IT
3.5/4
Starring: Richard Thomas, Harry Anderson, Annette O'Toole, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Dennis Christopher, Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Seth Green, Emily Perkins, Adam Faraizl, Ben Heller, Marlon Taylor, Richard Masur, Olivia HusseyTim Curry
Not Rated (contains Violence and Gore. Should be PG-13)
At over three hours long, Stephen King's "IT" is an unusual horror movie (well, TV miniseries). After all, who else but a masochist would want to be scared for 192 minutes straight (even if a director can manage to keep the tension up that high for that long)? But "IT" works because it is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a horror movie. There is an atmosphere of evil in every scene, but at its heart, "IT" is about growing up and doing what's right.
Famed writer Bill Denbrough (Thomas) gets a call that shakes him to the very core. An old friend, Mike Hanlon (Reid) tells him, "It's back." He remembers how his brother was brutally murdered thirty years ago, and how he and his friends stopped a monstrous clown named Pennywise (Curry) from killing the town's children. Now he and his friends must return to Derry, Maine to defeat the monster once and for all.
Through flashbacks, we see how these seven kids, dubbed "The Loser's Club," came together and took down an ancient evil. They include Bill (Brandis), a kid with a stutter who had lost his brother, Ben (Crane), a new kid with no father and a weight problem, Beverly (Perkins), a poor girl with an alcoholic father, Richie (Green) a jokester with glasses, Eddie (Faraizl), a scrawny kid who is the victim of his mother's Munchausen's by proxy, Stan (Heller) who is Jewish and believes only in the practical, and Mike (Taylor), who is black. One by one, each of them runs into the nasty clown and narrowly escapes. Also in the mix is a vicious bully named Henry Bowers (Jarred Blancard), who is almost as dangerous as Pennywise.
The is divided into two parts: the first one is where we meet all the characters and they have flashbacks to the past. This accomplishes two things: a, we know what happened thirty years ago, and b, we care about the adult characters because we grew to care about them when they were kids. It helps that all the cast members give good performances and it's believable that the kid actors will grow up to be their adult counterparts. There's next to no inconsistency in this department.
It would quickly become redundant to talk about the performances of each of the fifteen cast members, but briefly I want to talk about four of them. Richard Thomas, an actor with an airy voice best known for playing John-Boy Walton on the classic TV show "The Waltons," is quite good as the Bill at 42. He's matured a lot, but is struggling to remember his old life. Jonathan Brandis, one of the best and most famous child actors of the 90s (who, like Thomas, also had an interesting voice), also gives a strong performance as the 12-year-old Bill. He gets the stammer down right, but he makes it more than just a speech impediment. It's a reflection of Bill's shy and reserved personality, and we can see him tentatively reach out to his friends. Also very good is Seth Green. Known primarily as a comedian (he voices Chris on "Family Guy"), Green plays a jokester here, but what's impressive is that he doesn't go for big laughs. "IT" is not a comedy, and Green knows that. He keeps the humor level in check. Richie is funny, but only in the same way that your best friend is.
Then, of course, there's the real star of the show: Tim Curry. If you're not afraid of clowns, you will be after watching "IT." Or at least you'll never think of them in the same way again. Curry is seriously creepy as the evil clown. He doesn't have a lot of screen time, but Curry makes the most of it. It's not just the makeup or how he seems to always stare right at you (kudos to director Tommy Lee Wallace for realizing the inherent suspense in that kind of a shot), or the fanged teeth he sometimes gets. It's that he uses the innocent comic gestures of clowns (over-the-top mannerisms and body movements, honking of the nose, etc) to creepy effect. By subtly exaggerating his movements and the way that Wallace films him, a normally amusing character becomes a twisted nightmare.
Tommy Lee Wallace got his start in Hollywood as the director of the much despised "Halloween III: Season of the Witch." I havne't seen that film, but the man's work here is something to be proud of. Although it's clear that this is a TV miniseries, it's a very good one. Wallace ably balances the "Stand By Me" (an overrated movie if I ever saw one) with the horror ones, making the film a unique confection. The special effects, while low-budget, are effective and his sense of atmosphere is very good.
This isn't the scariest film version of a Stephen King novel that I have seen (I found "Storm of the Century" to be even more frightening). But it is a good one in ways you do and do not expect.
Starring: Richard Thomas, Harry Anderson, Annette O'Toole, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Dennis Christopher, Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Seth Green, Emily Perkins, Adam Faraizl, Ben Heller, Marlon Taylor, Richard Masur, Olivia HusseyTim Curry
Not Rated (contains Violence and Gore. Should be PG-13)
At over three hours long, Stephen King's "IT" is an unusual horror movie (well, TV miniseries). After all, who else but a masochist would want to be scared for 192 minutes straight (even if a director can manage to keep the tension up that high for that long)? But "IT" works because it is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a horror movie. There is an atmosphere of evil in every scene, but at its heart, "IT" is about growing up and doing what's right.
Famed writer Bill Denbrough (Thomas) gets a call that shakes him to the very core. An old friend, Mike Hanlon (Reid) tells him, "It's back." He remembers how his brother was brutally murdered thirty years ago, and how he and his friends stopped a monstrous clown named Pennywise (Curry) from killing the town's children. Now he and his friends must return to Derry, Maine to defeat the monster once and for all.
Through flashbacks, we see how these seven kids, dubbed "The Loser's Club," came together and took down an ancient evil. They include Bill (Brandis), a kid with a stutter who had lost his brother, Ben (Crane), a new kid with no father and a weight problem, Beverly (Perkins), a poor girl with an alcoholic father, Richie (Green) a jokester with glasses, Eddie (Faraizl), a scrawny kid who is the victim of his mother's Munchausen's by proxy, Stan (Heller) who is Jewish and believes only in the practical, and Mike (Taylor), who is black. One by one, each of them runs into the nasty clown and narrowly escapes. Also in the mix is a vicious bully named Henry Bowers (Jarred Blancard), who is almost as dangerous as Pennywise.
The is divided into two parts: the first one is where we meet all the characters and they have flashbacks to the past. This accomplishes two things: a, we know what happened thirty years ago, and b, we care about the adult characters because we grew to care about them when they were kids. It helps that all the cast members give good performances and it's believable that the kid actors will grow up to be their adult counterparts. There's next to no inconsistency in this department.
It would quickly become redundant to talk about the performances of each of the fifteen cast members, but briefly I want to talk about four of them. Richard Thomas, an actor with an airy voice best known for playing John-Boy Walton on the classic TV show "The Waltons," is quite good as the Bill at 42. He's matured a lot, but is struggling to remember his old life. Jonathan Brandis, one of the best and most famous child actors of the 90s (who, like Thomas, also had an interesting voice), also gives a strong performance as the 12-year-old Bill. He gets the stammer down right, but he makes it more than just a speech impediment. It's a reflection of Bill's shy and reserved personality, and we can see him tentatively reach out to his friends. Also very good is Seth Green. Known primarily as a comedian (he voices Chris on "Family Guy"), Green plays a jokester here, but what's impressive is that he doesn't go for big laughs. "IT" is not a comedy, and Green knows that. He keeps the humor level in check. Richie is funny, but only in the same way that your best friend is.
Then, of course, there's the real star of the show: Tim Curry. If you're not afraid of clowns, you will be after watching "IT." Or at least you'll never think of them in the same way again. Curry is seriously creepy as the evil clown. He doesn't have a lot of screen time, but Curry makes the most of it. It's not just the makeup or how he seems to always stare right at you (kudos to director Tommy Lee Wallace for realizing the inherent suspense in that kind of a shot), or the fanged teeth he sometimes gets. It's that he uses the innocent comic gestures of clowns (over-the-top mannerisms and body movements, honking of the nose, etc) to creepy effect. By subtly exaggerating his movements and the way that Wallace films him, a normally amusing character becomes a twisted nightmare.
Tommy Lee Wallace got his start in Hollywood as the director of the much despised "Halloween III: Season of the Witch." I havne't seen that film, but the man's work here is something to be proud of. Although it's clear that this is a TV miniseries, it's a very good one. Wallace ably balances the "Stand By Me" (an overrated movie if I ever saw one) with the horror ones, making the film a unique confection. The special effects, while low-budget, are effective and his sense of atmosphere is very good.
This isn't the scariest film version of a Stephen King novel that I have seen (I found "Storm of the Century" to be even more frightening). But it is a good one in ways you do and do not expect.
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