Tim Curry's Pennywise remembered

Tim Curry, who died this week at 80, is remembered for his role as Pennywise the clown in the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King's It. Greg Cwik, writing for LitHub, argues this performance surpasses the later film versions in its gleeful, unsettling terror.

Cwik acknowledges Curry's iconic status as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That role was daringly weird and seductively charming. Yet, the writer's favorite remains Pennywise. The miniseries, directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, was a modest, three-hour production that had to truncate King's massive novel for broadcast.

The Art of the Creepy Clown

Wallace used broadcast limitations as creative inspiration. The opening scene mirrors the novel's first chapter, a rainy day where a boy in a yellow raincoat chases a paper boat. It falls into a sewer. A clown's face emerges from the darkness. Curry, with a Bronx accent, talks affably to the boy. He returns the boat and asks him to play. Soon, he tears the boy's arm off. The violence is implied for 1990s network TV, but it remains scary.

Curry almost convinces us he is a nice clown, a friend lurking in a sewer. His insidious nature is revealed in a shift of tone and a malformed face. This dynamic scene requires no gore. Curry shows how Pennywise enjoys betraying a child's trust. That betrayal is a profound violence. The shape-shifting entity relishes torturing children. He takes many forms but prefers the clown. It is a nasty irony. Stephen King wrote that a single face could summon a child's fears. What child does not love a clown?

Curry Versus Skarsgård

Andy Muschietti's later film adaptations are more faithful narratively. They have an R rating, a big budget, and more time. Cwik contends they rely on generic creepy imagery and ostentatious scare tactics. Bill Skarsgård plays Pennywise with relentless menace, offering little nuance. The contrast with Curry's version is stark.

Skarsgård looks and sounds unequivocally evil from the start. Curry had the mannerisms of a clown at a backyard birthday party. That juxtaposition made him scary and exciting. Curry knew to scare kids, he first had to appeal to them. He had to inveigle them with a deceitful promise of friendship. He earned their trust with kindness and playful words. He spoke their language.

Unlike Skarsgård's, Curry's Pennywise is having fun. His taunts and emotional torture are unsettling yet profane fun. He delivers them like a friend busting your chops. In a library scene, invisible to all but the lead character, he practices standup. Angela Carter wrote, "The clown may be the source of mirth, but, who shall make the clown laugh?" Pennywise makes himself laugh.

The Lingering Menace

The image of Pennywise lingers. His attire betrays the wholesome fun a clown costume promises. He holds vibrant balloons. He appears on screen for less than 20 minutes, yet it feels like he is always there. In his absence, we still sense his danger. He is all the characters think about.

Cwik contrasts this with another Curry villain, Darkness in Legend. That character was mythic under prosthetics, with a deep demonic voice. Darkness had a romantic side, attracted to innocence. When vanquished, he reminds the hero that evil lurks in all living things. His essence lives on.

Pennywise has terrorized Derry, Maine for generations. He lurks in nightmares, manipulating victims and making real their deepest fears. King's best writing has an earnest intimacy, especially with adolescents. He portrays their vulnerable moments with respect.

Cwik argues horror often demands austere villains. Humor is seen as unbecoming. Tim Curry had no such delusions. He understood scary can be fun, and fun can provoke fear. When Pennywise cracks a joke, the contrast with the scary stuff has more personality than just scare after scare. It is a skill to control tone and tempo. Pennywise's laugh can perturb more deeply than a jumpscare. You do not forget Pennywise telling a kid, "Kiss me, fat boy!" The kid, teased about his weight, remembers that quip and the clown's guffaw years later as a successful adult.