Who was the better Pennywise?

It's the Curry for sure man. It's all about the personality.

 

Gotta agree. Tim Curry will forever be my Pennywise.

 

I loved the new It movie, but wow was Pennywise the weakest part of that film. Wasn't scary at all. I think it was all that CG. Tim Curry however, was not only scary, memorable nightmare fuel, but also likable. He had a certain, Freddy Kruger to his performance. Everytime he is on screen, you know something horrible is about to happen, but when he did does it, you can't help, but watch, and want more of it.

Tim Curry is single handily the greatest villain to ever villain on screen. Whether he's trying to kill a bunch of children in a sewer, drop an orphan off a bridge, marry a penguin, free Neverland from the grips of a 10 year old homicidal lunatic, or have sex with burning oil so he can kill a bunch of tree fairies, nobody can sell a villain like Tim Curry.

And that includes Bill Skarsgård, who did an antiquate job preforming the Pennywise clown from the new movie, as it was written. But, as it was written, he was clearly written to not overshadow the kids. So, I've forgotten him already. Tim Curry, his villainy, that will stay with you for a lifetime.

 

Skarsgard is a good actor and was definitely scary as Pennywise, but I think it's the design in general that tries too hard to be scary. Curry's was both a goofy clown AND terrifying as fuck when he needed to be, which makes me like him as the character more.

 

Reboot version you watched has an adult

Versus

Nostalgic version you watched has a kid.

I wonder which way a forum overly populated by nostalgic-driven adults is goinna go, lol.

 

Obviously they gave two very different performances. Curry played up the evil clown angle more while Skarsgard seemed like he was portraying an actual alien like creature from another dimension. Curry had some good lines, but I was never really scared by his version. He still did a good job, but I’m going to take Skarsgard on this one. I wasn’t really scared by his either, but I found a lot of the nuances of the way his Pennywise moved to be very unnerving.

 

I'm waiting for Remake Part 2 to come first to make a decision on this.

 

I'm leaning towards Skarsgard here as I tend to prefer the remake over the original, but sometimes I find myself calling it a tie.

I just like the idea and concept of Pennywise so while I find Skarsgard's Pennywise to be terrifying I also find humor and entertaining from Tim Curry's Pennywise; while the original is down right garbage he was the only good thing to come from it.

 

Skarsgard for me. Curry's Pennywise is the more iconic one but I found him too silly to be scared of. Skarsgard nailed the Monster Clown in both looks and acting and still had his random silly moments without forgetting that he's a monster.

 

I've only seen clips with Curry's Pennywise, but I have no idea how anyone could find him scary one bit. He's the equivalent to the Adam West Joker. How are kids supposed to be afraid of this buffoon?

Skarsgard is such a superior Pennywise as he looks creepy, some kids will be scared of him the way they are supposed to be, he uses their own fears against them (which from what I have seen, Curry didn't even bother doing), etc.

 

Curry. He can lure you in by being the goofy clown, then attack. Not so much scary, heck it was for tv, but i love the personality.

Skarsgard came off my like creepy pedophile. I LOATHED the booga booga booga rapid run at the camera.

 

Skarsgard. Sorry, but even when I was 12 when the original tv mini-series came out I didn't fimd anything scary about Curry's Pennywise... and I read the book in preparation of the mini-series. Nor do I get it when people claim Curry's Pennywise as some kind of nightmare fuel. Must be a lot of lightweights when it comes to horror here. Skarsgard's performance was actually closer in portrayal to the source material and was rather dark, sinister and creepy. I prefer Skarsgard's performance 100%. It also probably helps that I'm not looking at the original mini-series through rose tinted nostalgia glasses either. I bought it on Blu-Ray when it got released last year and it was even more mediocre and disappointing than I thought it was when I was twelve.

 

As fun Tim was, I Gotta give to Bill.

 

Because out of context to the actual movie, a scene like this;

Is a silly joke meme.

In context to the movie, that scene takes on a whole new meaning. And, is no longer funny. Context really is everything.

 

Still haven’t seen the remake, but from what i’ve seen, I like Soarsgard’s portrayal. I like them both though. Hard to pick a fav based only on clips.

 

I’m honestly intrigued how many people have watched the original mini-series as an adult. Skarsgard was easily better.

 

Both kinda suck. Curry was wonderful but he was more like an actual, funny clown. Skarsgard was just kinda stupid, trying too hard to be creepy and I never really bought it.

That was funnier than anything Curry did. He looked like a moron.  

 

Another thing that makes Skarsgard better is that he is supposed to be accurate to the book.

 

I rewatched the original after seeing the remake, and it just doesn’t hold up very well anymore. I’m gonna have to go with Skarsgard on this.