With “IT: Welcome To Derry” being released on HBO Max to bizarrely good reviews, I figured I’d go back and review the two most recent “It” films. When they were released, they were lauded as a refreshed adaptation compared to the 1990 miniseries. I remember seeing the trailer for the first film and how excited I was to see a new Stephen King adaptation. I also remember the disappointment I felt when I watched it — how painfully mediocre it was.
“It” (2017) is Andy Muschiette’s second attempt at making a horror movie. Following a group of seven kids as they’re tormented by the titular monster, played expertly by Bill Skarsgård, “It” fumbles its way through scares and an incoherent tone.
The only good thing I can say about this movie is that the actors are doing a phenomenal job. Every kid sells their terror with actual fear and chemistry on par with the cast of the “Harry Potter” series. The star of the show, though, is obviously Skarsgård’s Pennywise; any scene with him where he gets to act is pure horror gold. This guy goes 110% for this role, sitting in a makeup chair for hours to don an astonishing costume while contorting his face in inhuman ways.
Unfortunately, Muschiette takes this talent and lumps it in with the only truly horrifying element of this movie: the CGI. Any scene with Pennywise gets undercut by goofy, misplaced effects that ruin any horror that may have been there. The film also has to include moments where the kids bond over their fears and the fact that they’ve been bullied. This stuff blows.
Dribbling seven kids’ storylines while also trying to establish a world with a gruesome history isn’t easy, and Muschiette can’t do it, so all of their bonding scenes feel unearned (except the quarry scene). This results in a lackluster climax where the characters don’t feel like they’re really friends, and the evil they’re facing isn’t really that great, which is what the entire story hinges on. Potential was there, but they gave it to the guy who made “The Flash” (2023).
I could say all the same things about “It Chapter Two” (2019), but this time the script comes straight from the sewer. The jokes are worse, the scares are almost nonexistent and there’s even more CGI.
Yet again, Muschiette gathers some of the best actors of their generation and gives them lines and motivations that come off as campy and ridiculous. You’d think at least the kids got a good film, but they get dragged into this one with pointless flashbacks showcasing their time bonding together. Why do they do this? Because they didn’t establish their friendships in the first one. This inflated script falls flat when the audience realizes, “Hey, I don’t really care about any of these people because I don’t really know them.”
It has all the same issues as before, and Muschiette has a fundamental misunderstanding of the actual story. The novel functions as a history of the town of Derry, mostly exposited while the main characters meander through the streets. It can not be properly adapted into a film because the horror isn’t in the clown — it’s the fact that the clown is able to kill for centuries, and nobody seems to mind. The 1990 miniseries came closer to getting this feeling down, and if they had the budget that Muschiette got today, I have faith they would’ve made an actually good adaptation.