Though he's been seen in photos, seeing Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise come to life in the first teaser trailer for "It: Part 1 – the Losers Club" drives home just how frightening he'll be on the big screen.

The trailer, which clocks in at just under 2:33 long, sets a familiar stage for fans of author Stephen King's seminal novel, and likely sets at ease those anxious about whether King's terror will translate successfully from the page to the screen.

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The New Line adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 horror novel tells the tale of a group of misfit children who come together one summer to confront the mysterious, shape-shifting monster that’s plagued their town, most frequently in the form of a clown named Pennywise. Previously adapted as a 1990 television miniseries starring Tim Curry, “It” will be split into two parts, with the first focusing on the children’s first dealings with Pennywise, and the second the later encounter.

The film has been compared by producer Dan Lin to the Netflix summer hit “Stranger Things.” “It’s very much an homage to ’80s movies, whether it’s classic Stephen King or even Spielberg,” he said in August. “Think about ‘Stand by Me’ as far as the bonding amongst the kids. But there is a really scary element in Pennywise.”

Based on Stephen King’s classic novel of the same name, “It: Part 1 – the Losers Club” stars Bill Skarsgård, Finn Wolfhard, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Chosen Jacobs, Wyatt Oleff, Nicholas Hamilton, Owen Teague and Logan Thompson. Look for “It” in theaters nationwide on September 8th, 2017