It: Chapter 1 (2017)
Coulrophobia is a psychological condition when its sufferer feels a morbid fear of clowns. Funny it may sound as clowns are generally employed to liven up an event, a child's birthday or as a filler between circus performances. Furthermore, as the general statement goes, come sun or rain, the show must go on. Movie buffs will quickly remember Raj Kapoor's 'Mera Naam Joker' (My name is Joker) where the clown has to make his audience laugh even though he was crying and dying inside. Sivaji Ganesan also did a similar rendition in 'Rajapath Rangadurai' in the song 'Jinjunaka' where he, dressed as a clown, had to entertain a rowdy despite his bleeding heart.
There is a logical explanation to coulrophobia. Clowns are accepted in certain places, parties, circus etcetera. He elevates the mood. However, outside this ambit, people are supposed to behave appropriately. Humans, as survival defence mechanism, have developed pattern recognition. They become wary when a person smiles for no reason (like clowns often do). They form an innate fear of harm when encountered in such a situation. Hence, the underlying phobia.
I do not fancy horror movies. In fact, I have not read any of Stephen King's novels. This story was written by him. The reason is simple. After growing up beside a Chinese cemetery, having witnessed aftermaths of jumpers from the top floors of the seventeen storeyed flats and regularly spending many good hours under the shade of an Angsana tree in the heart of Batu Gantong cemetery, my sisters and I decided that believing in ghosts is all hocus-pocus. It is all just a figment of our imaginations. We saw not a single apparition in our twelve years of sojourn there. Like the message that goes towards the end of the movie, it is clear. The only thing in life we have to fear is fear itself. A frightened person will even be apprehensive of his shadows.
This 2017 story reminds its viewer very much of the 80s Spielberg movie, 'Goonies' as it was also set in the 80s, a coming-of-age story involving a gang of cycling losers and their adventures outside schooling hours. The layout, however, is much darker, with plenty of blood splattering, sheer savagery and brutal violence not excepted from young teenage children. The sexual connotations are not mere innuendos but real in-your-face long French kisses and incestuous dialogues.
The story goes about a clown who appears once every 27 years to create mayhem in another town and disappear a year later. One of the protagonist's brother was pulled in the drain during a rainy day. Thinking that the boy might still be alive, he embarks on a heart-stopping, stomach-churning experience to get to the root of the matter and literally squash the clown to smithereens.
Coulrophobia is a psychological condition when its sufferer feels a morbid fear of clowns. Funny it may sound as clowns are generally employed to liven up an event, a child's birthday or as a filler between circus performances. Furthermore, as the general statement goes, come sun or rain, the show must go on. Movie buffs will quickly remember Raj Kapoor's 'Mera Naam Joker' (My name is Joker) where the clown has to make his audience laugh even though he was crying and dying inside. Sivaji Ganesan also did a similar rendition in 'Rajapath Rangadurai' in the song 'Jinjunaka' where he, dressed as a clown, had to entertain a rowdy despite his bleeding heart.
There is a logical explanation to coulrophobia. Clowns are accepted in certain places, parties, circus etcetera. He elevates the mood. However, outside this ambit, people are supposed to behave appropriately. Humans, as survival defence mechanism, have developed pattern recognition. They become wary when a person smiles for no reason (like clowns often do). They form an innate fear of harm when encountered in such a situation. Hence, the underlying phobia.
I do not fancy horror movies. In fact, I have not read any of Stephen King's novels. This story was written by him. The reason is simple. After growing up beside a Chinese cemetery, having witnessed aftermaths of jumpers from the top floors of the seventeen storeyed flats and regularly spending many good hours under the shade of an Angsana tree in the heart of Batu Gantong cemetery, my sisters and I decided that believing in ghosts is all hocus-pocus. It is all just a figment of our imaginations. We saw not a single apparition in our twelve years of sojourn there. Like the message that goes towards the end of the movie, it is clear. The only thing in life we have to fear is fear itself. A frightened person will even be apprehensive of his shadows.
This 2017 story reminds its viewer very much of the 80s Spielberg movie, 'Goonies' as it was also set in the 80s, a coming-of-age story involving a gang of cycling losers and their adventures outside schooling hours. The layout, however, is much darker, with plenty of blood splattering, sheer savagery and brutal violence not excepted from young teenage children. The sexual connotations are not mere innuendos but real in-your-face long French kisses and incestuous dialogues.
The story goes about a clown who appears once every 27 years to create mayhem in another town and disappear a year later. One of the protagonist's brother was pulled in the drain during a rainy day. Thinking that the boy might still be alive, he embarks on a heart-stopping, stomach-churning experience to get to the root of the matter and literally squash the clown to smithereens.
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