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Halloween may only be a few days away, but IT: Welcome to Derry's first episode has already filled my fright quota for the season.

Titled "The Pilot," this episode is not only brimming with Stephen King Easter eggs but nightmarish sequences, like a car ride from hell and the world's worst trip to the movies. But which of Pennywise's (Bill Skarsgård) scare tactics is most effective, and which left us most unfazed? We've ranked all the biggest WTF scares of "The Pilot" to find out.

SEE ALSO: 'IT: Welcome to Derry's shocking episode 1 ending, explained 5. When Matty's fingers pop out of Lily's shower drain.

"The Pilot" revolves around the disappearance of Matty (Miles Ekhardt), the friend of several Derry outcasts including "Loony" Lily Bainbridge (Clara Stack). In the episode's mildest scare, Lily hears Matty singing to her from inside her shower pipes. Then, his bloodied fingers emerge from the drain before disappearing.

It's a gruesome image, but a familiar one for IT fans. In Stephen King's novel and future screen adaptations, Beverly Marsh experiences a similar drain-centric nightmare when buckets of blood burst from her sink. When it comes to bathroom scares, Beverly's blows Lily's clean out of the water. It also highlights a very important safety tip for all of Derry's young women: Stop looking down your drains! Nothing good will come of it!

4. When men in gas masks attack Leroy Hanlon. Jovan Adepo in "IT: Welcome to Derry." Credit: Brooke Palmer / HBO

Derry's kids aren't the only ones getting scared. Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) faces a harrowing attack of his own while staying on Derry's Air Force base, as several men in gas masks break into his room and threaten to kill him if he doesn't divulge top-secret information.

SEE ALSO: 'IT: Welcome to Derry' review: 'IT' prequel series will scare the living daylights out of you

The attack has seemingly nothing to do with Pennywise and everything to do with Cold War anxieties rising in Derry and all across the U.S. Still, even if it's not a supernatural sequence, the sight of the masked men peering through Leroy's window is pretty freaky all on its own.

3. When Teddy sees a human skin lampshade.

Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler) gets a truly grotesque visit from Pennywise, who manifests as a lampshade made of human skin, complete with screaming mouths. The sequence calls back to Teddy's earlier conversation with his father, who detailed the horrors of the Holocaust, including a human skin lampshade found at Buchenwald concentration camp. (This same story is also a key point in Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story.)

SEE ALSO: Is 'IT: Welcome to Derry' based on Stephen King's book?

The body horror on display in this scene is nausea-inducing, but what's more upsetting is the lampshade's ties to the real human tragedy of the Holocaust — and Welcome to Derry's almost callous exploitation of said tragedy. Teddy's dinner with his family feels like a speedrun of Jewish stereotypes, with Welcome to Derry doing little to characterize them beyond discussions of bar mitzvahs and Holocaust trauma. The lampshade scare is the cheap cherry on top, and it's enough to make the viewers sick to their stomachs in more ways than one.

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2. When IT: Welcome to Derry kills off half its kids. Jack Legault, Matilda Legault, Clara Stack, and Mikkal Karim-Fidler in "IT: Welcome to Derry." Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO

The entire ending sequence of "The Pilot" feels like a slap in the face. For the entirety of the episode, Welcome to Derry has been setting up Lily, Phil (Jack Legault), Teddy, Ronnie (Amanda Christine), and Susie (Matilda Legault) as the show's version of the Losers Club. That idea quickly flies out the window in "The Pilot"s final scene, in which a winged mutant baby (more on that later) tears Teddy in half, rips Susie's arm off, and carries Phil off to who knows where. It's a bloodbath through and through, and a reminder that no one is safe — especially not Derry's kids.

Featured Video For You Why the scariest part of The Shining isn’t what you think. 1. When Matty experiences the worst car ride ever. Miles Ekhardt in "IT: Welcome to Derry." Credit: Brooke Palmer / HBO

While the closing sequence may be the most shocking moment of "The Pilot," it's the episode's opening that truly raises the bar for any of Welcome to Derry's WTF-inducing scares moving forward.

In the scene, Matty tries to hitchhike out of Derry. He thinks he's found a safe ride with a nice family, but it quickly turns out that couldn't be farther from the truth. From a sinister spelling bee to a brush with raw liver juice, the opening ratchets up the unsettling tension before letting loose with an extremely graphic birth scene that leaves nothing to the imagination. Everything reaches a fever pitch when the newly birthed mutant baby — a manifestation of Cold War fears about the effects of nuclear weapons on pregnancy — starts flying around the car, umbilical cord in tow. That's not a distraction you learn about in drivers' ed, but I fear they must start adding it to the curriculum.

Gnarly in all the best and most disturbing ways, the whole scene is one hell of a way to kick off a show. Can Welcome to Derry measure up with its scares in the weeks to come?

New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

There is only one acceptable reaction to the ending of IT: Welcome to Derry's first episode, and it's "What in the world just happened?"

While the entire episode is filled to the brim with horrifying scares (and Stephen King Easter eggs), its final moments deliver an unforgettable bloodbath that comes with the chilling message that no one in the show is safe. Let's break it down.

SEE ALSO: 'IT: Welcome to Derry' review: 'IT' prequel series will scare the living daylights out of you What happens at the end of IT: Welcome to Derry episode 1? Miles Ekhardt in "IT: Welcome to Derry." Credit: HBO

Much of Welcome to Derry's first episode focuses on uniting several of Derry's children in the search for missing kid Matty (Miles Ekhardt). There's "Loony" Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), who's bullied at school over her father's gruesome death; oddball best friends Phil (Jack Legault) and Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler); Phil's little sister Susie (Matilda Legault); and Ronnie (Amanda Christine), the last child to see Matty alive.

As the crew comes together, it feels like IT: Welcome to Derry is assembling its own version of the Losers Club from Stephen King's IT and the ensuing film adaptations. However, it quickly subverts that expectation by fully murdering several of these children in gruesome fashion, reminding you not to expect a straightforward rehash of IT and its own Losers Club.

SEE ALSO: The most WTF scares from 'IT: Welcome to Derry' episode 1, ranked

It all kicks off when Lilly hears Matty singing an eerie rendition of "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man in her shower pipes. Ronnie puts the pieces together and remembers that The Music Man was also the movie Matty snuck into on the night he disappeared. She screens The Music Man for Lilly, Phil, Teddy, and Susie at the Derry movie theater in the hopes of getting some answers.

However, as Harold Hill sings about the trouble facing River City onscreen, the kids run into some trouble of their own. Matty appears in the movie, holding a swaddled baby and flanked by the eerie family who kidnapped him at the start of the episode. As he smiles a classic Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) grin, Matty reveals that the baby he's holding is none other than the mutant winged creature from Welcome to Derry's unsettling opening sequence. He unleashes the creature — now much, much bigger — into the audience, where it tears into Phil, Teddy, and Susie. Of the five children who entered the theater, only Lilly and Ronnie make it out.

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Could Phil, Teddy, or Susie still be alive? Mikkal Karim-Fidler, Clara Stack, and Jack Legault in "IT: Welcome to Derry." Credit: HBO

A rule of thumb in TV and film is that if we don't see a body, we don't have explicit confirmation that any character is actually dead. In the case of Welcome to Derry's final scene, we know that Teddy is definitely dead, as the baby rips him in half and slams him into the projection booth. It's the first on-screen kill of the show, and it's fittingly brutal (and leaves no room for doubt).

But Phil and Susie's fates are still up in the air. In Phil's case, literally up in the air, as the last we see of him is the flying baby dragging him up towards the ceiling. Later, the baby chomps down on Susie's arm, severing it from her body. From there, we get no more glimpses of the unfortunate siblings, but based on Lilly telling Ronnie, "They're all gone," it's fairly clear that the pair are dead. Even if they are alive, what's the alternative? Getting carried off to Pennywise's lair? At that point, you're as good as killer clown food.

New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Featured Video For You Why the scariest part of The Shining isn’t what you think.

Steve Jobs liked to quote Alan Kay's famous "People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware," line, and you could almost say that the Apple empire was built on that philosophy—to great effect.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Lukewarm.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

TEPID

Hurdle Word 2 hint

To contact someone.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for August 4, 2025 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

AHOLD

Hurdle Word 3 hint

A potato stem.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for August 4 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for August 4, 2025 Hurdle Word 3 answer

TUBER

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Mickey and Minnie.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for August 4 Hurdle Word 4 answer

MOUSE

Final Hurdle hint

A design often seen on a skirt.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

PLEAT

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

So, for some inexplicable reason, cassette tape collecting is now also a thing alongside vinyl. This time there aren't even any arguments about analog sound quality, it just seems to be a vibe but, hey, you do you!

The Valve Steam Deck may not have sold Nintendo Switch numbers (it would help if you sold it where I live, Valve), but its impact on PC gaming goes far beyond how many people bought one.

If you’re a fan of horror, fantasy, and the supernatural, and you don’t subscribe to AMC+, now is the perfect time to rethink that decision, not just because we’re venturing deeper into the Halloween season. The streaming platform is home to some of the best Anne Rice adaptations of witch and vampire lore, and they’re about to come face-to-face with the secret order that oversees them all.

Back in 2013 my wife, who is a keen photographer, called me over to look at something on her laptop. This was the new phone she wanted, but what I saw on that screen didn't look anything like a smartphone.

The world of PC cases is nearly endless, which makes buying a new one a chore, even after deciding on your form factor, features, and budget. But every so often, a case comes along that checks every box while still being reasonably priced—meet the ASUS Prime AP202 ARGB mATX case.

Despite my internet connection being literally thousands of times faster than my old dial-up connection was decades ago, it often feels like websites still take just as long to load.

Mechanical keyboard fans have seen huge innovation lately, particularly with magnetic switches in Hall Effect keyboards. Now, a new contender is here—one that uses those same magnetic switches but with better precision, efficiency, and responsiveness. Its name? TMR.

When you use a VPN service, your internet service provider (and other users on the network) can only see that you are connected to a VPN service. They can't see what sites you're visiting, or what you're doing there.

LAIKA, the studio behind stop-motion films like Coraline, ParaNorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings, has released a first look at its upcoming film, Wildwood. From just the teaser alone, it already looks like another gorgeous, technical model.

SEE ALSO: Neon's 'Arco' trailer is the prettiest thing you'll watch today

Based on the novel by Colin Meloy, Wildwood invites viewers into a magical world just outside of Portland, Oregon, where Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) must brave bandits and talking animals in a quest to save her baby brother.

The watchful guardian of Wildwood is the General (voiced by Angela Bassett), a massive golden eagle who is also a fierce warrior. In clips from the first look, the General teams up with Prue to help her on her journey.

The first look reveals the intense technical preparation that goes into bringing the General to life. Animators designed several models inspired by nature in order to perfect the General's avian movement, while designers placed 9,000 individual feathers on the General's two specialized puppets, one for flight sequences, and the other for more fine-tuned performance control. The effect is breathtaking, as is the footage of the animators crafting the General's movement.

The same goes for the rest of the concept art and footage on display in the first look, which teases an enchanted forest teeming with magic and intriguing creatures. Take a look at the full teaser above for more behind-the-scenes footage and for clips of Prue venturing into the unknown of Wildwood.

Wildwood is coming soon to theaters.

Some smart home devices cost a small fortune and don't save you any money at all. Other smart home devices are incredibly cheap but can save you a significant amount of money. As the weather gets colder, there's one smart home device I use that pays for itself multiple times over.

If you remember the early days of mobile phones, you'll clearly recall the big, bulky antennas that formed part of their signature look. It'd be unthinkable for a new iPhone or Pixel to have an external antenna these days, and unnecessary too. So when exactly were they phased out?

I have been using Windows for over a decade, and there are plenty of apps I used during my childhood that have since been discontinued. Here are six such Windows apps I wish were still available today.

In practice, Windows Fast Startup is supposed to be helpful, but after disabling it, a lot of things actually got a little better for my computer. I wish I had turned it off sooner, and for some of you, there are a few reasons you might want to do the same thing.

For such a beloved franchise, Looney Tunes has had a bizarrely rough go of it over the past few years.

In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery scrapped the already completed Looney Tunes film Coyote vs. Acme for a tax cut. That disheartening move managed to have a happy ending, though, as Ketchup Entertainment acquired the film in 2025, slating it for a 2026 release. Ketchup Entertainment also released The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes movie, another film Warner Bros. chose to shop around instead of releasing itself.

SEE ALSO: Shelved 'Coyote vs. Acme' will finally get a theatrical release

Warner Bros. continued its efforts to distance itself from Looney Tunes in March of 2025, when it yanked the entire classic Looney Tunes shorts library from HBO Max. However, in August, the free, ad-supported streamer Tubi acquired 789 of those pulled Looney Tunes shorts. (Warner Bros. Discovery chose to keep about 200 in the vault due to depictions of offensive stereotypes.) In the two months since the Looney Tunes acquisition, Tubi has reaped the rewards.

As Tubi's head of acquisitions, Samuel Harowitz, told Vulture, "On its own, Looney Tunes is a huge win for us."

Since its arrival on Tubi, Looney Tunes has landed in the streamer's top 10 best-performing series by viewing time. Originally released theatrically, the classic shorts have been repackaged into 30-minute episodes, with Tubi's ad breaks occurring between each short. The goal? Recreating the experience of watching classic cartoons on TV.

"In my mind, AVOD [ad-supported video on demand] and FAST [free ad-supported streaming TV] is ad-supported TV in a different candy wrapper," Harowitz told Vulture. "I get to experience it through the eyes of my kids but also evoke the same emotional response I remember as an 8-year-old sitting in front of a CRT Toshiba TV."

Tubi hopes to keep up the momentum of Looney Tunes' success. "We are in active negotiations to ensure that Tubi can be the home of Looney Tunes for quite a while. Likely years," Harowitz told Vulture.

Tubi's attention to Looney Tunes is just one part of its focus on classic cartoons. Its library also includes Tom and Jerry, The Pink Panther, Popeye the Sailor, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, making it the closest streaming equivalent to the Saturday morning cartoon feel.

Looney Tunes is now streaming on Tubi.

If your setup is anything like mine, then your NAS is likely also your Plex server. While that might seem like a great idea at first, over time, your NAS just might not have the power to keep up with the demands of Plex streaming and transcoding.

Adobe is changing the game with the recent release of a free version of its flagship video editing app for iPhone users. Not only can you use advanced tools on the desktop app, but you can also build projects from scratch using just your iPhone.