By
Westley Smith
The trailer for the updated version of Stephen King’s IT dropped online today. Have you seen it (pun intended)? If not, you should check it out below.
Stephen King published IT in 1983 and a made for television film was produced in 1990, directed by Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween 3: Season of the Witch) and starred Tim Curry as Pennywise.
Like most people, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this new movie. Growing up with the original on VHS and Tim Curry’s iconic performance as Pennywise scared the hell out of me as a kid; it’s hard to believe that anyone could step into his clown-shoes and do the role justice.
But as good (and scary) as the film adaptation is, the 1990 film loses a lot of the darker subject matter from the King novel, as well as a few key subplots that enrich the story. As a made for TV movie, some of those darker subjects from the book would never have made it on to television screens in the 1990s, and might not even make it on television screens in this day and age. Yeah, the book is that dark at times.
Don’t worry, if you haven’t read the book, I won’t spoil anything and suggest you read it for yourself to know what I’m talking about.
The “updated” version of IT is directed by Andrés Muschietti (Mamma) and was scripted by Gary Dauberman (Annabel, and the upcoming The Nun), Chase Palmer, and Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective).
Both the book and the TV mini-series took place in the 1950s in King’s fictional town of Derry, Maine. The new film takes place in the 1980s in Derry, Maine to give the movie more of an updated feel, and allow the second part of IT to be set in modern times – yes, it’s already been confirmed that we are getting a second part to this movie.
There is a notable difference with the new film and its source material, as well as the TV adaptation, and that it looks like this film is going to focus solely on the kids in the 1980s and not go back and forth between the characters as adults (in present day) reminiscing about what happened to them in the 1980s. They are leaving that part for the second IT movie – which could be a very good idea. This allows us, as viewers, to get to know these characters as children before being introduced to them as adults. By the second movie, we will already know their backstory, and now we will see how their past has affected them.
Bill Skarsgård takes over the roll as Pennywise in the new film. And after seeing the trailer, it is apparent that Pennywise in this film is going to be a much different character than what we get in the book or the mini-series. This is also a good, refreshing thing, I think and it will allow this film to be both faithful to the source material and the film that came before it, but allow this film to be its own movie.
Almost all bad remakes suffer from two thing: staying too close to the movie that preceded it (A Nightmare on Elm St, The Fog), or straying so far off the subject that it’s no longer what we were expecting (Rob Zombie’s Halloween, comes to mind). There are a few remakes that are very well done, (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), The Hills Have Eyes (2007), and Maniac (2012) all of these films stayed true to their source material but updated them very well for modern audiences.
Let’s just hope IT will do the same.
IT crawls its way under your skin in theaters September 8 2017
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you would like to pick up an old VHS copy of IT visit our store: http://www.mcssl.com/store/18046487/it-vhs
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnCdOQsX5kc&w=560&h=315]
