The New ‘It’ Trailer Is A Creepy Clown Nightmare

Earlier this week, a one-armed man dressed as a clown was arrested while brandishing a machete. He was also drunk. “He had duct-taped the machete to his arm,” according to the BBC, “which police say had been amputated… He told police he had been inspired by previous creepy clown sightings and was trying to play a prank.” In semi-related news: there’s a new It trailer!

Based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name, It follows a “group of young kids face their biggest fears when they seek answers to the disappearance of children in their hometown of Derry, Maine. They square off against an evil clown named Pennywise, whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.” That’s the official plot summary, at least. I would have just gone with: scary-ass clown is scary. Equally effective.

Anyway, what separates this It from the 1990 miniseries with Tim Curry According to director Andres Muschietti, “I wanted to stay true to the essence of the character. I knew that I didn’t want to go the road of Tim Curry. Bill Skarsgard caught my attention. The character has a childish and sweet demeanor, but there’s something very off about him. Bill has that balance in him. He can be sweet and cute, but he can be pretty disturbing.” Pennywise 2.0 looks like Wormtail in clown makeup, which, to be fair, is disturbing.

It — which stars Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Clown, and Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, and Jeremy Ray Taylor as the Losers’ Club — opens on September 8. Just enough time for more clown-based panic before Halloween.

Watch the trailer above.