If you were walking along a city street and saw a creepy-looking clown lurking ominously you’d probably feel scared. Several major cities across the globe were haunted by evil clowns on Wednesday, though luckily for anybody suffering from coulrophobia (the fear of clowns), these clowns don’t have murderous intent. They’re just promoting a new horror TV series IT: Welcome to Derry, a spin-off of the Stephen King adaptation.
The clowns were modeled to look like Pennywise, the malevolent supernatural force from King’s 1986 novel as he appeared when Bill Skarsgård played him in the two hit horror movies. Skarsgård reprises his role as Pennywise in the new HBO Max series, which serves as a prequel to the 2017 and 2019 films. The eight-episode series premieres on Sunday, October 26.
Pennywise the Clown Brought His Red Balloons Around the World
None of the clowns who haunted major cities were really Skarsgård (as far as we know), but they were plenty creepy all the same. According to a press release, the clown sightings began with the appearance of red balloons — one of Pennywise’s trademark scares — in a number of cities. New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, São Paulo & Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Manila, Sydney, Cappadocia, Warsaw, Santiago de Chile, Hong Kong, and Dubai all saw balloons, along with locations in Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan.
The biggest and most clever red balloon was in Manila, as Pennywise was riding in a giant red hot air balloon.
Pennywise himself (or should that be Pennywise Itself?) appeared in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Cappadocia, Warsaw, Madrid, Manila, Mexico City and São Paulo.
As far as marketing stunts go, it’s not bad. Part of the horror in the It movies comes from seeing Pennywise, looking like the creep he is, looming in a place he isn’t supposed to be. Having a clown hang out on a city street for a while is a fun way to capture the spooky spirit of the movies and upcoming TV show. Tough break if you really do have coulrophobia, though.
