The Familiar
IT is a horror movie based on the Stephen King’s novel, where a group of kids who live in a quiet small town named Derry, Maine, fight against a creepy, shape-shifting clown named Pennywise. Every 27 years, Pennywise wakes up to terrorize the town, mostly targeting children. The clown preys on their deepest fears, morphing into whatever scares them most, but his main look is a haunting, sharp-toothed clown in a classic clown costume. A group of kids, call themselves “The Losers’ Club,” each have their own fears and struggles, from bullying to family issues, but they come together to fight Pennywise after one of their friends, Georgie, goes missing. They confront the clown in terrifying situations, fighting for their lives and their town.
Many find this classic horror film to be very uncanny. Pennywise is their complete opposite of the classic goofy silly clown we see at birthday parties and carnivals. He seems familiar because everyone knows what a clown looks like and how they act so it seems very uncanny when Pennywise the clown is portrayed in a very unfamiliar way. He has the colorful costume and exaggerated makeup of a classic clown, yet there’s something “wrong” about him, with sharp teeth, unsettling movements, and a habit of lurking in dark, creepy places. The clash between the friendly and the unfamiliar creates an unsettling feeling that something safe is actually dangerous. This combination of safe with unsafe, known with unknown, and familiar with twisted is what makes IT so uncannily disturbing.
