AUTHOR’S NOTE: There will be spoilers in a clearly marked section below. The first part will be vague enough so that you will not be spoiled if you choose not to be. If you choose to read past the spoiler warning, you can’t get mad at me, because I will have warned you multiple times.
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November 1990. 11-year-old me is a burgeoning horror fan, having been exposed to such wacky films as Little Shop of Horrors, Ghostbusters, and Gremlins from an early age, and watching numerous Nightmare on Elm Streets and the like on TV, albeit in sanitized form. I was a sucker for a good villain, be it Skeletor, Freddy Krueger, or the mack-daddy of them all, Darth Vader. (Those of you who remember pre-Phantom Menace Vader know what I’m talking about.) I had seen some of the films based on Stephen King’s work, most prominently Stand By Me, and as a kid who spent a large chunk of time in libraries and bookstores, I had seen his books on the shelf. But I had never read anything he’d written. In early November, I began seeing commercials for a new miniseries based on the novel It, that doorstop of a novel I had seen in passing on the shelf at the library. The movie looked scary as all hell, and I knew I had to see it. For one reason or another (mostly owing to the fact that my parents hated TV and wouldn’t let us watch it on school nights), I missed the first night and only caught most of the second. But that was enough to make me want to know more. I immediately borrowed the novel from the library (conveniently on our street) and set to reading it. Having read To Kill a Mockingbird not long prior to that, I found It to be thematically very similar: a portrait of life in an idyllic small town with a dark underbelly of corruption and violence, told from the perspective of a group of children whose innocence and camaraderie is tested during the events of the novel. The only difference is that in It, the threat is supernatural, while in Mockingbird, the threat is sadly all too human. In fact, It’s secondary antagonist, Henry Bowers, seems like he could have stepped wholly formed out of Harper Lee’s Maycomb, Alabama, and into King’s Derry, Maine. The thing that has stuck with me about It over the years is that, while it is indeed terrifying and gruesome and macabre, it’s also predominantly a story of a group of children who never really felt like they belonged until they found each other. Growing up gay, and frightened to let anyone know my secret, I felt really connected to the characters; I too felt like a member of the Losers Club. (Imagine my surprise to find out that one of Pennywise’s victims in the novel is a young gay man, in a passage I only recently was based on a real-life hate-crime that happened in Bangor in 1984. Pretty progressive for a novel published in the ‘80’s, no?) I fell in love with all seven of the characters: stoic Bill Denbrough; smart Ben Hanscom; fragile Eddie Kaspbrak; brave Mike Hanlon; smartass Richie Tozier; skeptic Stan Uris; and of course, tough Beverly Marsh. After 1000 pages of their story, I felt like each of them was as familiar to me as my own friends and family. And now, as an adult, these characters have been with me for most of my life.
I relay all of this so that you, dear reader, will understand when I tell you that for me, seeing It on the big screen tonight wasn’t just watching a movie; to me, it was as if I was reconnecting with old friends. For all the things it tweaks and changes from the novel (which is actually not that much), it gets the seven protagonists exactly right; they all ring true and authentic in a way their counterparts in the miniseries never did. Let’s face it; the element of the miniseries people remember most is Tim Curry’s iconic portrayal of Pennywise, and the rest is pretty subpar. For me, the book fleshed out the characters and their bond to the point where It almost felt like an afterthought. Sure, It is the title character, but at Its core, It is a metaphor for the trials we face growing up; the Losers are the flawed, damaged, but ultimately powerful beating heart of It. And that is what the movie tonight nailed. The kids are front and center; all seven of them are perfectly cast, but the standouts are Finn Wolfhard (yes, Mike from Stranger Things) who brings Richie to perfect foulmouthed life, and Sophia Lillis, who is pitch-perfect in every single moment Beverly is on-screen. It’s easy to see why Ben and Bill both fall for her.
Bill Skarsgard (yes, brother of Alexander, a.k.a. Eric Northman on True Blood) plays Pennywise, and he is delightfully creepy and weird. He’s wisely kept offscreen for most of the proceedings, which is as it should be, so when he pops out, you know shit’s about to get real. The CGI is minimally used; it’s only really noticeable when you see those teeth, and believe me, you’ll be too freaked out by what you’re seeing to really notice that the CGI is kinda weird. A highlight of the character design was how “the deadlights” played on screen; I loved that they incorporated that aspect. And no, I feel confident in relaying to you that there is no giant spider; they wisely keep the Pennywise incarnation as the main form of It. (But speaking of miniseries-Pennywise, keep your eyes peeled during the scene in the clown room at Neibolt Street. You’ll know what I mean when you see it.)
So, for those who want to go in pure and spoiler-free, this is where I bid you adieu. If you’re a fan of the book or the miniseries, you will more than likely find enough in this version to love. Andy Muschietti proves himself to be one of the few directors other than Frank Darabont who truly gets how to adapt Stephen King’s work; if he follows through on his Pet Sematary remake, we are in for a treat. And, oh yeah: this movie only covers the kid-centric half of the book; the adult half is set for a sequel, which is in pre-production as we speak. At almost two and a half hours, it feels pretty epic, and it does have a resolution, so you’re not left on a cliffhanger you’ll resent. So overall, the movie was wonderful, and I can’t wait to see it again. I find it almost serendipitous that I first became familiar with the novel when I was 11, and am now an adult of 38; those are the exact ages that the characters are when they first face It and then again when they return to confront It as adults.
Now, the few caveats I have go into spoiler territory, so don’t read any further if you don’t want to know. Also, there will be book spoilers too, so beware.
GET. OUT. NOW.
LAST CHANCE.
DON’T SAY YOU WEREN’T WARNED.
BYEEEEEEE.
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SPOILER REVIEW:
I think I’ve pretty much proven my love for the book and the movie. I do want to talk more fully about the things I loved and the things I wish they had done more with.
The thing I was most worried about going in was the updated time period, but I needn’t have been concerned. I found the ‘80’s setting to be a good one; the fact that Bev and Ben bonded over the New Kids on the Block was so, so perfect. In fact, every minute of the Ben/Bev subplot was absolutely sweet and beautiful; I can’t wait to see them finally get together as adults. Bill/Bev was also sweet, but the movie makes it very clear that Ben and Bev are the real deal, and the way he saves her from the deadlights is heart-meltingly perfect, and I love that the poem is such a prominent factor in the story. My one major issue while watching was that It kidnaps Beverly in the movie; at first I thought that was weaksauce, making the girl the typical damsel, but Bev ably proves that she is no damsel, both before and after her abduction. She is by far the most ass-kicking of the Losers; I would dare to say Beverly Marsh now stands alongside Alien’s Ellen Ripley and Terminator’s Sarah Connor as a screen heroine for the ages. Her momentary abduction is merely a plot device used to rally the troops after their falling-out. That was another new element added to the movie, but it felt very natural and just adds to the catharsis when they ultimately stand together against It.
I loved the bond between Bill and Georgie, established in the first scene of the movie. I thought that having the guilt of Georgie’s death be the thing that drives Bill to investigate the murders in Derry was a cool touch, giving him a little more proactive arc. Bill facing the It version of George in the climax of the film brought me to actual, real tears; as I mentioned above, I’ve lived with these characters for twenty-seven years, and seeing It taunt Bill in the form of his innocent baby brother, milking that guilt for every last drop, was gut-wrenching. I was not expecting to cry, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I did.
Each of the other Losers gets a standout moment as well; Richie, Eddie, Stan all get their moments to shine. Richie is of course the comic relief; some of his one-liners cracked me up. It was nice that they included Bev and Eddie’s triumphs over their abusive parents, and the added departure of Beverly in the final scene definitely solidified that this is indeed the last time the seven of them will ever be together. (Spoiler alert.)
However, I felt like Mike got short shrift; if there was one thing they didn’t change that they should have, I felt like that was it. His bond with the rest of the Losers is stronger than it was in the miniseries, but still, the majority of their bond is forged before his arrival on the scene, making him the odd man out. In the novel, there were more key events which solidified his status in the group, but in both movies, he gets short shrift, even if his fight with Henry Bowers in this one was satisfying. (Speaking of which, is there any way Henry survived that fall? I wonder if he will be appearing in the second half, or if they will go another direction.) Henry himself wasn’t as much of a presence as I would have liked; his scenes are all very good, with an element of real menace about him missing in the miniseries.
Skarsgard was fine as Pennywise; I don’t really see him becoming as iconic as Curry’s take, but his performance was definitely creepy and affecting without ever reminding me of Curry. The makeup was interesting and unique; I look forward to seeing it in more detail on further viewings.
I loved the little Easter eggs that they kept in from the book. There were several references to the Turtle that made me smile, even if it was never explicitly stated. Bill’s bike is clearly named Silver, even if he never says “Hi-yo, Silver, away!” The Paul Bunyan statue, the Standpipe, and the Barrens all make appearances. The silver bullets and the slingshot were excised, but in retrospect, silver bullets would have more significance as a weapon against monsters in the ‘50’s, when the 1941 version of The Wolf Man would have been fresh in the minds of the characters. Also, the movie theater scene was left out too, which also made sense, as the fears in this movie were less centered around cinematic monsters and more focused on the primal fears of the children. Ben, the history buff, is confronted by a chilling vision from the past. Mike, dealing with the loss of his parents in a fire it’s hinted is motivated by racism, is tormented by their charred corpses. Richie, the clown of the group, has an ironic fear of them. Stan’s fear is connected to a portrait in the office of his rabbi father; I liked that they highlighted aspects of his Judaism, such as his bar mitzvah. Bill, Bev, and Eddie are the only three whose fears remain intact from the book, and those were always the most closely related to their characters. I definitely enjoyed the symbolism of the cattle gun, typically used for slaughtering livestock, transformed into a weapon to protect the innocent. I also appreciated that they didn’t shy away from the bloodier aspects of the novel; while Georgie’s death is more violent than in the miniseries and really hard to watch, that’s how it should be. A child-killing monster should not be neutered for easier consumption.
Anyway, I could probably write another couple thousand words on this film and how happy I am with it, but I think I’ll let this suffice for now. It’s an instant classic, epic in the best ways, and it does right by Stephen King. That’s really all you can ask for. Now, bring on Chapter 2!
