It (1990) Review

It (1990)

It follows 7 teen outcasts, who, after an evil clown named Pennywise starts killing children, must band together to end his reign of terror. 30 years later however, Pennywise returns, forcing them back to Derry to stop him for good. 

Stephen King’s It miniseries hit at a pretty crucial time for the author’s work, piggybacking off of the success of Killer Klowns from Outer Space, it would kick off a 90s run of King miniseries adaptations that well, let’s just say varied in quality. And for me, this was probably one of my earliest forays into horror, which makes watching it all these years later both nostalgic and very revelatory. Revelatory in the sense that it’s never really that scary, though the setup is still the closest we’ve come to King’s original source material. Instead of splitting up the kids and adults stories completely, It intertwines them from the very beginning, telling the children’s stories through flashbacks as Mike phones The Losers Club of Pennywise’s return. 

The flashbacks also act as the best parts of the film, cementing the children as genuine friends, united by their differences and the knowledge that they and they alone must be the ones to stop Pennywise. I also love what they did with Tim Curry’s Pennywise (just wish we got more of him doing actually threatening shit) and I’m glad that they keyed in on why he uses that form in the first place (unlike the remake, which goes out of its way to look scary) with it being something that attracts children, disarms them, and makes them believe he poses no threat whatsoever until it’s too late. 

It’s the low budget and technology limitations of the time (and for TV in general) though that ultimately leave It feeling more like a circus than a truly frightening horror movie. Both big climaxes are ruined by hardly any buildup and weak payoff, making Pennywise out to seem like hardly any danger at all, instead of the demonic murdering demon clown he really is. 

We also get a pretty standard cast for TV, starring Richard Masur, Jarred Blancard, Ben Heller, Marlon Taylor, Adam Faraizl, Emily Perkins, Seth Green, Brandon Crane, Johnathan Brandis, Dennis Christopher, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Annette O’Toole, Richard Thomas, Harry Anderson, and Tim Curry. I found that the child actors really portrayed the sense of levity and friendship far better than their adult counterparts. It’s too bad then that Curry doesn’t get much screen time and even when he does, there’s not much to be afraid of due to time or budgetary constraints. 

It, directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, is a rather faithful adaptation to King’s source material, but thanks to it’s made-for-TV setting and a low budget, the movie never really gets to shine in the spots it needs to, underselling the danger of Pennywise in the process. 

6.7/10