The beginning of the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s IT can be rough goings for all but the most seasoned of horror fans, which is a bar for entry that the makers of the movie have tried to lower.
In Andrés Muschietti’s film, young Georgie’s death is shown in gruesome detail, making for a suitably frightening introduction to its “nightmarish imagery.” But if the dismemberment of a child is too much for you, well, maybe you shouldn’t watch the rest of the movie because, despite the “floating” tagline, it doesn’t get much lighter from there. The people behind the film seem to be aware of this conundrum, though, and crafted an alternate opening to ease viewers into a movie that we’ll remind you is based on a book about a scary clown who literally feeds off children’s fear. Here’s the Sweded version of Georgie’s encounter with Pennywise, who swears but doesn’t otherwise harm the boy.
As the little boy in the raincoat runs off, everyone feels a little better, albeit briefly. And you can now experience that incongruous relief for yourself, as The Independent reports that this joke opening has made its way into the home entertainment version of the film as a deleted scene or extra, presumably because the makers didn’t want people rewinding the scene so that Pennywise helpfully spits out Georgie’s arm.