IT is a 1986 horror novel by American author StephenKing. The story is about seven children being terrorized by a malevolent monster - known only as IT - that takes the form of their deepest fears but primarily appears in the form of a clown, calling itself [[MonsterClown "Pennywise the Dancing Clown."]] The novel features a nonlinear narrative which alternates between two different time periods and shifts among the different perspectives and stories of its seven protagonists. It deals with themes which would eventually become King staples: the power of memory, childhood trauma and the ugliness lurking behind a small-town façade.

In 1990, the novel was loosely adapted into a television movie featuring John Ritter as Ben Hanscom, Harry Anderson as Richie Tozier, Tim Reid as Mike Hanlon, Annette O'Toole as Beverly Marsh, Richard Thomas as Bill Denbrough and TimCurry as Pennywise.
On March 12th 2009, Warner Bros. announced that the production of a remake of IT had started. Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Doug Davison are set to produce.


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!!Tropes:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer
* AbusiveParents: Beverly's father and Eddie's mother (even if she didn't mean it in that way).
** And both Beverly and Eddie later marry mirror images of the respective parents.
* AdaptationDecay: The movie adaptation.
* AdultsAreUseless: Played straight in the fact that most adults are oblivious to IT's existence, averted when the Losers' Club members return and vanquish IT as adults.
* AllGrownUp: The Losers' Club members as adults, but especially [[BeautifulAllAlong Beverly Marsh]].
* AmbiguouslyGay: Henry Bowers and Patrick Hockstetter.
* AuthorAvatar: Bill Denbrough.
* AxeCrazy
* BigBad: The titular IT.
* BitterSweetEnding: [[spoiler: IT is finally defeated and vanquished, but two of the Losers' Club members are dead, most of their hometown is destroyed by a flood with IT's death and the surviving members' memories slowly fade away until they completely forget about each other, but somehow they know that they will be friends forever]].
* BrownNote: [[spoiler:The "deadlights", which are implied to be IT's true form, cause whoever sees them to go insane]].
* CompleteMonster: Some of the human villains like Henry Bowers are just as scary as the MonsterClown.
* CosmicHorror / EldritchAbomination: IT's true form.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: "I'm doing the mashed potatoes all over this thing AND I GOT A FUCKING BROKEN ARM!!!"
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: While most of the movie is considered {{Narm}}, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW-4V8YokTY this music video]] does a pretty damn good job of inducing the warm-and-fuzzies.
* [[DeadLittleSister Dead Little Brother]]: Bill's trauma.
* DeusSexMachina
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu
* DisappearedDad: Ben's father and Eddie's father.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Ben Hanscom to Beverly Marsh.
* DomesticAbuser: Beverly's husband.
**Somewhat Subverted with Beverly's Father.
* DreamSequence: Not exactly a dream but in the novel Richie and Mike have a vision of It arriving to Earth from a meteorite in a prehistoric Derry.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Stan Uris]].
* FiveTokenBand: The Losers' Club is a ''Seven'' Token Band.
* FreudWasRight
* HeroesWantRedheads: All the male Losers are romantically attracted to Beverly at some point, as is Beverly herself to Bill.
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: The novel. The movie itself is {{Narm}}-tastic, but any scene with Pennywise is scary, especially if you are afraid of clowns. TimCurry did a good job at being a MonsterClown in that movie. Brr...
** Many children that weren't afraid of clowns before became afraid of them after watching this film.
* JerkAss: Henry Bowers starts like this. Later, to call him that [[CompleteMonster would be an understatement]].
* KidsAreCruel: Henry Bowers and his cronies.
* MemeticMolester: Look at the the trope below this one.
* MonsterClown: IT's primary form, Pennywise The Dancing Clown.
* MoralEventHorizon: Henry Bowers crosses it at least twice, first when he [[spoiler: poisons Mike Hanlon's dog, and then when he murders his father with a razor It gave him.]]
** Patrick Hockstetter too when he [[spoiler: murders his baby brother in his cradle]] and his hobby which disturbs ''even Henry Bowers'': [[spoiler: he steals his neighbor's dog and locks it in a fridge to slowly die while checking it every few days]].
* MyBelovedSmother: Eddie's mother.
* {{Narm}}: Most of the movie, except for any scene with Pennywise in it.
* ParentalObliviousness
* ThePowerOfFriendship: One of the major themes in the book is of childhood friends who have long since gone their separate ways but must now come together to defeat the BigBad.
* RedheadedHero: Bill and Beverly
* TheReveal: The revelation, in the book's later chapters, that IT is [[spoiler:actually female. Not only that, but she just so happens to have laid a shitload of eggs...]]
* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: After spending many years in psychiatric hospital, Henry Bowers [[spoiler: escapes with IT's help and almost kills Mike Hanlon]].
* SkepticismFailure: Stan Uris is the last of The Losers' Club members to recognize IT's existence.
* SpookyPhotographs (that start moving and threatening you)
* {{Squick}}: They had to do ''what'' to get out of the sewers in 1958?
** FetishFuel: The scene mentioned here was wisely cut out of the movie adaptation, and the director has gone on record as saying that he felt it was just one of Stephen King's bizarre personal fantasies.
* SurvivalMantra: "He thrusts his fists against the post and still insists he sees the ghosts".
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Seriously, after all the parental abuse and emotional scarring it is actually surprising all the Losers' Club members became successful as adults.
** Who needs therapy when you've got the Turtle playing with your memory and with the strings of fate. . .
* TownWithADarkSecret: Mike Hanlon spends much of his life recording testimonies of strange incidents in his town Derry, and he is told once that ''some secrets bite''.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Bill and his wife Audra.
* VerbalTic: Bill's stuttering.
* [[YouKilledMyFather You Killed My Brother]]: Bill's reason why ItsPersonal with IT.
* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: Justified: Mike discovers that despite the children's killings and incidents in which many people die, those news are rarely spoken outside the town of Derry; its like ''something doesn't want those to be known outside''.


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