It (1990) Review

It (1990) Review

This made-for-TV movie or mini-series or whatever you want to call it is fondly (or not-so-fondly) remembered by many who saw it as a kid when it premiered or on video, for being one of the scariest Stephen King stories ever told, and featuring one of the scariest clowns of all-time. Some viewers feel differently, saying it’s cheesy, dated, simply not scary, and those who like it are blinded by nostalgia, or haven’t seen it in so long that they would no longer find it scary. I never saw It as a kid, so I’m coming into this one fresh, and I feel somewhere in the middle. 

The short version of the plot is, a creature comes every thirty years to the town of Derry to feed, and “It” can take on the form of whatever its prey fears most, but mostly it takes on the form of a clown named Pennywise (played by Tim Currie) and hunts kids. One boy’s brother, Georgie, is killed by Pennywise, in a very creepy scene with Pennywise behind a sewer grate, tempting poor Georgie with the promise of balloons and the paper boat he lost. His death isn’t shown, but it’s still disturbing nonetheless.

 

After this, Georgie’s brother, along with six others, are haunted by Pennywise and his evil hallucinations, so they band together to defeat it, but then it comes back thirty years later when they’re all grown up, and they have to reunite to kill it for good. 

It was shown in two parts, both parts being fairly distinct from each other, and while the narratives of the characters as kids and as adults are intertwined, the first half deals mainly with them as kids, and is often cited as being stronger than the second half, which is almost only about them as adults. I strongly agree, but as a whole, I’m really mixed on both halves of this movie. 

 

I don't find the first part very scary, though it does have more than a few unsettling moments and some pretty eerie imagery. The story is intriguing and the characters are relatable, but there long gaps without scares, and numerous scares don’t work. Moments like fighting “It” off with an inhaler that the kid proclaims is full of acid probably work better in the book than on the screen. The effects, too, are extremely cheap at points, but that’s understandable, given it was made for TV. 

The child actors are all pretty good, though some are stronger than others. Seth Green plays one of the seven kids, who call themselves “The Losers Club”, and he’s one of the more comedic ones. It’s funny to see him in this kind of movie, given he’s now predominantly in comedies.  

But then there’s Tim Currie as Pennywise. He’s used pretty conservatively in the first part, but right from the first scene with him behind the sewer grate tempting Georgie, he hooks you with his performance. You don’t see Tim Currie under makeup, he is Pennywise. He pops in regularly enough to have a strong presence, but isn’t overused. He has some good lines and moments, but the way the first part ends with them seemingly defeating “It” just comes off as cheesy. It’s kind of funny too how they simply decide to make a pact to reunite if “It” ever returns, as if they know they didn’t actually defeat the creature. 

The first part of It was compelling enough to make me watch the second part right after, despite aspects of the book not translating too well from page to screen, and some questionable low-budget moments. 

Now for part two. As I said before, there’s a mix of narratives in part one, with them as kids mostly, but often cutting to them as adults—in particular Bill, the one who reunites them thirty years later. Because they’re not featured prominently in part one, it doesn’t seem like the adults will be a big detriment to the second part, but unfortunately, they are.

In comparison, the child actors are actually better than the adults. Now, that’s not to say all the adults are terrible. John Ritter plays the grownup version of Seth Green, and does a pretty good job. But upon reflection, John Ritter is the only adult who gives a decent performance, everyone else is either goofy or boring. The guy who plays Bill especially stands out in a really bad way. He just isn’t convincing at all. 

Pennywise is shown more than he was in the first part, which sounds like it would be a good thing, but there are many moments with him that are just dumb when they’re trying to be both funny and scary, like when Pennywise tells some purposefully bad jokes and drops a bunch of balloons on someone. Sorry, but I don’t find balloons scary. I’m sure for someone with globophobia and coulrophobia this movie is an absolute nightmare. 

There’s some backstory given about the origins of Pennywise, but why “It” mainly takes on the clown form isn’t really explained. This is an inherent problem I have with the whole concept. On the DVD cover it says, “The Master of Horror unleashes everything you were ever afraid of.” Okay, so lots of people would probably stop at “Master of Horror” and debate that part, but that’s not what I’m talking about. If “It” can be literally anything that’s scary, why does it resort to such basic things as clowns and werewolves (oh yeah, that happens at one point) and whatnot? Why not some insane freak-beast, you say? Well, “It” turns into an evil, toothy version of Pennywise every once in a while, which is certainly scary looking, but the final form isn’t shown until the very end, and I can’t not talk about the ending. 

The Losers band together after one of their friends gets badly hurt to defeat “It” once and for all. They go down into the old sewers where they previously fought the creature as kids, and it’s a pretty effective build-up to what seems will be an epic conclusion. The last twenty minutes are great, until they reveal “It’s” demonic form, which, simply put, looks like a ridiculous spider. It’s completely laughable and what they do to kill it is even more laughable. The wrap-up after this climax is tension-less, too, because “It” is definitely dead, but the movie still tries to have some suspense, which doesn’t work at all. 

So to wrap up, even though I think It overall is a bit of a mixed bag with some really great aspects and some really shoddy ones, I’d ultimately recommend skipping it. With both parts, it’s over three hours long, and is getting a theatrically-released remake next year, which will be a two-parter as well, so if you haven’t seen It yet, wait for the remake, assuming it’s faithful to the source material, because this execution is dated, but the concept is classic Stephen King and really is great.