It – Unfolding
Andy Muschietti’s big screen version of Stephen King’s It is an outstanding piece of cinema, and there are a great many notable moments within it. Many of those involve Pennywise the child-eating clown (Bill Skarsgard), and one of these constitutes one of the Best Movie Moments of the year.
It comes toward the end of the second act. We’ve been introduced to Pennywise in the legendary drain scene, right at the beginning of the film. The demonic clown has slowly, but surely, been terrorizing the members of The Losers Club in the town of Derry and, as a result, the children of The Losers Club have been learning more about this terrifying, demon figure. Their research into the history of Derry reveals that Pennywise awakens every 27 years, and uses the sewer system to move around and hide. They also discover that the Derry sewer system converges under an old abandoned house, which contains a well.
When Pennywise attacks the group together, they decide to go the abandoned house and confront him. Once inside, they’re each manipulated by Pennywise into becoming separated – and the clown terrorizes each of them in different rooms. It’s the way in which he approaches Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer) that creates a ‘Best Movie Moment,’ though. Kaspbrak is a noted hypochondriac, and is generally fearful of everything. He is physically small, and has a perpetual cynicism in his outlook on every situation. Kaspbrak finds himself in the kitchen of the old house, and alone, when he turns to see the door of the refrigerator very slowly swing open.
The creaking door reveals Pennywise – crammed into the fridge like a giant ragdoll. His body is twisted into a grotesque tangle of limbs and torso, and his grinning face is upside down. As Eddie’s face fills with a terror so powerful that it literally makes the viewer’s stomach sink, Pennywise pops a limb out of the fridge and very gradually unfolds himself, until he’s standing at his full, formidable height – towering over the quivering child.
In his fright, Eddie manages to break his arm and lands himself in a sitting position, with his back against a kitchen cabinet. Pennywise approaches him – savouring every second of the absolute fear being generated by Eddie – and spends whole minutes inches away from Eddie’s face, essentially torturing him. From the perspective of Pennywise, his goal is to ramp up the fear in Eddie until it peaks, because that’s when he gains the most sustenance.
It’s the perspective of Eddie that’s heart-stopping, though. He’s barely a teenager who has already been traumatized by Pennywise’s subtle manipulations outside the house – and he did not want to be in the house in the first place. He’s clashing with his over-protective mother at home, who is constantly telling him that she’s terrified that he might hurt himself – and now he’s broken his arm.
He’s in a great deal of physical pain and, as a viewer, empathy dictates that we want someone to help him and comfort him – but instead, he’s faced with Pennywise, who seeks to amplify Eddie’s trauma for his own gain. This sequence continues for an uncomfortably long time, to the point of it becoming almost unbearable. It truly feels like Andy Muschietti has us in a vice, and he’s very slowly turning the clamp ever tighter – but the purpose is two-fold.
We’re on the edge of our seats, certainly – but this is also the longest we have actually seen Pennywise in action. Every other appearance or attack, up until this point, has been disguised, or short and sharp, but here, we get to see the full extent of Pennywise’s evil nature, and the depth of his motivations.
Eddie is saved by his friends, but Pennywise retreats to fight another day. Eddie’s experience here never leaves him, though – and it informs every choice his character makes moving forward.