I remember when “IT” premiered in 1990.
Like so many Generation-X kids, the television spots for the two-part ABC miniseries haunted me. This was, after all, the same Stephen King novel that sat on my mom’s bookshelf. Its cover was simple and effective. A paper boat sailing down a rain-soaked street to a sewer grate with a monstrous claw reaching out.
My mom recorded it, and I can vividly picture the VHS tape with the title written in ink on the sticker label across the front. I tried to watch it dozens of times. The tape itself, and when it reran on cable over the years after its debut. It terrified me to indescribable levels.
The 1990 “IT” miniseries is often cited as a defining piece of horror for an entire generation. Tim Curry’s performance as Pennywise is an example in fine acting, and for many it represents the genesis for a fear of clowns. It ushered in the 1990s with a cast loaded with popular stars of that era and reimagined the genre.
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween III: Season of the Witch) its $12 million budget was double the standard for TV at the time. It paid off for ABC, grabbing 30 million viewers and receiving two Emmy nominations, winning for Outstanding Music Composition for Richard Bellis’ score.
The Story
Based on the eponymous novel by Stephen King, “IT” follows seven friends over a span of 30 years. Bullied and abused as children, the friends are forced to deal with a murderous monster taking the form of a clown who torments them. As adults, the friends must return to their fictitious Maine town when the monster starts killing again.
There’s a lot more to it but that’s the abridged version. The novel itself is renowned for its length – 1100 pages and over 400K words. Typical King themes of childhood abuse, bullying, and poverty are touched upon, in addition to the straightforward horror elements which are rampant, robust, and highly gratuitous.
A Large Ensemble
Richard Thomas, Annette O’Toole, John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Tim Reid, Richard Masur. These actors play the friends as adults. Ritter and Anderson were big TV stars at the time for “Three’s Company” and “Night Court respectively”. I like both shows and guys, and I love Annette O’Toole (Virgin River). Horror icon Olivia Hussey lends support. There’s familiarity with all the faces that those of us who came of age in the 90s can appreciate.
Jonathan Brandis, Emily Perkins, Brandon Crane, Adam Faraizl, Marlon Taylor, Ben Heller and Seth Green play the kids. They are equally impressive on screen with Brandon Crane is the strongest even though none (save Green) have gone onto much in Hollywood since.
Made for TV?
Don’t let the prime-time ABC tag fool you into thinking the film is tame. Yes, there are some noticeable parts where blood or gore is reduced compared to today’s standards (though two kids die in the first ten minutes) and yes it has some cheesy moments. But inconspicuous fright and practical effects add to the horror in a way only older standard definition movies can.
Some of the scariest moments include haunting children’s voices calling from a bathroom sink drain to one of the friends, beckoning her to join them in the sewer because “you’ll never have to grow up.” Pennywise in the shower, a family photo album, a skeletal corpse reaching out from the water. All nightmare fuel. And (SPOILER!) the death of Belch Huggins remains one of the scariest horror movie killings of all time.
Curry v Skarsgård
Or just old versus new.
When the “IT” remake was announced for 2017, I was mega excited. To say it, and its follow up (Chapter 2) was a let down is an understatement. The 1990 version is superior in that it doesn’t rely on loud noises and jump scares repeated over and over and over. The kids are fleshed out. The fear of bullies and parents is real. Like the remake, it gets slow and clunky in the second half simply because adults fighting a monster aren’t as fun to watch as kids.
As for the Pennywise battle, I think both Tim Curry and Bill Skarsgård are impressive in their performances. While Curry’s Pennywise can lure kids with charm before becoming a monster, Skarsgård’s version comes off as pure evil right from the start.
Three decades after the book was published, horror fans continue to have a fascination with the story of “IT.” What scared the crap out of me as a kid failed to impress me as an adult. I would love to see it done as an eight- or ten-episode series that fully sticks to the novel. Until then, HBO will be premiering a prequel series called “It: Welcome to Derry” which looks promising. Whether you are revisiting or watching for the first time, the 1990 “IT” deserves its esteemed horror status.
Welcome to October!
