Coulrophobia is known to be the irrational fear of clowns. Any person who acquires this phobia is least likely to be seen at the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 novel. This horror story is seen through the eyes of a group of children who have come together after a clown has begun to hunt children within their town. Stephen King published IT as the 18th book written under his name.  Four years later in 1990, the first adaptation of the book was released as a mini-series with two episodes. The mini-series aired on ABC and received 30 million viewers in the premiere.  

A second adaptation of the clown horror story was released on September 8, 2017. Since then, IT has become the top grossing R-rated movie, passing the 1973 classic, The Exorcist, who had $1.8 billion in gross. One group of freshman students that have gone to see the movie share their opinions:  

“I liked the movie a lot and I thought it was really funny,” Vanessa Arroyo said. “I prefer the most recent one because it made me laugh a lot and it had a good plot. I think the different in the new one is their nightmares are different from the original.” 

“I liked the movie a lot, it knew how to mix horror and a little bit of comedy to keep it interesting and not to overwhelming,” Kaitlin Archer said. “I prefer the newer one because it applied more to my humor. Some of the scenes meant to be scary came across funny while the character sometimes made actual jokes.”  

This group of students were not the only people to enjoy the movie. IT, has received 7.9 out of 10 starts on reviews written by critics and users on Internet Movie Database (IMDB), and was given 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. Along with fans enjoying the movie, part of the attention being brought is a new internet meme called Pennywise the Dancing Clown. During the movie, Pennywise, the clown in the movie, starts to dance in a comical jig. This scene has been edited with different music in the background and posted on social media accounts. Overall the movie has been a big success with its accomplishment as top grossing R-rated horror movie, positive reviews and internet memes.   

The movie has been described as a “hard R” for various frightening and violence scenes. It is highly advised that students talk to their parents first before seeing this movie due to its rating.