It
From the makers of "Is" and "A"
Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns.
Thankfully I don't suffer from such a phobia. Clowns never bothered
me. I remember looking forward to seeing them on a trip to the circus
when I was little. I can understand, though, why someone would be
terrified of a person in white makeup, brightly-colored baggy
clothes, and a crazy grin. There's something slightly unnatural about
their appearance and in-your-face approach to entertainment that
doesn't sit right in people. It may also have to do with the fact
that John Wayne Gacy was a clown. Whatever the reason may be, clowns
have a tendency to show up in horror movies like House Of Fears,
Masters Of Horror: We All Scream For Ice Cream, and Killer Klowns From Outer Space. But there's one movie where a clown is the epitome
of fear.
It (also known as Stephen King's It) is
a 1990 television movie based on the novel by Stephen King (Cujo,
Misery). The two-part movie stars Tim Curry (Ritual, The Rocky Horror
Picture Show) as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. In the small town of
Derry, Maine a six-year old boy named Georgie Denbrough is playing
with a toy boat when it was down into the sewer. A clown named
Pennywise (referred by the characters as “It”) is down in the
sewer and tempts Georgie to get closer. He grabs Georgie, tearing his
arm off and killing him. Georgie's older brother Bill (Jonathan
Bradis, Sidekicks, SeaQuest) blames himself for his brother's death
and begins to stutter due to the trauma. Bill has a group of friends,
Ben, Eddie, Beverly, Richie (Seth Green, Austin Powers, The Italian
Job) and Stan who all encounter and are subsequently harassed by It.
They are also bullied by Henry Bowers, a sadistic schoolmate who
constantly threatens to kill them. Henry and his gang chase after
Mike, an African American boy in their class, but Bill and his
friends defend him. They vow to always stick together and protect
each other. With their newfound courage, the group bands together to
avenge the deaths of children killed by It. They discover his lair
out in the woods and plan to kill him. Henry, who followed the group
into the lair, sees his friend killed by It, causing his hair to turn
white. After an intense fight, Beverly is able to hit It in the head
with a piece of silver. The wound opens up, exposing light from his
head before he escapes down a drain. A traumatized Henry confesses to
It's murders and is institutionalized. Thirty years later, murders
begin to happen again in Derry. An adult Mike (Tim Reid, Sister,
Sister, WKRP In Cincinnati) calls everyone in the group, telling them
that It has returned. A terrified Stan, unable to face the monster
again, commits suicide. It begins to mentally torture the now-adult
group of friends (Ben is played by John Ritter, Three's Company, and
Richie is played by Harry Anderson, Night Court). He also frees Henry
from the asylum who attacks Mike with a knife. Will the group be able
to come together again and stop It for good?
I didn't know Pennywise was British
Despite only coming out twenty two
years ago, it seems that It has managed to really become part of
horror lore. It's surprisingly because, honestly, it's nothing
particularly special. It's not bad, but it's not as good as one may
be expecting. Part of the problem lies in the fact that the movie was
made for television and not for the big screen. Being on TV handcuffs
the movie in more ways then one. Obviously, the movie never reaches
the proper amount of violence and true terror needed for the story.
There are a few scares and eery moments, but it should have been much
more. The television format also hurts the movie, fading to black
multiple times for commercial breaks. When It first premiered, it was
split over two days with a total run time of close to three hours.
Stretching the movie out that long causes some unnecessary scenes and
a lot of recapping and generalization. When watched straight through,
it tends to wear on the audience. The story is just OK and the long,
dawn-out scenes stretch it out way too far.
The biggest reason for It's
breakthrough into notoriety is because of Tim Curry. He is utterly
fantastic as the evil clown, mixing irreverent glee and general
wackiness with utter terror. This is the man who was deemed “too
scary” to voice the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. By just
using his voice, Curry manages to terrify and haunt multiple
generations of horror fans. The first half of the movie focusing on
the children is much better than the second half. The kids are all
likable and it's fun to see a young Seth Green in action. When they
become adults, the movie becomes a slow slog to the end. All of the
characters are messed up and rightly so. The problem is that they're
all incredibly fragile and no one character stands out. I also never
quite understood why all the characters forgot about It. Didn't
really make sense to me. When It's true form is revealed, stop-motion
special effects and green screen are used, making the scene look like
a reject from Jason and the Argonauts. When they get up close to the
monster, it looks much better. The happy ending still manages to be
depressing, which was unfortunate, but expected from King.
Clowning around
Over the past twenty years, It has
managed to become a pop culture staple thanks largely to Tim Curry's
turn as Pennywise. Without him, the movie wouldn't be nearly as good.
His mixture of fun and evil is quite scary even for television in
1990. The story is decent, but is stretched far too thin. The movie
has a long run time and lacks the necessary violence and fear to
create a truly scary movie. The acting is good and there are some
really fun scenes. The movie takes a long time to watch and some may
come away disappointed, but It still manages to be entertaining.
6.5/10
