Stephen King's It (1990)

Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace
Written by: Tommy Lee Wallace, Lawrence D. Cohen, Stephen King (Based on his 1986 novel It)
Starring: Tim Curry, John Ritter, Annette O'Toole, Richard Thomas, Harry Anderson, Tim Reid, Richard Masur, Dennis Christopher, Michael Cole, Jonathan Brandis, Seth Green, Emily Perkins

In 1960, in the small town of Derry, Maine, seven children are terrorized by an evil entity known as Pennywise (Tim Curry) the clown. The children ban together and bring down the evil clown and promise to return to Derry if it ever returns. 30 years later, Now grown and living seperate lives, with no memory of the events of their childhood, each are called back to Derry after It returns to fulfill a promise they made to each other. And It is ready and waiting for them.

We couldn't get Jerry O' Connell to be the fat kid in this one. 

What the hell can I say about this movie? It scares the living DIIIAAACK out of me! Good God Stephen King! What happened to you as a child!?!?! I mean, someone killing children is scary enough, but a demonic entity disguised as a clown killing children!?!?! That is FUUUUUCKED! That's pretty much what this movie is about. A demonic clown fucking with a bunch of kids before he mutilates and kills them. He apparently eats them, and the fear he causes them makes them taste better. GROSS!

Apparently, demonic clowns have never heard of dental floss.

Even as a kid, I was smart enough to know not to trust a clown in a storm drain. 

This thing exploits the phobias and fears of it's prey and takes the form of a wisecracking clown in order to lure it's intended victims to their ultimate demise. It's messed up. It looks like these kids all have a tough life anyway, but add a murderous, inter-dimensional entity disguised as a fucking clown... that's pretty extreme.

You're laughing at me, but at least I know what dental hygene is. 

The movie is about these adults who each get a phone call from their childhood friend Mike. He calls each one of them and as he does, each person suddenly remembers their terrible-ass childhood. The first part of the movie is mostly shown in flashbacks of each character. The flashbacks deal with the terrifying ordeals they suffered at the hands of It. They all return..,. well, mostly, and catch up with one another, but It doesn't want them there It knows they're there to destroy it. These leads to some terrifying sequences that will most likely result in you having nightmares.

Of course you're in a graveyard! Why wouldn't you be!?!?!

It is based on an 1986 bestselling novel by horror master Stephen King. It's also commonly known that King's horror work doesn't transfer well to the screen (With the exception of The Shining, masterfully directed by Stanley Kubrick and Carrie). King's horror is more psychological. It's hard to express a grieving father's desperation to bring his dead child back in Pet Cemetery on screen. It's nearly impossible to convey the pain of a cheated husband and his mental breakdown in Secret Window. That's because fear is subjective. We're all scared of different things. King has a way of writing horror that conveys his character's mental anguish, a way that Hollywood could never capture by camera. This somewhat can be said for It. I've never read the actual novel, but I can say with confidence that this mini-series failed to capture the emotion and horror of childhood trauma and it's lasting effect like the book did. This is because Stephen King's work is just better in print.

This scene traumatized me as a kid! I took baths until I watched Slither.

That's not to say this movie isn't genuinely scary. This is definitely one of the movies I go to when I want to be scared. Tim Curry is horrifying as a demonic, child-killing clown. He is definitely the stand-out performance of the movie. The other actors do just fine in their roles,  some a little over the top, but all in all they did a good job. John Ritter can do no wrong in my eyes! I'll admit the acting was a little shaky at times, but I feel like the script is more to blame than the actors. The point is, they made me care what happened to them, They did their job.

Your fortune doesn't "look" so good! Hahaha! Get it!?

The way this movie was handled was very well done. It was a bit sluggish at times, and there were several bits that could have been shaved off, but then again, this was originally a mini-series broken up into two hour intervals. They had the luxury of time in this film. I got a major Stand By Me vibe in this film, mainly due to the childhood friendship aspect. If you liked Stand By Me, but wish it were scary as shit, you'll like this movie.

I would listen to the balloon. 

If you're deathly scared of clowns, steer clear of this movie. Run from it like it's actually trying to kill you. I personally don't have a major problem with clowns, just clowns that try to kill me. I wouldn't go out of the way to watch this, it's just okay, but if it happens to be on TV, or you see an old copy of it at a garage sale or in the $5 bin at Walmart, pick it up.

FUCK YOU! This is just WRONG! 

For more information on It visit the IMDB page here.