'It'

After hearing about a new adaptation of the famous Stephen King novel It, I couldn’t wait to see the film. The novel was written in 1986 and has been terrifying audiences ever since. In 1990, a mini-series adaptation of the novel became a classic as well. How could it not be with Tim Curry playing the infamous Pennywise? Incredibly striking imagery including red balloons, bloody sinks, creepy clowns, and werewolves. Which did not disappoint anticipating audiences when the trailer for the movie came out. The novel takes place in '57–'58, then It returns in '84 and '85. The mini-series takes place in 1960 while the second part takes place 27 years later when Pennywise comes back to terrorize the town again.

The 2017 adaptation takes place in the summer of 1988. All stories start with Bill making his little brother Georgie a paper boat to go play with on a rainy day. Bill doesn’t go outside to join his brother because he is sick. Georgie’s boat is swept away faster than he can keep up with to soon go down the sewer on Jackson St. There he meets Pennywise the Clown who entices him with talk of an underground circus with balloons and yummy foods such as cotton candy and popcorn. An infamous quote is used in all three versions when Pennywise answers Georgie’s question about the balloons: “They all float down here, if you come down here, you’ll float too.”

The little boy couldn’t resist the opportunity to get his boat back and has his arm torn off and is eventually killed. In the book, the body is found, but in the mini-series and film, Georgie goes missing, as well as many other children in the town. Georgie’s brother Bill is part of a group of misfits who refer to themselves as The Losers Club along with Ben, a new kid to Derry who spends his time in the local library and is a bit overweight, Eddie who is an asthmatic boy with an overbearing mother, Richie who is always cracking jokes, and Stan who is a timid Jewish boy. The group eventually is joined by Bev, who lives with her abusive father, and Mike, who has been the target of racist attacks from the town bullies. All of the kids have separate encounters with It where manifestations of their worst fear are brought to life. The Losers Club figures out It is causing all the disappearances in the town. They decide to go to the sewer system that runs under Derry and kill It. Obviously, the first attempt doesn't go well, because a group of kids up against a killer clown that can morph into anyone's worst fear isn't a fair fight. After doing more research, the group figures out that every 27 years It comes back to take lives for about a year and then goes back into hiding. Eventually, one of the town bullies kills his father with a knife, provided by none other than It. After the year passes, It goes back into hiding, but The Losers Club vows that if It ever comes back again, they will come back not afraid to fight. That is where the current film leaves off.

The book and mini-series continue 27 years after when The Losers Club are all adults. They all seemed to have forgotten about each other and live their separate lives, until a string of children murdered leads Mike, who is now the Derry librarian, to contact the other members of The Club to come back and fight It one last time. Bev left her abusive husband to come back to the small town. Richie is now a comedian, Bill is a horror story writer, Eddie ends up married to an overbearing wife who has similar behaviors as his mother, Stan is an accountant, and Ben is now thin and an architect. All of the club members come back to Derry, but Stan decides he would rather end his own life than face the horrors of It again. One of the most striking imagery used in the 1990 mini-series was when Stan wrote the word “IT” on his bathroom wall in his own blood. The scene was also included in the book. The remaining members of The Losers Club reunited and decided they needed to kill It. I won't tell you the rest of the story, but Henry, the bully from part one, resurfaces, as well as new characters not included in part one.

The movie has many throwbacks to the book and mini-series along with adaptations to fit the new age. In the book there is a section where The Losers Club is looking at a photo album and the pages start flipping, eventually revealing Pennywise. Instead of a photo album, a projector with photos is used in the film and the photo is morphed into a crooked smile on Pennywise’s face, creating a dark feeling that the kids are always in Pennywise’s grasp. There is a scene where a balloon pops before It is revealed and the balloon reads “I heart Derry,” which is a reference to one of the children murdered by It in the book, who dies in an “I heart Derry” hat after being thrown off a bridge. The order in which The Losers leave the circle in the final scene of the movie reflects the order in which The Losers die in the book and mini-series. Notice how Stan leaves first?

Within the book, the dark history of Derry is described in great detail and length, but you can't put all those juicy details into a film. The Losers in the film make a reference to “The Black Spot” being burned down by a racist cult. In the book, “The Black Spot” is a club catered to the African American members of the Derry community that is burned down. In the book, it's discussed in more detail, but the dark history is also referenced again when Mike is delivering meat and a mural is in the corner of the shot. The mural shows the “Bradley Gang Shootout,” which is another dark moment in Derry history which has its own chapter dedicated to itself in the novel.

As an avid horror lover, I was not disappointed with the new adaptation of It. Although a bit gimmicky at times, it was phenomenally done in my opinion. The director set the scenes beautifully with bold color schemes and scene changes. The writers did an amazing job to make The Losers Club as lovable as ever, and showed off more of an approachable and sarcastic comedic tone for The Losers than the 1990 version. It was easier to root for the kids this go around and really cheer for the underdog. I love that they kept visual aspects from the mini-series, including the yellow raincoat and red balloon. I love that yellow eyes for Pennywise were chosen the film because it helped create a monstrous and creepy tone and is also a striking detail in Georgie's death scene, included in the book. In a scene in the film, you can notice a clown to the left of the shot that looks exactly like Pennywise from the 1990 mini-series. I'm glad they showed credit where credit was due.