Stephen King’s “It” has been around in paper form for years. Readers have been reading the novel since it was published back in 1986. Back in 1990, actor Tim Curry perfectly personified Pennywise – that terrifying, yet somehow cute, clown – in an outstanding TV series based on the book.

Now a new "It" adaptation is winging its way to the theaters on September 8 this year, with yet another actor playing a new type of Pennywise. This time it’s Bill Skarsgård that’s applying the greasepaint and getting ready to terrify a new generation of Stephen King horror fans.

Judging from the trailer, he will definitely do the job, although some diehards still think Curry did it best.

However, with all this going on, some are saying more people are becoming afraid of clowns, as coulrophobia (fear of clowns) rears its colorfully painted head.

Clowns’ smiles are turning upside down

It turns out professional clowns aren’t too happy about this turn of events and according to a report by A.V. Club, one such not-so-cheerful clown compared the spreading phobia of clowns to racism. Yet another clown said that since the new “It” trailer went online, his phone has stopped ringing.

Turns out people aren’t so keen to have clowns “entertaining” their children at their birthday parties these days.

In fact even adults are getting a tad nervous. Of course, the clowns were complaining in force a while back about the particularly terrifying clown in “American Horror Story: Freak Show.” John Carroll Lynch played Twisty the Clown in that one. Now, of course, they have yet another Pennywise to blame all their problems on.

'Don't shoot the messenger' says Stephen King

King himself responded to the clowns' criticism on Twitter, saying sorry, that most clowns are great, but adding that kids have always been scared of clowns. He told the complaining funny guys to not kill the messengers for the sake of the message (even if that message is that “we all float down here”).

If you haven’t already seen it, you can watch the teaser trailer for the new “It” right here:

‘It’ teaser spawns a terrifying parody trailer

Just to add to the tension, two filmmakers, Danny and Michael Philippou, have come up with their own trailer. Titled “It - McDonald’s Edition,” the spoof stars yet another terrifying clown in the form of Ronald McDonald. While most parodies are an edit of the original, this one was filmed from scratch and it’s actually pretty good. However, bear in mind that the parody teeters on a very fine line between being very funny and totally gruesome.

Watch the trailer below, if you dare, but don’t say we didn’t warn you! (By the way, it’s definitely not suitable for kids, but then neither is the original.) It might, of course, put you off of eating McDonald's, and, just as an offshoot, KFC too.
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