12 Scariest Movie Moments Of 2017

2. Pennywise Kills Georgie - It

For all of the superbly scary scenes in this surprisingly excellent adaptation of Stephen King's iconic novel, It never quite manages to top its opening sequence, where poor young Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) comes face-to-face with Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgard).

After his sailboat washes down a drain, Pennywise appears before Georgie and, over the course of an increasingly unsettling conversation, convinces Georgie to reach into the drain to grab the sailboat.

Pennywise then rolls his eyes back, bares his teeth and sinks them deep into Georgie's arm, ripping it clean off. He tries to crawl away, but Georgie's ultimately helpless as Pennywise extends his arm and drags Georgie into the drain, before presumably killing him.

It's a hell of a statement of intent for the film, proudly boasting of its R-rating with the rarest of sights in a major Hollywood movie: child mutilation. Everything building up to the kill, namely Skarsgard and Scott's incredible performances, make this one of the most memorably horrifying scenes from any big-budget horror film in years.