed the joy and sorrow he felt for his little brother, Georgie and then the cathartic moment where he recognizes that Georgie is not alive and proceeds to stab Pennywise in the head, letting the idea of his little brother go.

Traumatic and emotional moments like these that leave the audience with a ‘What have I just witnessed?’ mentality pushed the movie to create a shocking impact on the audience. It not only kills you with suspense, but also focuses on the mystery of the creature, and brings you through the emotional development of the characters.

Unlike the present day movie, the original Stephen King’s It was not premiered in a regular theatre, but in a two part television movie series that aired in 1990’s. This old school movie series became the bones that made up the It we see today.

Rarely found in home DVD collections, this long-forgotten series from back in the ‘90’s only has a trailer to be found on Youtube. However, this just might be a good thing, with critics complaining about everything from the lack of structure in the plot, the confusing differences between parts one and two, to the cheesy portrayal of a supposed killer creature who looks more like an unconvincing, regular carnival clown. Just from the reviews, you might not miss this version after all.

Together, both film versions of the book portray what seems like different stories. The TV series is a confusing mash of scenes from the present and flashbacks, while the newest film is concise and thorough in explaining the misfits’ first encounter with the creature.

Audiences who view the new film will learn that fear is only as powerful as they make it, no matter what version they get their dose of horror from.