It (1990)

“I’m every nightmare you’ve ever had. I’m your worst dream come true. I’m everything you ever were afraid of.”

Filmology Rating: 2 out of 4

It (1990) is the first adaptation of Stephen King's 'IT.' It is a two part TV movie directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. It's best that both halves be looked at individually because they are of very differing quality. As a whole, this three hour film does not hold up very well, if not at all. Essentially, the first half is 'Stand By Me' with a creepy clown. Personally, I thought the first half, with the kids, works but it is very choppy as a narrative. 

What the half with the kids got right was the forming of the Losers' Club. Each kid felt realized and equal amount of attention is given to each kid. Opposed to 'IT' (2017) where some kids have absolutely nothing to do other than stand there. 

The entire first half of the children's story is similar to that of 'The Haunting of Hill House' where we cut back and forth between older and younger versions of each character, one by one, to get backstory and pathos to each of them. That part is very choppy because nothing is really happening, narratively. Pennywise shows up every once and while, accomplishes nothing, then goes away. It's surprising how little he's in the film as a whole.

However, the conclusion where all the kids band together to defeat Pennywise was executed far better than the 2017 version. In 'IT' (2017) the kids just beat Pennywise with pipes. In the 1990 version, they all defeat Pennywise in a very 'Nightmare on Elm Street' way where all the kids overcome their fear of Pennywise and use their imaginations to defeat him. It's not the literal defeat of Pennywise, but rather the internal one. 

There is a bully in the children's half of the film and he is very one note. He is generic, kid-bully who is also a greaser.  Strangely, everyone looks back on this film with some kind of artistic merit. But really, the majority of it is garbage. Keep in mind that this is a TV movie and boy does it look like one. They're trying really hard to make it look cinematic and it just looks so cheap. 

The one other aspect that did gives this film any kind of merit in the slightest is Tim Curry as Pennywise. Especially in the second half of the film with the adults, you crave Curry's performance due to how utterly terrible every adult actor is. The children were better actors. But Tim Curry is great. He is chewing up the scenery and is a lot of fun to watch. 

Each half is ninety minutes and the second half with the adults really feels twice that length. The second half is almost unwatchable because of how boring it is. All the members of the Losers' Club get together again because Pennywise is back. They then proceed to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant that lasts twenty-five minutes. Then they go to someone's house where everyone is touching each other and handing out massages. It's really strange and nothing happens. They just sit around and talk about almost nothing. 

The entire half with the adults is them "catching up" and it's utterly boring. On top of that, Tim Curry disappears for this entire segment and we're left with atrocious performances.  Once they decide to go take on Pennywise in the sewers, again, they make their way to a little door in the sewers that looks like someone's High School stage production made. Before entering, one of the Losers' Club members says he hadn't lost his virginity yet at the age of like forty. Everyone looks at him awkwardly when he suggests an orgy outside of Pennywise's little door. Then the conversation ends and everyone moves on. 

Then the film ends when the Losers' Club all team up to wail at a giant rubber spider that's supposed to be IT. They keep beating it until they win and rip his heart out. Each half of this TV movie is ninety minutes and only the first half with the kids might be worth your time if at all. 'IT' (2017) certainly had many issues like an over-reliance on loud jump scares, but it is the superior film. 

Stephen King's book, 'IT', is also not some masterpiece like everyone likes to think. It's a very messy book that feels like a splatter of ideas that never come together. That's what happens when your co-writer is cocaine. 

Do not ever watch the second half of 'IT' (1990). It is very monotonous and the entire TV movie has not aged well as a whole.

Rating: Rent It

-Nolan