IT
Year: 1990
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring: Harry Anderson, Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Dennis Christopher, Tim Curry, Adam Faraizl, Seth Green, Annette O'Toole, Emily Perkins, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Marlon Taylor & Richard Thomas
Runtime: 192 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 22/08/20
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring: Harry Anderson, Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Dennis Christopher, Tim Curry, Adam Faraizl, Seth Green, Annette O'Toole, Emily Perkins, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Marlon Taylor & Richard Thomas
Runtime: 192 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 22/08/20
I’ve only recently been introduced to the incredible literary works of Stephen King, and it was actually through 2017’s IT directed by Andres Muschietti. I loved the film and I couldn’t wait to see how it ended so I bought the tombstone of a book (coming in at around 1200 pages) and it jumped right to the top of my favourite books of all-time list. I then went ahead and bought the 1990’s miniseries on Blu-Ray and it sat unwatched on my shelf until recently. I needed an IT fix, but I still haven’t got around to buying IT Chapter 2 on Blu-Ray so I couldn’t double bill the films, and 1200 pages will take me more than a single evening to read, so the miniseries finally got its chance to shine! So how does it stack up against the book and the two recent film adaptations?
It’s the summer of 1960 in Derry, Maine and things are going about as well as they can. A string of child murders has the town locked in fear and concern for their young; meanwhile some of the children of Derry are seeing terrible visions almost always involving a clown named Pennywise. When a group of kids in the same class have eerily similar experiences to each other, they band together to take on their class bully, and journey into the depths of the towns sewer system to kill IT.
Thirty years later in 1990 the group are brought back to Derry after a string of child murders, knowing full well that they never managed to kill IT last time and so now must face their fears again and finish the job.
IT very quickly became one of my favourite stories of all time when I was first introduced to it, and the miniseries does an overall excellent job of adapting King’s complex novel to the small screen. Whilst some aspects are certainly lost in translation, what remains are the characters and their great personalities, the sense of childhood wonder as well as fear, the sense of nostalgia attributed to returning to parts of your childhood, and the fantastic themes of friendship and childhood trauma.
But what’s lost? Well the miniseries drops almost all supernatural angles besides IT. There is no Maturin, no Ritual of Chüd, only small references to the Deadlights. Tom Grogan is almost completely absent, Stanley Uris’ role is greatly reduced, and IT doesn’t appear in quite so many forms as it normally does in the book or films, usually just staying as Pennywise most of the time.
To consolidate what I’m trying to say, whilst the IT miniseries is certainly more faithful to Stephen King’s book than the recent films were, the miniseries sacrifices almost all of the grit and true horror behind the story. It certainly still has those horror themes throughout but they aren’t quite as in your face as they are in the other versions of the story, or are heavily watered down. This is likely caused by the series having to air on TV in the 90’s when concerns were rife about kids getting their hands on a VHS to record things without their parent’s knowledge. It also had to adhere to network TV censorship standards which have always been far more restrictive than film censorship standards. To be honest it’s a miracle the story got adapted to TV in the first place let alone in the form it’s currently in. So, whilst it certainly feels somewhat diluted, for what it managed to achieve at the time it’s pretty impressive.
It’s the summer of 1960 in Derry, Maine and things are going about as well as they can. A string of child murders has the town locked in fear and concern for their young; meanwhile some of the children of Derry are seeing terrible visions almost always involving a clown named Pennywise. When a group of kids in the same class have eerily similar experiences to each other, they band together to take on their class bully, and journey into the depths of the towns sewer system to kill IT.
Thirty years later in 1990 the group are brought back to Derry after a string of child murders, knowing full well that they never managed to kill IT last time and so now must face their fears again and finish the job.
IT very quickly became one of my favourite stories of all time when I was first introduced to it, and the miniseries does an overall excellent job of adapting King’s complex novel to the small screen. Whilst some aspects are certainly lost in translation, what remains are the characters and their great personalities, the sense of childhood wonder as well as fear, the sense of nostalgia attributed to returning to parts of your childhood, and the fantastic themes of friendship and childhood trauma.
But what’s lost? Well the miniseries drops almost all supernatural angles besides IT. There is no Maturin, no Ritual of Chüd, only small references to the Deadlights. Tom Grogan is almost completely absent, Stanley Uris’ role is greatly reduced, and IT doesn’t appear in quite so many forms as it normally does in the book or films, usually just staying as Pennywise most of the time.
To consolidate what I’m trying to say, whilst the IT miniseries is certainly more faithful to Stephen King’s book than the recent films were, the miniseries sacrifices almost all of the grit and true horror behind the story. It certainly still has those horror themes throughout but they aren’t quite as in your face as they are in the other versions of the story, or are heavily watered down. This is likely caused by the series having to air on TV in the 90’s when concerns were rife about kids getting their hands on a VHS to record things without their parent’s knowledge. It also had to adhere to network TV censorship standards which have always been far more restrictive than film censorship standards. To be honest it’s a miracle the story got adapted to TV in the first place let alone in the form it’s currently in. So, whilst it certainly feels somewhat diluted, for what it managed to achieve at the time it’s pretty impressive.
The acting is relatively wooden all round, but surprisingly it’s even worse among the adult cast than with the kids. The Losers Club is who we spend almost all our time with throughout the story, so understandably you would hope that they can provide good performances. Tim Reid certainly shines in the adult cast as an older Mike Hanlon. Where the young cast is a little tougher to pick a real star from because they were all significantly better actors. My money would probably go on Seth Green as Ritchie Tozier, but it’s a pretty tight race. The only let down is Stan, as previously mentioned he doesn’t seem to have a lot of screen time or dialogue. I’m not really sure why he isn’t in it much but the only reason I can think of was that much of his story relies a fair bit on his Jewish beliefs, and I have a feeling that 90’s Christian America wouldn’t have been happy having a Jewish kid spouting Torah verses and Rabi teachings all the time.
Much praise is often directed towards Tim Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise the Clown, but honestly, it’s pretty one note. IT is a being beyond all human comprehension and Pennywise is simply one way IT can interact with our species in a way we can understand. As such Pennywise is a very complex character that interacts with everyone in slightly different ways based on their desires and fears. But Tim Curry simply just whacks on a shouty kind of voice and spouts witty one liners whenever he isn’t pulling weird faces. Some may jump to his defence and say that his performance is tainted by my vision of Bill Skarsgard’s performance as Pennywise in the films, but to that I say he’s not even portraying the character accurately to the book. Book Pennywise & film Pennywise are unpredictable, that’s what makes them scary. Miniseries Pennywise is almost comic relief at times and that’s not what you want in your main villain whose sole purpose is quite literally to scare you to death.
I’m sure to many who grew up with the IT miniseries you’ll retain those nostalgic memories of being terrified as a child and that’ll probably carry through to now. But the 1990’s IT is little more than a rundown haunted house ride at a crappy funfair. Sure, once upon a time it was probably the bee's knees and scary as shit, it sure was lovingly crafted too. But over time the paint has worn away, the jumps have lost their scare, and it almost seems sad to keep it going when there’s the newer scarier version of it right next door. For a trip down memory lane you’ll enjoy the IT miniseries, but if you’re new to IT and want to get the best experience, despite the miniseries relative faithfulness you’re best sticking to the book or the films.
Much praise is often directed towards Tim Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise the Clown, but honestly, it’s pretty one note. IT is a being beyond all human comprehension and Pennywise is simply one way IT can interact with our species in a way we can understand. As such Pennywise is a very complex character that interacts with everyone in slightly different ways based on their desires and fears. But Tim Curry simply just whacks on a shouty kind of voice and spouts witty one liners whenever he isn’t pulling weird faces. Some may jump to his defence and say that his performance is tainted by my vision of Bill Skarsgard’s performance as Pennywise in the films, but to that I say he’s not even portraying the character accurately to the book. Book Pennywise & film Pennywise are unpredictable, that’s what makes them scary. Miniseries Pennywise is almost comic relief at times and that’s not what you want in your main villain whose sole purpose is quite literally to scare you to death.
I’m sure to many who grew up with the IT miniseries you’ll retain those nostalgic memories of being terrified as a child and that’ll probably carry through to now. But the 1990’s IT is little more than a rundown haunted house ride at a crappy funfair. Sure, once upon a time it was probably the bee's knees and scary as shit, it sure was lovingly crafted too. But over time the paint has worn away, the jumps have lost their scare, and it almost seems sad to keep it going when there’s the newer scarier version of it right next door. For a trip down memory lane you’ll enjoy the IT miniseries, but if you’re new to IT and want to get the best experience, despite the miniseries relative faithfulness you’re best sticking to the book or the films.