That’s Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) sticking his head out of a sewer pipe. It looks silly. That seems to be the dynamic that It is operating under at the moment: the scarier it tries to look, the more ridiculous it appears. To be fair, so much of horror cinema’s power comes from the moving image rather than stills. There can be safety in a still image, and also, when dealing with promotional material, you don’t want to give away any of your big scares.
Of course, according to Muschietti, what makes Pennywise a powerful villain is that he has nothing to hide. “Pennywise shows up, he’s front and center, and he does his show. He has an act,” Muschietti says. “So it’s weird all the time, and every little thing implies a further threat.” I’m not exactly sure what to expect from It, but if his act includes “Poking my head out of sewer pipes,” that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
