Though often utilized as a children’s party staple, the clown trope has long been used as a symbol of fear throughout various horror films and literature. And while there are plenty of films that feature killer clowns as the villain, Pennywise floats from the sewer as one of the most terrifying evil clowns in film history. Based on Stephen King‘s 1986 novel, It, the shapeshifting monster has inspired several films, including the Tim Curry-starring 1990 feature of the same name and the two most recent It films starring Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. With the upcoming television series, Welcome to Derry, looming on the horizon, the dancing clown will be heading to Las Vegas—leaving Derry for a while—in the latest escape room experience from Egan Escape Productions.
Following the Universal Halloween Horror Nights attraction in Hollywood and Orlando, Florida—where guests can experience the terror inspired by the Universal Monster catalog—another horror character will emerge to bring the big screen experience to life. The newest attraction, called “Escape IT,” will take a different approach to escape rooms, with 20 interactive spaces, cutting-edge special effects, and live actors. Providing an entirely interactive and frightening escape room experience, the horror attraction will be divided into two chapters—as is the case in the films—with the Chapter One already open for visitors, while Chapter Two will be opening around this year.
The first part features some scenes from the first film, with visitors embarking on a quest to find Derry’s missing children. Of course, guests will be able to visit some of the film’s infamous locations, including the Neibolt House, Quality Meats, the “Three Doors” room, the Clown Funeral Room, and even the sewer tunnels below Derry, all while trying to escape the clutches of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.” The latest horror attraction is an addition to Egan Escape Productions’ horror-inspired immersive escape rooms, such as “Saw Escape” and “Escape Blair Witch,” both of which are based on popular horror franchises from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
There have been a slew of killer clowns in cinema history, with Twisty the Clown, Captain Spaulding, and Art the Clown bringing in different takes on clowns but with equally terrifying premises. Pennywise, however, is a supernatural entity that takes on different forms but often uses the clown persona to deliver frights to his young victims. With the monster’s supernatural power, he can provide oddly amusing ways of terrorizing people, from manipulating reality to shapeshifting into different forms he wants to, including a gigantic spider. And with Escape IT already open for fans of all things horror, guests will get to experience what Beverly, Bill, Ben, Mike, and Eddie experienced themselves—in a non-bloody but definitely spooky way.
While you wait for the upcoming television series, Welcome to Derry, which will explore the origins of the evil clown, you can find out more information about the IT-inspired attraction through Escape IT‘s official website.
