Played by: Tim Curry, Bill Skarsgard
Film(s): It (1990), It (2017), It Chapter Two (2019)
Of all the guises that ‘It’ takes across Stephen King’s tale, it’s telling that the shape-shifting cosmic entity of purest evil takes on the form of a clown. Because who isn’t terrified of clowns? If Tim Curry’s incarnation made the TV miniseries iconic, Bill Skarsgard still managed to make the Dancing Clown his own in Andy Muschietti’s films, the actor using his very own real-life special effect: the ability to make one of his eyes veer off at a creepy angle. Nightmare-fodder.
10/10