This is the TV version of the story so never went to cinema so do not expect to see a profit comparison on here, there should be a cost of production but no return from the box office. It just missed out on being an 80’s horror by being televised in 1990. For those familiar with the Halloween movies this was directed and co written by Tommy Lee Wallace, with the other writer being Lawrence Cohen. If you didn’t know already this was based on a book from Stephen King, which also happens to be my favourite book. This version of the story was divided across two episodes of a mini-series on tv which added up to nearly 200 minutes of film time. The DVD or Blue Ray had shaved some 5 minutes off the original release. There was a published cost of production of $12m and it starred Richard Thomas, John Ritter, Annette O'Toole, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Tim Reid and Richard Masur. With the children version of the characters played by Jonathan Brandis, Seth Green, Emily Perkins, Gabe Khouth, Laura Harris, and Chelan Simmons. The star of the show is of course Pennywise the Clown played by the evergreen Tim Curry. Although a TV movie this does have scores from the usual with them both in agreement and much lower than my own again. With IMDb giving it 6.8 out of 10 & Rotten Tomatoes giving it 67%. The plot will be a difficult one to do without doing way too much detail or just skimming over the top, but I will do my best.
The story begins in 1960 with Georgie Denbrough being given a paper boat from his older stuttering brother called Bill. In a heavy rainstorm Georgie follows his boat down the gutter of the side of the road until it slips into a drain. In an attempt to reclaim it he looks into the drain and see’s a clown down there. He introduces himself as Pennywise The Dancing Clown. When Georgie reaches in to claim his paper boat his arm is ripped off and he is left to bleed to death in the street. It takes on the shape of whatever terrifies the individual in question and then proceeds to attack various children across Derry. The survivors band together to form ‘The Losers Club’ with seven members of six boys and a girl. They band together to do battle with ‘it’ and the school bully and his henchmen. After they think it is defeated they all agree that should it not actually be defeated and ‘it’ returns then they swear to return and defeat it themselves once and for all. 30 years later in 1990 Mike who was the only one to remain in Derry realises that ‘it’ has returned and calls the other six to come and complete the promise they made 30 years ago. The battle is on against the thing that most likes to appear as a clown and terrify the children of Derry. Ok I am stopping there on the plot.
The best way I can describe this is a great attempted at an epic story that really doesn’t work on film. The way the story works really has to be read otherwise it is lost. I cannot see how you can show this on screen you have to have someone tell you what is going on and hope they follow along with you, which is a big ask. This is a wonderful story with a very weird conclusion, a conclusion that I cannot see how it would work on screen. In this version they turned ‘it’ into a big monster to fight at the end. Which for 1990 technology really didn’t scare the way it should of. See the Chapter 2 review as they tried to do it and I believe their conclusion was a better attempt than this one. What I do prefer about this version of ‘it’ is the clown. Played to perfection by Tim Curry, with the new version they have to add element to make it scary with jump scares or eerie with the red balloons, well here they rely on the persona of Tim Curry just as a clown. He is always larger than life on screen and that shows as he dominates this film. The scene when he is seen dancing down the street to disappear from view to climb a lamppost to get right into the camera shot and scream at the losers club is terrifying not because its scary but the imagery and presence. Tim makes this what it is and it is good. The story is fantastic and I remember the first time I saw it thinking how different certain characters are in comparison to my thoughts reading the book. These views haven’t changed and strangely aspect of both movies work with different characters. This is a good movie and a really good attempted until the conclusion which in my opinion cannot be committed to film and they have a go but it is not great (and that’s being kind). Would I recommend watching this? Yes all the way up to the beginning of the end scene and then just switch off and draw your own conclusions it will be better than what you will watch.
If you didn’t notice this was the first movie with an 84% score so we are into a new batch and the next 84 percenter is a Christmas movie that gets churned out every year in the build up to Christmas in this house although not a firm favourite it wouldn’t be Christmas without it.
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