It (1990) review
Now that we are in the wake of the It remake, I think it is time to take a look back at the miniseries that started it all (aside from the book that actually started it all). While most of us remember It as a nightmarish journey into our deepest fears, led by Pennywise the clown, there might be more to that premise than nostalgia allows us to think back to.
It tells the story of seven children; Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, Stan, Mike and Eddie, deemed the "Losers Club". Through separate encounters with an evil being, sometimes in the form of classic monsters, but mostly with the face of a creepy clown called Pennywise (Tim Curry), the children are brought together to face their childhood terrors. At its core, It is an exploration of the dangers of childhood, from bullying to loneliness to...werewolves. At its surface, however, this depth is clouded by melodrama and unintentional hilarity, which, by the end of its 192 minute runtime, is all that remains.
I think it is important to start with the root of It: Stephen King. King is an icon, and his writing definitely has a distinct style that any fan will recognize. A true master of horror at times and a writer hindered by his outrageous ideas at others, Stephen King has the creativity, but sometimes not the execution one might expect when picking up one of his stories. It is one of the better examples of this, with a genius concept and a confusing followthrough.
This confusion seeps into the miniseries, as to be expected. I assume filmmakers have a serious task at hand when they decide to adapt Stephen King. When a 1200-page book starts with a compelling murder by mysterious clown and somehow turns into a mythical tale of good vs. evil (that evil involves a giant spider, by the way), it might be hard to keep general audiences invested. That thought is probably what led to more Pennywise on screen and less lepers, giant eyeballs and killer statues of Paul Bunyan.
Pennywise is the hero of It, even though he is supposed to be the bad guy. Arguably Tim Curry's most iconic role, his dancing clown is over-the-top insanity at all times. After re-watching the series, he might not be what I call frightening, but is without a doubt haunting in his relentless delivery of puns and balloon-holding. Whenever Curry is on screen, one has to smile thinking about what kind of direction (if any) was given to him to produce such a character.
Unfortunately, the character budget for It must have been pretty small because all of it seemingly went into crafting Pennywise instead of any of the other seven leads, who are all severely lacking in charisma. The child actors are not particularly unlikable (made better by a baby Seth Green in the mix), but the adults are nearly impossible to root for, and this is a problem when they amount to more than half of the runtime.
Tim Reid as Mike is the only one in the group who does not coat every line with cheese, as if the rest of the actors are too embarrassed by the lines to say them with any effort. Richard Thomas as Bill is far from believable as the "fearless leader" and the loss of his brother Georgie only affects him when convenient. Harry Anderson plays Richie as incredibly off-putting and cowardly, which none of the Losers are in the book. Beverly (Annette O'Toole) is no longer our solo female heroine, but now a whiny and expendable side character.
Now that we have discussed the strange plot, the uninteresting characters and Pennywise, the only thing anybody actually remembers about this series, the last part of It to talk about is the horror. How do the scares hold up? Well, there is the paper boat scene that everyone knows, and that is pretty creepy. The blood-popping-balloons and pulsating fortune cookies are effective. The shower heads coming to life at the command of a claymation Pennywise are...interesting. But, wait, the light that sucks bullies into drain pipes and turns Henry Bowers' hair grey! That happened and was...hard to understand. Oh, yeah! Remember the Rottweiler dressed in a Santa suit? Yeah, we all tend to block out that part of It.
There is no denying that It is a phenomenon, brought on largely by a miniseries that does not necessarily hold up very well. We all have fond memories of Curry's Pennywise "wuh-HAH"ing all the way to our nightmares, but I believe that is as far as the nostalgia can carry this adaptation. It is a painfully long story that holds interest until the youngsters take a back seat to their far-less enjoyable adult counterparts.
The effects are cheap and the scares are head-scratching. It contributed to, if not created, a fear of clowns in many people, but it also created a fear of a Stephen King story being adapted at face value by people who do not know what to do with it.
Warner Bros. Television
