Why Does IT Wait 27 Years Between Attacks?

IT attacks every 27 years, what is the reason behind such long interval between murders?

By now almost everyone who is interested in the IT franchise seen the trailer of the new movie coming this September. You might also notice the first movie and the second one being set 27 years apart with the younger cast giving way to much older members of the 'Losers' club. Well, the timeline is exactly what it was supposed to be in the book, with the Stephen King novel being set 27 years apart from one another.

A monster is living in Derry, but it only kills in about 27 years’ interval, the whole situation is just weird. There are many peculiar characters about the shapeshifting evil entity but the whole killing people for about one year and disappearing for about 27 years in the most interesting of characteristics. IT wakes up goes on a killing rampage, and before anyone can figure it out, the monster is gone again. Why is it the case?

Watch: The trailer for IT Chapter Two

The TV series of the 90s tried to talk about the case of the 27 years gap period, but they kind of sidestepped the whole topic and instead just went ahead with saying Pennywise or the evil shapeshifting entity goes away for a 30 year period instead of the 27 years’ time frame. We still don’t know how the movies will address this time jump, but we know of one source material where we can get some sort of answer.

Stephen King’s books talk about the entity which arrived on earth sometime before the town was later called Derry. The arrival of Pennywise was reminiscent of the crashing of a meteor, and the evil murdering entity took the shape of multiple people over the years, but IT’s favorite form to take was Pennywise the dancing clown. But the reason IT waits 27 years between attacks is, the clown hibernates for 27 years and only wakes up to sate its hunger then goes back sleeping again.

Source: Los Angels Times

The thing which follows IT’s arrival is the lust among people to kill and do harm to others. The first recorded incident of IT’s appearance was in 1929 when the clown was seen among the people who helped the citizens of Derry kill the robbery crew known as the Bradley Gang. We can also see the Pennywise-cart on 3 April 1908, the same cart we can see in the teaser trailer of IT: Chapter 2. The math on the numbers isn’t an exact science because the books and movies are working in two separate timelines. In the film, the Pennywise attack happened in 1988, but in the book, the adults were attacked in 1985. Still, we know the attacks happen in 27 years period in both the book and the movies because the monster is sleeping.

Watch: IT's appearance in the Derry library

But just because Pennywise is sleeping doesn’t mean IT is not affecting the town of Derry. The clown influences people into leaning into their violent tendencies and cracks the wall of responsibility and brings about the animalistic nature of human beings. The power possessed by the clown stop people from really ever investigating all the murders. From IT’s first appearance till now there’ve been numerous killing and murders, and no one, in particular, is really interested in finding out what is causing all the children’s disappearance and the mass murders. One day the people of Derry are terrified, and next, they are oblivious to the fact all of these people are disappearing in 27-30 years’ time.

During the final moment of the first IT movie, you could see the monster hypnotizing Beverly and putting her in a trance. The same thing IT can do to its victims, the monster can show the people whatever they want to see, and you can see how this power comes in handy when hiding mass murders. Even though the monster hibernates for 27 years, it is apparent Pennywise is powerful whether it is sleeping or awake.

Source: YouTube

IT Chapter Two is coming to theatres on 6 September 2019 with the early reaction for the movie being a mixed bag, but almost all agree the film is a terrifying journey, so we are excited.