Spoiler Filled Thoughts On Stephen King’s IT (2017)

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR IT (2017) and Stephen King’s IT (the book)

Is there something wrong with me? I ask myself that all the time, but more specifically, I’m asking that question in relation to Stephen King’s IT (the recent adaptation of the book!). IT has broken box office records, and the majority of people seem to like it. Some even love it. Why am I among the few who didn’t like it? Did I miss something? I know everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it concerns me when the majority is against me. So here is a spoiler-filled dissection of my feelings about IT.

Review: Stephen King’s IT (2017) (The Horror Film Of The Year?)

(SPOILER FREE)

“You want it to float, don’t you?”

Stephen King’s IT is one of my favourite novels. I could read it over and over again until the end of time. The first adaptation of the novel, the 1990 TV miniseries, failed to do the novel justice, despite a great performance by Tim Curry as the novel’s main horror, Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Twenty seven years later, we have been given a full-on Hollywood film adaptation (or, more accurately, a two part film adaptation). Does it do the novel justice? More importantly, does it deliver true horror? My answers to both questions are uncertain. There’s too much cut from the novel to do it justice (even given that it only tells the story of the children, not the children as adults). It also relies too much on jump scares and delivers an uneven tone throughout the film…

Review: ‘Stephen King’s IT’ (1990) (The Film, Not The Book!)

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

“Do they float?”

What’s there to do after you’ve just read one of your favourite books of all time? Well, watch the movie adaptation, of course! And then be terribly disappointed 90% of the time…and that’s the case with the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘IT’, a made for TV effort released in 1990. When I saw it as a young lad, I thought it was terrifying. Well, the first half and Pennywise The Dancing Clown. However, even back then the ending looked ropey, and the second half bored me. Now, with more mature eyes (I hope…I certainly can’t see as well as I could back then!), the flaws in the adaptation are even more glaring.