The opening scene of IT Chapter Two may be the horror franchise’s most disturbing — and so little of it is due to the presence of Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise the Dancing Clown . The scene, which is ripped right out of Stephen King’s 1986 novel, features Adrian Mellon (Xavier Dolan) and Don Hagarty (Taylor Frey) enjoying their night at the Derry carnival. As they talk about getting the hell out of Dodge (or, rather, Derry), a group of bullies descends upon them, hurling homophobic slurs. They beat the men relentlessly until one bully declares they’re going to hurl Adrian off the bridge. As Don screams in horror — Adrian has asthma and needs his inhaler, he pleads — Adrian tumbles into the river. Adrian doesn’t drown but, instead, meets a grim fate when he’s found by Pennywise.