Only Stephen King could create a clown that is so terrifying. Well, in 1990 King’s It became a terrifying TV mini-series and later film that brought “Pennywise the Dancing Clown” from the page to the screen to frighten many more. The tagline for the film was “From the King of terror, a chilling new dimension in horror.” In this scene the menacing Pennywise (Tim Curry) torments Richie (Harry Anderson) in the library of the fictional town of Derry, Maine. Pennywise taunts Richie saying “What’s wrong Richie one balloon not enough?” Then the room fills with balloons that pop in the faces of the patrons covering them with blood. Yuck. Imagine the horror if this happened in a real library. However, this scene is often laughed at when compared to how creepy the rest of the film is.
The majority of the film was filmed in Canada in New Westminster and Vancouver, British Columbia. The library was a set and the actors were wounded during the library scene as there were so many flying objects. Although the scene was shot in one take the crew ruined the entire set. A goof from the film is that you can see the actors jump when the balloons pop even though they are not supposed to realize that Pennywise is in the library.
Who knew a room of balloons could be so scary? Though I do recall a junior high girl named Krista that was always frighten to go sleep after reading Stephen King’s books. And perhaps that’s why Joey from Friends kept his copy of The Shining in the freezer. Why didn’t I think of that?
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