TERRIFYING giant billboards advertising the new IT Chapter Two film are giving kids nightmares, parents have claimed.
Advertisements for the highly anticipated horror movie show the iconic clown grinning maliciously as red drips from his mouth.
And while adult audiences are keen to watch the movie – a sequel to the highest grossing horror film of all time – parents in Australia have flagged concerns about the picture of evil clown Pennywise on the roadside.
One mum Kellie, from Brisbane, told Nine News: "It just totally freaks them out."
And her daughter, Piper said: "Before I go to bed, I have to check the whole room.
"And when I finally go to bed I will wake up after a nightmare."
Another mum Jane Swan said he own child had been "terrified" by the poster – complaining to the country's Ad Standards.
And it's not only children who have been scared by the billboard.
One person wrote on Twitter: "I was driving home at midnight last night and it was very dark and I veered a sharp corner and on that corner was a brightly illuminated billboard for the new IT movie and I almost crashed in fear, which is either the most evil or clever marketing scheme in recent memory."
HE'S BACK
James McAvoy, who is starring in the film as Bill Denbrough, also revealed he had experienced nightmares over the clown.
Speaking at Comic-Con, he said: "I had nightmares about Pennywise quite a lot. The only one I can really remember is I'm lying on my side in the bed and he was in bed with me.
"And he's stroking my back gently and saying, 'Wake up James, wake up.' And I was just terrified, pretending to be asleep."
The highly anticipated sequel introduces us to the other half of Stephen King’s famous 1986 novel.
Members of the Losers' Club, who had faced the clown as children, are now grown and have moved on from the horror.
But Pennywise returns to their lives, saying: "For 27 years, I've dreamt of you. I craved you. I've missed you!"
The group had made a pact at the end of the first film to return to Derry if the evil should ever resurface – meaning they must face him again.
The film is expected to hit cinemas in the UK on September 6, 2019.
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