Horror Stephen King's "IT" Part I and Part II

[Schlosser85]

The creepiness of the town and it's residents was really missed in this one. It was hinted at with what happened in some of the deaths in this movie, but Pennywises effect on the town as a whole was one of the best parts of Chapter 1.

It definitely added to the unsettling atmosphere in Chapter 1 how basically everyone is creepy except The Losers.

 

[antsman41]

I wish they touched more upon how the adults aren’t affected by the deaths and when you leave you forget your past...

 

[DarkKnight88]

I think it was clear the adults forgot their past.

 

[terry78]

Yeah, in the first one everyone was made out to be a potential serial killer or sex offender. Even a lot of the other kids.

 

[antsman41]

I think it was clear the adults forgot their past.

If they left Derry, doesn't explain the lack of horror the rest of the town had in Chapter 1... since outside of a a couple, a cameo and 2 kids; no on else existed in the town in Chapter 2.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

Did it ever come out which new scene King wrote for this?

 

[Legendver2]

I didn't read the book, only the wiki summary of the book , so maybe I'm missing a lot of context, but it just seems Pennywise is way overpowered and way underpowered at the same time. It's like it had so many chance to kill the Loser's as kids and adults but it didn't, because the scene just ends.

 

[DarkKnight88]

He’s more about drawing fear. Even in the book it’s inconsistent in regards to the losers in when he kills someone and when he just wants to scare them.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I think the best King adaptation is Kubrick's The Shining and he hates it.

I think he resents it partly because I think people revere the movie much more than they do the book.

I didn't read the book, only the wiki summary of the book , so maybe I'm missing a lot of context, but it just seems Pennywise is way overpowered and way underpowered at the same time. It's like it had so many chance to kill the Loser's as kids and adults but it didn't, because the scene just ends.

There is definitely some truth to this, but there are instances of the Losers being in legitimate mortal danger.

- Mike fights for his life when It appears as the giant bird

- Eddie has to ride away on his bike when he's chased by the leper

- Richie and Bill have a pretty harrowing escape from It as the teenage werewolf

- Stan and Ben's encounters are more of a slow burn, but I do believe in these instances It is trying to lure them.

Bill and Beverly's encounters, though, are much more benign by comparison.

The problem is in viewing Pennywise as a monster who murders children. While that's technically true, it's not human flesh It feeds on, but fear and emotion. If It just wanted to eat them, It wouldn't bother with trying to scare them.

 

[TheFuture]

I agree and that's taken from the book, Ben (as both a child and an adult) is the kindest and most unselfish of the gang which is the reason he's actually my favourite Loser. It's best shown through the Ben/Bev/Bill triangle, he's madly in love with Bev and always has been and he's perfectly aware that she has a crush on Bill, but even that doesn't bother him because he knows that Bill's a good guy and Bev being happy is much more important to him than his own feelings. He's the best. It's why Ben and Bev ending up together is so lovely to me, it's always nice to see the underdog win.

Oh, and I'm definitely throwing my weight behind Skarsgard in the whole Skarsgard v Curry debate. Both very entertaining performances, but the former feels a lot more like book Pennywise than the latter. Tim Curry is great , but he comes across more as a psychotic human dressed in a clown suit, whereas Skarsgard's Pennywise never seems human at all, he's very much more the bizarre, Lovecraftian entity that is trying to pass as a human but not really achieving it that It/Pennywise is in the book.

Bill really excels when he's putting on the act; it was with Georgie in the first film and with the young girl in this film. You absolutely believe Pennywise is a demonic entity. The problem for Bill is that he isn't asked to do all that much this time around.

Tim's Pennywise is just a tour de force that props up basically everything else in the miniseries to the point that his presence lingers even when he's off camera; that's why I think it's unfair to compare him and Bill. They're both asked to bring very different performances to the table and are both stellar in their own right

 

[The Joker]

I think the reason Curry's performance stands out is because he's the only good thing in the 1990 mini series. You want more of him because he's the only entertaining thing in it. The kids and the adults range from mediocre to poor. Whereas in these movies the cast in general are all great.

 

[MovieSlave]

I think he resents it partly because I think people revere the movie much more than they do the book.

- Mike fights for his life when It appears as the giant bird.

Although I wish they had the giant bird in the first film at least they kind of threw it in the second movie. It shows it as the giant bird when Eddie is seeing the visions of when IT attacks the native Americans. Before it shows it as it's somewhat true form it flies down as the giant bird.

 

[Lighthouse]

I think the reason Curry's performance stands out is because he's the only good thing in the 1990 mini series. You want more of him because he's the only entertaining thing in it. The kids and the adults range from mediocre to poor. Whereas in these movies the cast in general are all great.

I thought John Ritter was pretty great as Ben.

 

[Filmfan93]

So is there any good Pennywise figure from the film?

There are pretty good NECA ones out there, but they are all from Chapter One. Merch from Chapter Two is almost non-existent.

 

[Marvolo]

Spoiler

Pretty sure the scene in the arcade was when the movie really implied he was gay.

Spoiler

I didnt read that scene that way at all. Richie just wanted to play another round. Henry showed up, bullied him, and the other kid turned on him. It's enough to make any kid cry. No reason to think hes actually gay.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I thought John Ritter was pretty great as Ben.

The worst actors from the mini series are Annette O'Toole, and Dennis Christopher. The rest of the actors are by no means bad. I thought Harry Anderson was pretty good as Richie.

 

[Arachnerd]

Spoiler

I didnt read that scene that way at all. Richie just wanted to play another round. Henry showed up, bullied him, and the other kid turned on him. It's enough to make any kid cry. No reason to think hes actually gay.

Sure, but given Finn Wolfhard's acting in that scene and his expressions and mannerisms, I thought it was pretty obvious what they were trying to convey.

 

[The Chris]

I think the reason Curry's performance stands out is because he's the only good thing in the 1990 mini series. You want more of him because he's the only entertaining thing in it. The kids and the adults range from mediocre to poor. Whereas in these movies the cast in general are all great.

Yeah I rewatched it after seeing Chapter 2 and the only thing that did anything for me in it was Curry. I had not connection to The Losers in the miniseries like I do in the two part film.

 

[The Joker]

I thought John Ritter was pretty great as Ben.

He was ok. Certainly not bad and definitely the best of the adult actors. But I never was impressed by his Ben performance. Another thing that didn't help him was the lack of chemistry with the co-stars. Its a key trait for the Losers, and that was really lacking in the mini series, and unfortunately dampened the already lackluster performances.

 

[samsnee]

Spoiler

I definitely read the arcade scene as Eddie being gay, as Pennywise made a joke about it in the attack right after.

Did the last scene with Richie scratching Eddie’s name into the wood imply he actually had homosexual feelings toward Eddie?

 

[terry78]

Yeah it did.

 

[Marvolo]

Spoiler

I definitely read the arcade scene as Eddie being gay, as Pennywise made a joke about it in the attack right after.

Did the last scene with Richie scratching Eddie’s name into the wood imply he actually had homosexual feelings toward Eddie?

I thought he was just doing it to memorialize his friend.

 

[antsman41]

No, the moment that cemented it for me was Eddie “childishly” kicking Richie in the face and Richie making a pause to not yell at him/cock him off when they were kids.

Even though they sold Richie/Sam more as adults until it all came back around, for me.

It was a little messy, I think they should have gone more into it or just not do it.

 

[Lighthouse]

Even though it was kind of a tension breaker, Eddie's last words to Richie were pretty great.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I thought he was just doing it to memorialize his friend.

Doesn't he carve

Spoiler

R+E

? That's not something a guy would do to memorialize a buddy.