Beyond the iconic Pennywise, IT, the shapeshifting entity from Stephen King's novel, manifests in a multitude of terrifying forms. This article delves into the diverse and horrifying transformations of IT across the book, movies, and TV adaptations, from the severed head of Stanley Uris to a monstrous Dobermann clown and the grotesque 'Pickle Dad'. It explores how IT exploits its victims' fears, using familiar and original monstrous forms to amplify the terror and psychological impact.
When considering the terrifying entity known as IT, whether it's through the book, the movies, the TV series, or even just the Lovecraftian nightmare monster itself, one image consistently surfaces: The clown. This makes perfect sense, as the narrative consistently highlights the power of Pennywise as the form fans are most drawn to. Adaptations often rely on this, allowing one actor to portray the monster repeatedly. However, a crucial aspect of IT is its shapeshifting abilities.
Fans understand that Pennywise, while iconic, is not the sole face of IT. Throughout the novel and adaptations, IT assumes various forms, including a creepy librarian, a decapitated child's body, piranhas, and the decaying corpses of its victims. What becomes clear is that Pennywise isn't the only terrifying manifestation; some forms never even made it out of Stephen King’s novel. After receiving calls from Mike Hanlon urging them to fulfill their pact and return to Derry, as IT has resurfaced, only one member of the Losers' Club declines. Haunted by the horrors of his youth, Stanley Uris takes his own life in the bathtub, writing a single word on the wall in his blood: “IT.” IT swiftly capitalizes on Stanley's death, adopting the form of his severed head to taunt the remaining Losers, predicting their impending demise. This form demonstrates IT's dual nature: terrifying with a near-omniscient understanding of its victims' fears, but also capable of enjoying dark humor. While helping Henry Bowers escape from Juniper Hill Asylum as an adult, IT undergoes a series of transformations. It first appears to Henry as Victor Criss, using his dead former friend to manipulate him. As they leave, IT appears to another inmate, Jimmy Donlin, as his decapitated and rotting mother, but the most striking form is the one taken in the hallway during their escape. The biggest obstacle is the guard, Koontz (possibly a nod to King’s rival, Dean Koontz), who is terrified of Dobermann Pinschers. Maintaining its clown attire, IT kills Koontz by transforming into an eight-foot-tall Dobermann in a clown suit. IT relishes tormenting its victims, so taking the form of the first victim we see in the book and the movies is unsurprising. What sets this transformation apart is how it doesn't just tap into the victim's fears but uses Georgie as a tool to exploit Bill's self-doubt. By becoming Georgie, IT can haunt Bill, making him believe he caused his brother's death. The powerful screen presence of young actor Jackson Robert Scott heightens the terror of Pennywise's illusion on the big screen. In the latest adaptation, the “Pickle Dad” is easily the most disturbing version of IT. Drawing on rumors that Lilly Bainbridge’s father was killed by machinery at a pickle factory, IT takes the form of her deceased and dissected father inside pickle jars at the grocery store. After being horrified by her dad's face inside the jar, Lilly accidentally knocks over more jars, causing his intestines, hands, and feet to coalesce into a giant, repulsive mass that smells of vinegar. This is one of the only instances where IT appears. In King’s novel, Eddie Corcoran is one of the victims who dies at the hands of IT in the summer of ’58. IT doesn’t kill Eddie by using the dead brother form but instead transforms into the titular beast from the Universal movies. The terrifying aspect of this scene isn’t just that IT's version of the creature is more violent and agile than the screen version but also that it can kill a character who doesn't believe what he's seeing. With his dying breath, Eddie Corcoran makes it clear that he knows the Creature from the Black Lagoon isn't real, meaning what he is seeing isn’t real. But it doesn’t matter, as the Creature rips his head from his body and feeds on his corpse. Eddie's fear was too strong, making this scene even scarier than the violence. In the same book, Mike Hanlon sees the monster as a giant bird, but not just any giant bird. IT becomes a giant bird that has the properties of not only a crow that once attacked him as a baby but also Rodan, the pteranodon-like kaiju from Toho's movies
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