IT (Stephen King)



It never fails. Every thirty years, the little town of Derry suffers personal tragedy when its children begin to disappear. Outsiders might notice a pattern, but the residents have been brainwashed by the evil lurking in the shadows of the town's sewer. During one summer back in the '60s, a group of outcast kids decided to fight back. One of them, Bill Denbrough, sought to avenge the death of his younger brother, George. Believing in themselves and their power to defeat evil, the Lucky 7 succeeded in driving It away, but vowed to return in case the evil forces arose again.

All those years ago, the evil took the form, ironically, of a jovial clown named Pennywise (Tim Curry). It threatened the kids with kiddie-like scares, and if that didn't work, It got worse. So intense and frightening was the experience of driving away the evil the first time that one of the seven committed suicide shortly after learning the gang was getting back together. It was thirty years later, and kids in Derry were disappearing again.

Pennywise was just as vicious this time around, and he adult-sized scares in store for the group. He wanted them to go away so he could have his fun with the kiddies, but vowing to stay and fight again, the gang believed in themselves and tried to convince themselves that adults could believe in the kind of power to overcome evil that kids did. Pennywise's true terrible form would be revealed and following a fight, one of the gang would fall. In a fight with evil, everything is on the line and it's always between life and death.

It represents not just one being, but the essence of fear itself. Tormented with false visions and bad memories, the kids of Derry grew up to be repressed adults, and only by returning home to exorcise the biggest demon of all could they move on with clear minds and weights off their shoulders. The power of Pennywise cannot be overexaggerated as everyone in the entire town fell under his spell at one time or another. Courage is what it took to overcome fear, and that's what it took for the kids of Derry to defeat Pennywise.