Trust Twitter to turn one of the scariest horror movie villains of all time into a dancing diva.
Pennywise the clown is the central villain of Stephen King’s horror novel It. Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of the killer clown who feeds on children’s fears in Andres Muschietti’s film adaptation has earned the actor plaudits as much as the character has given audiences nightmares.
Twitter user @GamingSpeedy took a key scene towards the end of the film, in which Pennywise does a dance to scare a potential victim, and edited it to the dance-pop group Steps song 5,6,7,8. The result, shared from the newly created Twitter account @Pennywise_Dance, became viral within minutes.
5, 6, 7, 8! pic.twitter.com/IweXWZpMr0
— Pennywise Dancing (@Pennywise_Dance) September 12, 2017
Motivated, the user kept creating similar videos by editing the footage to a variety of pop songs, including Vengaboys’ Boom, Boom, Boom, Aqua’s Barbie Girl, Rednex’s Cotton Eye Joe and Pharell Williams’ Happy, among others.
Boom, Boom, Boom... #ITMovie pic.twitter.com/3O66rddPtc
— Pennywise Dancing (@Pennywise_Dance) September 12, 2017
Barbie Girl #ITMovie #ItMovie2017 pic.twitter.com/VCpyDx3GW6
— Pennywise Dancing (@Pennywise_Dance) September 12, 2017
Cotton Eye Joe pic.twitter.com/nCiSk4c2Iz
— Pennywise Dancing (@Pennywise_Dance) September 12, 2017
Happy! #ITMovie pic.twitter.com/8inH70AIcP
— Pennywise Dancing (@Pennywise_Dance) September 21, 2017
Thomas The Tank Engine! pic.twitter.com/RJa2LDjpri
— Pennywise Dancing (@Pennywise_Dance) September 22, 2017
The Macarena! pic.twitter.com/LZ4AOhRddi
— Pennywise Dancing (@Pennywise_Dance) September 21, 2017
When King tweeted that if there was one song he could hear for the rest of his life, that would be Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega, Pennywise didn’t waste any time.
Well... #ITMovie pic.twitter.com/eq1oofJuq4
— Pennywise Dancing (@Pennywise_Dance) September 14, 2017
This is not the first time Pennywise has got the meme treatment. Days after its release, the clown was paired as the gay partner of the monster Babadook from the 2014 Australian horror film of the same name. A screenshot was posted on the social networking website Tumblr, which showed The Babadook as listed under LGBT movies. “The B in LGBT stands for Babadook,” a user commented.
Wow, Netflix really screwed up. Why'd they put Room 237 in there with great LGBT movies like The Babadook? pic.twitter.com/NdmP8sHdwg
— Hailey Carter (@PeachyPeridot) June 16, 2017
Overnight, the Babadook became an LGBT icon. Its status as a queer symbol got cemented during Pride Month in April in the United States of America, when the top hat wearing, teeth-baring ghoul began appearing at rallies across Boston and Washington.
openly gay and with an affinity for hats and drama, the Babadook was the first time I saw myself represented in a film
— JuanPa (@jpbrammer) April 19, 2017
Most people have never even seen the most iconic workroom entrance in Drag Race herstory pic.twitter.com/YMUnzIPGR8
— Jacob Henson (@ReginAdeleRey) June 9, 2017
happy pride month from queer icon the babadook pic.twitter.com/f2JxwQbRDd
— baby tracy (@jacobbullards) June 3, 2017
babadook made it!!! pic.twitter.com/pxosxlAdbH
— 🕸spooky alex🕸 (@thepxrtyscxne) June 11, 2017
just met my future spouse at #BostonPride #babashook pic.twitter.com/6Cd7cfvszY
— bela lugosi ☾ (@gyyllenhaal) June 10, 2017
We believe in equal rights for everyone — and we mean everyone. Happy #Pride2017 #Babadook pic.twitter.com/So6jdIyIbf
— Maura Healey (@MassAGO) June 10, 2017
A few days after the release of Muschietti’s It on September 8, Pennywise and Babadook were turned into a romantic pair by the folks on Twitter and Tumblr because, why not? “Pennywise and boyfriend, The Babadook are off on a date to get crepes and terrorize some kids,” wrote one user.
Pennywise and his boyfriend, The Babadook are off on a date to get crepes and terrorize some kids. pic.twitter.com/eakshrfkN7
— kumi🐨⭐ (@kumivenarts) September 12, 2017
Babadook and Pennywise be fuckin?
— taylor (@adumbdriver) September 10, 2017
pennywise and the babadook are gay lovers, the sequel to both their films is about their fight to get married in 2009, no one better deny it
— fat spanner spencer (@spennettmctwaty) September 12, 2017
Pennywise & Babadook's happiness is a joke to you, Chloe!? I expected better from you. Their relationship deserve nothing but our support!😢 pic.twitter.com/KUKXW7ig8a
— Tom Johnston (@tomjonty) September 14, 2017
hashtag drawing stupid twitter memes
— j🎃ssica (@my2k) September 13, 2017
pennywise and babadook and their adorable little son tomas
s/o to @starkrhodey and @kumivenarts lol pic.twitter.com/Q8HXzoijqd