Hello everyone. Sorry I haven’t written any posts lately. Between work, working on book 3, reading and reviewing a few books, and kids returning to school, life has become pretty hectic again. But now that I have a spare moment, I wanted to tell you about a movie I saw last week.
IT
If you haven’t heard of this movie by Stephen King, “Master of Horror”, by now, I will be totally shocked. But just on the off chance that you have no clue about it, here is a quick rundown:
Seven young outcasts in Derry, Maine are about to face their worst nightmare–an ancient shape-shifting evil that emerges from the sewer
every 27 years to prey on the town’s children. Banding together over the course of one horrifying summer, the friends must overcome their own personal fears to battle the murderous, bloodthirsty clown known as Pennywise.
This movie is most likely the cause behind a lot of people’s fear of clowns or Coulrophobia. I know that at least for my best friend it was. She can’t even look at Ronald McDonald without breaking out in a fear induced panic.
As for me, I loved the original show. But then again, I am a major fan of Stephen King and anything spooky, creepy, and scary. So of course when I heard there was a new release of this movie coming out, I made a vow to go see it opening day.
For over a year, I planned to watch this iconic movie from my childhood. I wanted to be there for the late night version. Creepier, darker, more spooky. You get the idea.
Unfortunately, once the day arrived, my plans got changed. Now if I wanted to see IT, one of my favorite scary movies of ALL time, I would have to go to an earlier viewing if I wanted to see it in theaters. And I did! I mean, I’d been planning it and waiting anxiously for a year. So there was no way I was missing IT.
I went to the movie. Nestled in a comfortable seat, surrounded by darkness and the smell of buttered popcorn, I watched the newest version of a movie that stuck with me throughout the years. This new movie followed the book and the original version closely. There were a few changes but not many and not significant enough to detract from the story line and definitely not worth mentioning here.
Okay, I knew the movie would be good. I mean, it’s a Stephen King movie. And I knew it would be more up to date. But what I wasn’t expecting was how much BETTER it was. Darker. Scarier. More detailed.
I LOVED it!
*(I learned later from a reliable source that at the late night showing, there were actually red balloons floating in the theater and a person dressed up as a clown. All to add to the scariness of the movie. And I missed it…By the way for those that don’t know, red balloons are IT’s calling card.)*
Here is a comparison of the IT before and the IT now:
How about these movie posters?
Both are very well done. Enough to give you chills…
The actors for both movies are as follows:
AS PENNYWISE:
Tim Curry Bill Skarsgard
AS BILL DENBROUGH:
Jonathan Brandis Jaeden Lieberher
AS GEORGIE DENBROUGH:
Tony Dakota Jackson Robert Scott
AS BEN HANSCOM:
Brandon Crane Jeremy Ray Taylor
AS STANLEY URIS:
Ben Heller Wyatt Oleff
AS EDDIE KASPBRAK:
Adam Faraizl Jack Dylan Grazer
AS MIKE HANLON:
Marlon Taylor Chosen Jacobs
AS RICHIE TOZIER:
Seth Green Finn Wolfhard
AS BEVERLY MARSH:
Emily Perkins Sophia Lillis
While researching the making of this new version, I came across some pretty interesting details about the movie and actors. Check them out below:
- Whenever Pennywise’s eyes look in two different directions, there are no special effects used for that. Director Andres Muschietti had planned on using CGI to achieve this and informed Bill Skarsgard of this but Skarsgard then demonstrated that he could do it on his own and that is what is used in the film.
- Andy Muschietti kept Bill Skarsgard sepearate from the child actors up until they had to shoot scenes together. On the day of their first scenes together, the production staff warned the kids about how scary Skarsgard could be while in character. The kids brushed it off, claiming that they knew he was just an actor in costume and that they were professionals and would be fine. However, when the time came for Skarsgard to be Pennywise for the scene, the kids were genuinely terrified. Some even cried…
- 27 is a number that often becomes associated with this story.
*This movie was released 27 years after the original television release.
*In the book, It returns to Derry every 27 years.
* Jonathan Brandis, who played young Bill in the original film, dies at 27 years old.
*This movie was released one month after Bill Skarsgard (Pennywise) turned 27 years old.
- Bill Skarsgard had admitted that he was so into his performance as Pennywise that he would have constant nightmares during production.
- Bill Skarsgard (Pennywise) was born in 1990, the same year that the original was released.
- The trailer for this film enraged real life professional clowns, who stated that the Pennywise character will encourage people to think of clowns as scary and murderous. Rallies to defend the good name of clowns in the U.S. are planned for October 2017, one month after the movie IT is released in theaters.
- When asked if he would write more about Pennywise, Stephen King declared he would never write about IT again. Because he was too scary. Even for him…
Thanks for stopping by my blog. And if you get the chance to watch IT and are brave enough to, please do. Enjoy!!
