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Introduction - Why do anything more than the 1990's miniseries?
Like a lot of other children of the late 80's and early 90's, I've had an initial fear of, and later nostalgia for, Tim Curry's 1990 portrayal of Pennywise. The emotive face, deep voice, and quick change-up between whimsical humor, and brutal, violent horror. Curry was great at this, and besides some character points and effects work (the giant plastic spider at the end?), the miniseries was an awesome experience.
In fact, I recently rewatched the miniseries with my daughter, and it holds up pretty well. This is one of the great things about having children, you get to (sorta) re-experience things along with them. All-in-all, she held up against the creepy Pennywise than I did as a child, and I attribute that to a reduced belief in the supernatural on her part. I had been raised in such a way as to believe that ghosts, demons and angels actually existed, and so Pennywise was more of an actual, possibly existing, entity. The terror was increased for this.
So, why make a movie (oddly enough) 27 years later? The same interval in which the titular IT is supposed to return from it's slumber to terrorize children? Well, it could just be that we won't ever see an end to reboots and recreations. Everything well be remade over and over again. It could also just be an ongoing hunger for all things Stephen King. If you ask Google, it will tell you that, at the time of writing, there are 69 movies that could be attributed to original stories by the great author. While The Dark Tower didn't fair too well, initial box office results for IT are looking much better.
Who knows?
Maybe it's just that time of the season, and the studios have a desire to push out R rated horror films (Saw is getting rebooted, there was a trailer for Jigsaw before my viewing of IT last night). Autumn is near, soon comes Halloween, and there's always a desire for dreadful films around this time of the year.
Whatever the case, I'll cut to the case and just say that I really enjoyed this film. The portrayal of Pennywise was well done, the town of Derry was suitably dripping with fear, and the "Loser's Club" kids were... well, they were ok. I'll write more on that later.
By the way... I wonder what will come of the legacy of that other 90's miniseries? (currently rewatching that now)
Hopefully this gets a theatrical recreation next
The World - Derry Maine
Source: https://www.rocketpopinc.com/products/derry-maine
As I mentioned earlier, one of the great conflicts of the story of IT isn't just kids vs. clown, it's also kids vs. adults. By all appearances, Derry is a typical small town. By, of course, beneath that veneer is a predator that is supported by the indifference of the adults. This could be the typical reluctance of people to get involved in "trouble," or desire to ignore persistent dread (like the concept of death itself), or it could be some psychic effect applied to the town on the part of IT. We know IT get's into the minds of the children, causing sensory experiences only they can experience. Maybe this enforced blindness extends to all sorts of other things.
All this adds up to a great sense of unease in all things. One remarkable point is when young Ben is researching Derry's history in the library. The focus of the camera is on the boy, but you can't help notice the adult librarian and patrons in the background. Weirdly frozen in place. Unnaturally unmoving. A nice touch that sets the mood much more subtly than the in your face attacks by Pennywise and his other manifestations.
This is when horror is at it's best. When you have all parts of the environment involved in the terror. It's not simply the jump-scaring monster that's part of the equation - it's the full sum of all the parts involved, and IT does this in an extremely satisfying way.
The characters - The Losers Club
Overall I thought the kids were fine, if maybe the weakest part of the film. This shouldn't be taken too hard as I though the film was great, but some of the forming of the crew seemed a bit forced (mainly Mike), and the conflicts between the members after the initial encounter with IT seemed a little unnatural.
The portrayals were well done. In particular, Sophia Lillis as Bev Marsh along with Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough. Together they brought a strong center to the group
As to the town bully, Henry Bowers, both him and his gang were suitably represented. Much more sadistic and crazed than in the miniseries, they represented a real threat to the Losers Club alongside IT.
In summary
The effects were well done, the movie dotted with humor, the dread. All very enjoyable. I left the theatre looking forward to the next installment.
Source : https://kingofmacabre.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/dreamcatcher-pennywise-lives-at-29-neibolt-street/
Random thoughts
- What's up with that Key around Bev's neck?
- The murder of Georgie was much more brutal than in the miniseries. Like the book, IT first took off Georgie's arm, and then dragged him into the sewer
- Really, Bill Skarsgård did a fantastic job. He had a tall order with the comparison to Curry's portrayal, but in the end it stacked up.
- Why oh why would Stan's dad keep that absolutely creepy painting in his office?
- I did enjoy the well-house as an entry point to IT's lair, but I did kind of miss more of a focus on The Barrens.
- I don't think the scene at the query, with the swimming and the gawking at Bev, was as good of a initial bonding for the group as the dam-building scene was in the miniseries.
- A note on my experience watching the film. It was a late Friday night viewing with a VERY rambunctious group of what seemed to be mostly teenagers and young 20-somethings. (There was a loud shouting match at one point with a group of people being irritated at another group for being loud, which got a few more groups of people shouting at them for being loud... eye for an eye makes the whole world blind and all that.)
Anyhow, the movie ends with a fade black and the words "The End of Chapter 1" or something like that. This, weirdly, prompted much of the crowd to exclaim "What!?"
I guess it's possible, but hard to believe there were people there not hip to the basic story of IT, and the fact that, yes, IT will be back, and Loser Club will have to confront them as adults.
- And on that part, I was glad to see that this was a genuine blood oath. "If IT comes back, so do we."