h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Clowns have always scared me. Since childhood the sheer terror of a man wearing makeup, pulling me into the circus ring and assulting me with a custard pie, has left a sharp laceration on my soul which I'll never be able to get over. This film did my pants no favours at all. The one moment that always stuck in my head was when IT was standing amongst the white sheets drying on the cloths line - murderous red hair, wicked smile et all. For years I couldn't go into the garden without having a panic attack. (Shudders)

I know what you mean we was once in mc donalds when the man himself walked in....No really.. it was for some party i think or maybe he was doing a spot check.

Nobody could ever tell me that IT wasn't just Ronald Mcdonald after a bad night and one to many JD milkshakes....

One sure fire way to get out of the Pennywise the Clown phobia - just remember him singing 'Sweet Transvestite'....

That could possibly be the funniest image I've ever had in my head! oh my god, I've got to tell EVERYONE about this...

We allowed my four year-old daughter to watch IT with us and the following day, whilst walking the dog, one of our cats peered its head down a roadside drain and I told my daughter who ran after the cat to watch out for Pennywise...

Heh! Heh! After that she never went near a drain again, even when I tried to coax her. Being a parent has it's moments...

My daughter is now nearly 16 and appears undamaged as she loves horror films, especially Nightmare on Elm St, the Evil Dead films and anything by Peter Jackson (Brain Dead, Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles). In fact, her GCSE English Media coursework included designing and building a Website based on horror movies and their special effects.

If my parents had done that to me when I was fourTEEN I'd have been on the floor, in the foetal position, gibbering gently to myself...

Yes - he was such a deliciously evil clown wasn't he? I still hve dreams bout those teeth...

Another good clown horror movie is a cult classic: Killer Clowns From Outer Space. Yes - it's as silly as it sounds, but pretty chilling in places also. You must see it if for no other reason than to tell people that you've actually watched "Killer Clowns From Outer Space"!!!

I'll have to keep an eye open for that film! Do you know when it was made or who the director was?

uber-creepiness IT was. "We all float down here." I don't think that phrase will ever leave my head. And at the end where Pennywise, wrapped in bandages like an old mummy, comes down the stairs of the old abandoned house, and the kid starts reciting birds or whatever it is he's reciting, all I could think was, "Please don't take off the bandages, please don't take off the bandages."

How powerful and EVIL a character was it though? To take a clown, something from childhood thats meant to cheer you up with sillyness and waterpistols, and make it into that Freakin' thing!