IT Marks the Spot: First Trailer for New Stephen King Adaptation Gets Gloomy

Look, you go into a sewer, you gotta expect troubles. Maybe a giant alligator. Or maybe a really frightening clown.

Stephen King's It postulated that a demonic entity existed in Derry, Maine, that could change into anything that most scared the person beholding it. Some people really have a primal fear of clowns, so that's the form the entity appears in the most to lure his intended victims -- children.

The clown, known as Pennywise, was portrayed by Tim Curry in a TV miniseries back in 1990 or thereabouts, and in the new film version, he's played by Bill Skarsgard, who made a mark as a different sort of creature in the streaming series Hemlock Grove.

The first trailer for It has been released, and it definitely suggests a much darker vision than could be seen on television more than 25 years ago. Andres Muschietti, who did a fine job as director on Mama, has the helm here, and so the movie looks especially grotty and gloomy when the action heads away from the sun.

Have a look below. It will open in North American theaters on September 8.