Look back at these candid images of Tim Curry as the horrifying and hideous killer-clown Pennywise from IT.

With the latest instalment of modern-day Pennywise, AKA IT Chapter 2, soon to be hitting cinemas and scaring the living shit out of anyone who watches, we thought we’d take a look back a little further than the 2017 beginning of the current franchise. Instead, we’re going all the way back to 1990 and Tim Curry’s epic original depictions of Pennywise in the now cult-classic miniseries.

Bill Skarsgard has been terrorising a new generation of people with his demonic and deranged depiction of Pennywise the Clown. But where Skarsgard finds a new streak of unbeatable menace in his view of the killer clown, Curry managed to straddle a more subtle line with his original 1990 performance and it shows in the behind-the-scenes images.

When looking back at the selection of images available around the internet we found one curious noteworthy point. Tim Curry, the actor behind Rocky Horror Picture Show’s Dr. Frankenfurter among other starring roles, is incredibly gifted at portraying a psychopathic demon clown from the pits of hell… all the while being a gentle and lovely man who loves kids.

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In picture after picture we have below the curious juxtaposition of Pennywise, often in full makeup, smiling chatting and sharing a joke with the children he torments and tortures in the film. It’s a curious thing which has left us feeling all warm and fuzzy, which when you see the 1990 version of Stephen King‘s IT is not the first thing that comes to mind. The first thing, of course being: “KILL THE MOTHERFUCKIN’ CLOWN”.

The story behind this incredibly frightening but charmingly campy depiction of Pennywise the Clown is expertly told in the recently released documentary about the famed miniseries. Pennywise: The Story of IT is an in-depth look behind the scenes of the iconic film, the trailer of which can be found at the bottom of this article.

Take a look below at the candid images of the behind-the-scenes work on the 1990 miniseries of Stephen King’s IT.

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(Images via Amino)