Back in 2019, two years after the success of It, iconic director Quentin Tarantino revealed during his conversation with Eli Roth on the History of Horror: Uncut podcast that It, which is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, was a rip-off.
The director revealed that the story of It was originally copied from Wes Craven’s iconic 1984 horror movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street (which famously starred Johnny Depp).
He just replaces Freddy Krueger with Pennywise. It’s just exactly like he sees ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ — ‘Oh wow, that’s a really neat idea.
He continued,
That’s really clever. That’s cool. Well, let me take that idea and let me do my version of it.’ Now, his version of it is going to be a 560-page novel.
Well, the director is certainly not in the right one, since there are a plethora of differences between Pennywise and Freddy Krueger, and the two characters are nowhere near similar.
Why Quentin Tarantino Is Wrong With His Stephen King Criticism
For starters, (I hate to go against my favorite director), he admitted that he hasn’t read the original Stephen King 1986 novel, It. The director clarified that he was just listing out what the general consensus was in the It fandom.
As the podcast continued, Tarantino believed that the book was about 560 pages long (It is actually 1138 pages).
Now, if you’ve talked to anybody who’s read the book … now I’m just repeating what they’re saying. I haven’t read the book.
There are a plethora of differences between Freddy Krueger and Pennywise, and unfortunately, Quentin Tarantino is simply wrong in this one, partly because King had started writing the novel back in the early 1980s, while A Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984.
Stephen King’s novel was published in 1986, and although it was published two years after the release of the 1984 movie, the timeline is simply too tight for King to get inspired, write a novel, and publish it within two years.
Pennywise vs Freddy Krueger: Where Does The Similarity End?
It all starts with a dream. Freddy Krueger is a deceased human serial killer who hunts down his victims in their dreams. On the other hand, Pennywise is an ancient entity that has dwelt in Derry for countless years.
Preying on fear and eating children to sustain himself, Pennywise is an ancient evil that is borderline Lovecraftian, while Freddy Krueger is a slasher killer who uses the Dream World to kill people.
Freddy Krueger sustains on the fear of his victims and can be defeated if the victim stops fearing him or is pulled from the Dream world. On the other hand, Pennywise uses fear to “salt the meat” before literally eating the children as a means to sustain himself.
Lastly, the difference between Pennywise and Freddy Krueger is in the ratings of their movie and box office collections.
Which one do you prefer more: Freddy Krueger or Pennywise the Clown? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
