It (1990)

***“*It”** is a 1990 American-Canadian supernatural horror drama miniseries directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and adapted by Lawrence D. Cohen from the Stephen King novel of the same name. *It* aired on ABC over two nights on November 18 and 20, 1990, and was a major success for the network, attracting 30 million viewers in its premiere. For his work on the miniseries, Richard Bellis received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore).

## Plot

### Part 1 (Prologue-1960)

The film begins in Derry, Maine, in 1990, where a little happily singing girl named Laurie Anne Winterbarger rides on her tricycle down the street. She sees a strange clown with red hair and nose, and gets murdered (off-screen) by him. African-American town librarian Mike Hanlon is investigating the string of missing children and killings as he arrives to the crime scene of the little girl's murder. Finding a picture of Georgie, the deceased younger brother of one of his good friends Bill Denbrough, convinces Mike that "It" is back as he proceeds to connect the others to fulfil their vow. Bill is a horror novelist who lives in England and is married to British actress Audra Phillips. Bill then starts to have a flashback when he was young.

We flash forward to 1960, where a younger Bill gives Georgie a paper sailboat to take the boat out onto the street to sail in the gutter. But Georgie is unable to stop it from sailing down the storm drain, peering in to see the clown who introduces himself as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Pennywise then entices Georgie to reach into the drain to retrieve his boat, killing the boy while ripping his arm off. The scene cuts to Georgie's funeral. In Georgie's old bedroom, Bill looks at Georgie's photo album where he finds a picture of Georgie. The photo suddenly winks at him, causing Bill to throw it. The book begins to drain blood, and Bill screams in terror. His parents arrive, but they don't seem to notice the blood, so they simply put the album back on the shelf. His father demands him that he should not enter Georgie's room again. Back in the present, Bill agrees to leave and go back to his hometown. He leaves, upsetting Audra.

We cut to New York City, where architect Ben Hanscom gets out of a limousine with a foreign woman.

Months later, during the spring semester at their school, Bill befriends the overweight and nerdy new kid Ben Hanscom, asthmatic Eddie Kaspbrak who lives with his overbearing mother, Beverly Marsh who lives with her abusive father, comical Richie Tozier,  Jewish Boy Scout, and Stanley Uris. Besides been tormented by a gang of local bullies led by Henry Bowers, the group each had disturbing encounters with Pennywise. During one afternoon after school, Bill and his friends encounter outcast Mike Hanlon being pursued by Henry's gang. They chase the bullies off with rocks and befriend Mike, Henry vowing to kill them all. The group, calling themselves "The Losers Club", come to realize that they are each being terrorized by the same entity. Noticing that "It" assumes the appearance of what they fear, they deduce Pennywise is a monster that surfaces every 27 years in Derry to feed on the children of Derry before returning to hibernation again.

The Losers decide to venture into the sewers under Derry to kill It, followed by Henry and his friends, Victor Criss and Belch Huggins, intent of killing them. But It kills Victor, who had separated to set an ambush on the Losers, and Belch, who helps Henry separate Stan from the others, sparing a horrified Henry while chasing Stan as he regroups with the Losers. But Pennywise grabs Stan, only for the Loses to use It's ability to access their imaginations against him when Eddie uses his aspirator to melt the clown's face while Beverly smashes a hole in the clown's head using one of the two silver projectiles. Pennywise evades the second and escapes down a drain, seemingly dying as the Losers assumed. But Bill makes the others promise to return and kill It should the creature resurface 27 years later. Henry, his hair whitened while having lost his mind from seeing It's Deadlights, later emerged from the sewers and is institutionalized when he takes credit for murdering It's victims.

30 years later in 1990, Beverly is now a fashion designer abused by her lover Tom Rogan, Richie is a late night TV comedian, Eddie runs a limousine service but still lives with his mother, and Stan is a real estate broker. Prior to Mike's phone calls, the other Losers had completely forgotten each other along with their childhood traumas and memories of It. While the other five reluctantly agree to come, Stan's wife Patti sees that a fear-stricken Stan slit his wrist in his bathtub and wrote "IT" on the wall in his own blood. She cries in agony.

### Part 2

The remaining six find themselves harassed by Pennywise once reaching Derry as they eventually meet at dinner, learning of Stan's suicide shortly after while Mike reminds them of what It is. Two other people also converging on the town: an older Henry who Pennywise freed to kill the Losers, and a worried Audra who ends up being abducted by It while exposed to the creature's Deadlights. Mike is hospitalized by Henry before he is killed by his own knife during a scuffle with the other Losers. After Mike gives Bill the two pieces of silver he retrieved from the sewers, the five remaining Losers decide to destroy It for good. They descend into the sewers once again, Bill learning Audra is being held while overcoming Its attempt to induce further guilt. The Losers eventually reach Its inner sanctum, finding both a catatonic Audra and It's true form as a giant spider. Bill, Ben, and Richie nearly got lost in Its deadlights when Eddie is killed attempting to save his friends as Beverly mortally wounds It with her slingshot. It limps away, but the surviving Losers pursue and knock the creature down and while ripping its heart out. They remove the comatose Audra and Eddie's body from the sewers, burying him in Derry's cemetery.

With Pennywise is finally dead, the Losers go their separate ways and move on with their lives as their memories of It fade away. A recovered Mike's memories also begin to fade as considers starting a new life elsewhere. Richie is cast in a film with an actor resembling Eddie while Beverly and Ben got married and are expecting their first child. Bill is the last to leave Derry, using his last hour in town to coax Audra of her catatonia on his childhood bicycle Silver.

## Good Qualities

1. Similar to *Salem's Lot*, It is one the most horrifying and highly praised Stephen King mini-series adaptations.
2. Tim Curry does a great job as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, speaking of Pennywise, he may not be as a very scary clown, but he is also pretty hilarious to the audiences.
3. The child actors really did an excellent job, such as the late Jonathan Brandis, Emily Perkins, and even Seth Green.
4. Follows faithfully to the source material.
5. Very intense and scary moments. For example, the picture frame of Georgie is moving and the book is bleeding blood.
	* Another one is that Georgie's death. Yes, the 2017 movie ramps it Up to Eleven, but the miniseries uses Tim Curry's Nightmare Face shown above and Nothing Is Scarier to great effect.
		+ We still hear about it later, though. Eddie explains to Ben what happened and said that someone killed Georgie by "ripped one of his arms off like a wing off a fly". We don't see that, obviously as stated above...and thank god for that...is less.
		+ Curry's version can still be creepy in it's own way, mainly that it gives off a *child predator* vibe.
6. Likable and kindful characters, except for the others, especially some of the bullies and the grown-ups.
7. Funny lines, including Pennywise taunting at the heroes. The quote is found in the infobox.
8. Iconic theme music. Listen here.
9. The makeup for Pennywise is well-done, and it's one of the near iconic makeups of all time.
10. Although there were movies before it such as 1988's *Killer Klowns from Outer Space*, *It* was the movie that popularized the idea of a creepy killer clown, considering how it was based on the 1986 novel.
11. The scene where the Losers Club literally have an orgy after defeating It is never adapted, which is good.

## Bad Qualities

1. Some of the adult actors were average at best.
2. Overuse of flash-backs.
3. Mediocre villains found from the book such as the bully, Henry Bowers, and Beverly's father, Alvin.
4. The special effects are pretty cheap, including stop-motion, like the infamous stop-motion spider.
5. It removes some material like a gay man named Adrian Mellon who was attacked and thrown off a bridge by 3 youths along with getting killed by It. However, there was the reason why it was removed is because many criticizing the real-life parallels to the murder of Charlie Howard, a real gay man who died very similarly, minus Pennywise, believing that the scene might be drew controversy.

## Reception

Despite the risk factors, mixed pre-airing critical reviews, and coverage of President George H. W. Bush's foreign trips cutting into the program; It was ABC's biggest success of 1990, pulling through with 30 million viewers for its two parts. While divided critical perspectives towards It have continued in later years, the miniseries has become most known for Curry's version of Pennywise. In fact, his portrayal has been considered by several publications to be one of the scariest clown characters in film and television. On Rotten Tomatoes, the miniseries holds an approval rating of 68% based on 25 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 5.59/10. The site's consensus reads, "Though hampered by an uneven second half, *It* supplies a wealth of funhouse thrills and an idelible turn from Tim Curry as Pennywise.". On Letterboxd, it got 3.1/5 score.

## Trivia

* The scene where Georgie meets Pennywise has become an internet meme depicting Pennywise attempting to coerce Georgie to come down to the sewers with different things.

## External Links

* Template:IMDb
* Template:Rotten Tomatoes