It (1990 film)

Infobox Film | name = Stephen King's It
caption = DVD cover
director = Tommy Lee Wallace
producer = Mark Basino
Allen S. Epstein
Jim Green
writer = Stephen King (novel)
Lawrence Cohen
Tommy Lee Wallace
starring = Harry Anderson
Dennis Christopher
Richard Masur
Annette O'Toole
Tim Reid
John Ritter
Richard Thomas
Tim Curry
Emily Perkins
Boyd Norman
music = Richard Bellis
cinematography = Richard Leiterman
editing = David Blangsted
Robert F. Shugrue
distributor = Warner Bros. Television
released = November 18, 1990 (USA)
runtime = 192 min.
rated-R
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0099864
preceded_by =
followed_by = :"For the 1927 silent movie see It (1927 film).""It" (also referred to as "Stephen King's It") is a 1990 Emmy-winning horror miniseries based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

Production

The miniseries was filmed in New Westminster, British Columbia, which stood in for the town of Derry. An actual former movie house in New Westminster, the Paramount, appeared in several scenes in the miniseries, including an establishing scene where the young Losers go to a Saturday matinee and a later scene where the adult Richie drives by the theatre and sees a disturbing message from "It" on the marquee. In reality, the New Westminster Paramount stopped showing movies in 1983 and now functions as a strip club.

As part of the casting process, Rozz Williams of gothic rock band Christian Death auditioned for the part of Pennywise, going so far as to arrive at the audition in a costume he made himself. However, Wallace ultimately decided that Tim Curry's audition was of a higher quality. Footage of Williams' audition, in which he recites Pennywise's dialogue from one of the more sexually explicit scenes in the book, has circulated widely amongst Christian Death fans, and has given rise to (false) rumours of an "alternate version" of the film with Rozz in the Pennywise role and most of the excised content of the book restored.

The other notable casting decision was to hire performers predominantly known as comic actors -- Harry Anderson, John Ritter and Tim Reid - in dramatic roles.

Storyline

"IT" aired as a two-part television mini-series on November 18, 1990 on ABC, and loosely follows the plot of the novel. The first half of the film, set in 1960 (in the novel, it was set in 1958), introduces a group of social misfits, the "Losers", as they meet and form a tight-knit group in the face of a cruel and intolerant world. They each individually come into contact with the child-killing monster, which they name "It", haunting their hometown of Derry, Maine. It usually appears as Pennywise the Dancing Clown before taking the form of whatever its child victim most greatly fears.

Spurred on by Bill Denbrough's desire for revenge on It for killing his younger brother, the Losers resolve to locate It's home in the sewers and destroy the threat to Derry once and for all. Henry Bowers, a disturbed bully, and two of his friends, Belch Huggins (Drum Garret) and Patrick Hocksetter (Gabe Khouth), follow the group into the Barrens and into the sewers, in a bid to ambush and kill them as revenge for a rockfight, in which the Losers easily won, saving Mike Hanlon. Bill leads the others into a vertical pipe, leading to the sewers. Stan Uris is pulled away from the group by Henry and Belch, where Henry pulls a switchblade, used earlier to carve his name on Ben Hanscom's abdomen. Meanwhile, Patrick has been ordered to ambush the group from another side. It, in an unseen form seen only from first-person camera movement (other than a bright light, referred to as the Deadlights) makes its way from under a grate and eats him alive. (This happens offscreen; the last thing seen is Patrick screaming before the camera goes into his mouth.)

As Bill, Beverly, Richie, Eddie, Ben, and Mike come to the middle of the sewers, they discover Stan is missing. In another part of the sewers, Henry prepares to kill Stan with the switchblade as Belch restrains him. As Henry prepares to do so, It, only the Deadlights seen shining, bursts a sewage pipe. As Henry and Stan watch in horror, Belch is folded in half through the narrow sewage pipe and taken away by It. Henry calls his name but to no avail. It makes its way out of the pipe. Stan flees, and Henry's hair turns white from the sight of It's unseen form. Stan meets up with the group and they avoid looking into It's Deadlights. It vanishes, and smoke fills the chamber. The seven form a circle, although It attempts to break it by appearing as Bill's brother George, and Beverly's father, along with attempting to scare Richie in the form of a werewolf. As Stan says his prayers, It (in the form of Pennywise the Clown) pins him against the wall. As Pennywise prepares to devour him with Its fangs, Eddie sprays It in the face with his asthma inhaler, pretending it is battery acid. Half of the clown's face burns away, and Beverly cracks It's head open with a silver slingshot, revealing the bright light underneath. However, before Beverly can finish It off, Pennywise flips through the air, and is sucked through the drain. The group grabs his arms, only for the glove and one of the clown's claws to rip off, revealing a larger claw. The group argues and decide It is dead. After fighting It, and believing to have succeeded in killing It, they come out from the sewers and make a promise to return if It ever comes back. Little did they know that they would keep that promise 30 years later.

The second half of the film, set in 1990 (instead of 1985 like the novel), focuses on the now-adult Losers who agree to return home to Derry (except for Stan Uris, who killed himself when he learned It had returned) to destroy It once and for all. Again, the Losers must face not only the terrible creature, but also Henry Bowers, the bully who made their childhoods miserable and is now an incarcerated madman under the influence of It, who is determined to kill them all. It, in the form of Pennywise the Clown, appears to Henry on the moonlight as he watches from the insane asylum bed. The clown tells Henry he must go back to Derry and kill them all. Later, after It puts disgusting creatures in fortune cookies, at a restaurant reunion for the six of them, along with adults discovering Stan's head, used by It in the library refrigerator, It visits Henry in the form of the deceased Belch, who hands Henry his lost switchblade. It allows Henry to escape by appearing to the guard as clown with the head of a Doberman Pinscher, although it is unclear whether It kills the guard or scares him away. In the meantime, as the six of the gang depart in their rooms at a hotel, Mike is attacked from behind by the adult Henry Bowers with a knife. Ben is distracted by It in the form of Beverly, who then scares him by appearing as Pennywise the Clown. Mike is stabbed and injured with the switchblade, but is saved by Ben and Eddie, Henry stabbing himself accidentally, slowly dying.

After visiting Mike in the hospital, he gives Bill the two silver pieces they once used against It many years ago. In the meantime, Bill's wife Audra has followed him from England. Audra stops in the middle of the night to ask for directions from a grizzled attendant at a gas-station. As Audra talks to him, the attendant (Boyd Norman)'s voice changes. As Audra prepares to leave, the attendant asks her if she wants a balloon. When Audra turns to face the man, he is now Pennywise the Clown. It repeatedly asks her if she wants a balloon, the Deadlights in his eyes hypnotizing her, before grabbing her (offscreen). The five surviving members of the adults make their way into the barrens and further into the sewers. Bill discovers Audra's purse. The adults are taunted by a phantom of the clown (It), before It vanishes into thin air. After It taunts Bill in the form of Georgie, stating it is "all his fault", until Bill repels It by saying Georgie's death was not his fault. The group find a way through a small door believed to be It's lair, discovering many victims, including Audra, in cocoons, all in a hypnotic state. The five of them are confronted by It, in It's true physical form, an enormous spider. Bill, Richie, and Ben are hypnotized by the Deadlights, located on It's abdomen. Eddie attempts to injure It with his aspirator as he did as a child, but as they are not children and do not believe, it is useless, but distracts It from his attack on the others. Eddie is grabbed and mortally wounded by It before Beverly shoots out the Deadlights with one of the silver slingshots. The others mourn Eddie, and chase It, killing It by dismembering the spider, Bill ripping out It's heart. The movie ends with a healthy Mike lamenting their future, and Bill breaking It's hold over Audra on the bike he saved Stan with as a child. The credits roll with Pennywise laughing one last time.

Deaths

*Laurie Ann Winterbarger: In the form of the clown, Laurie Ann was killed by It in her backyard. Actual cause of death is unknown. Her mother finds her under the washing line in the backyard.
*Georgie Denbrough: In the form of the clown, his arm was ripped off when trying to reach for the wax paper sailboat that went into sewer drain; bled to death.
*Stanley 'Stan' Uris: Committed suicide in the bath tub, because he was haunted by his past memory of It. On the bathroom wall 'IT' is written in blood.
*Henry Bowers: Killed by Mike Hanlon after attempting to kill him, nearly succeeding.
*Patrick Hocksetter/Belch Huggins: Belch is pulled into a pipe in the sewers, frightening Henry so immensely that his entire head of hair turns white. Patrick is picked off while off on his own, but the actual scene of his death is not shown. It's form was not seen, only the deadlights.
*Eddie Kaspbrak: Attempts to blast It's true physical form (a giant spider) with his inhaler as he did as a child. However, It is unaffected, and picks him up and drops him to the ground, fatally wounding him.

* Danielle: body near the canal severly mutiliated

*Koontz: In the form of the clown with the head of a Rottweiler, Mauled to death;offscreen

*Pennywise/It: Dies of dismemberment by the Losers at the end of the movie.

Cast

Adult Characters

Reaction and possible remake

Radio Times magazine in 2004 held a survey for the scariest program aired on television, in which "It" came first. "The X-Files" came second. Others on the top ten list included "Twin Peaks", "Ghostwatch" and "Tales of the Unexpected". The Sci Fi channel announced a 4 hour remake of the film which will be made sometime in 2008. [ [http://www.filmjunk.com/2006/06/07/the-sci-fi-channel-to-remake-stephen-kings-it/ The Sci-Fi Channel To Remake Stephen King’s “It” - Film Junk ] ]

The main criticism of the film is that it is vastly different from the book, for reasons including the task of preserving King's book while keeping the running time at a reasonable level, altering it to be sanitized for television, as well as budgetary limitations.Fact|date=September 2008

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0099864|title=It
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