It

Dvd Cover.

Today's review is a special request made by my wife. She wanted me to review one of the greatest horror novels ever written by master Stephen King, though he always sort of felt the movies made based on his writtings weren't that accurate. Anyways, today we're talking about probably one of the most scary made for TV movies ever filmed, hundreds of thousands of kids around the world would be scared by merely hearing the name of PennyWise, the evil undying clown who feeds off of children. Yes, my wife and I didn't want to go to the circus for a while being kids.

Kids fear clowns, I totally understand them.

Filmed in 1990, It, directed by Tommy Lee Wallace was one of the most important made for TV movies. Based on Stephen King's homonymous novel this didn't and doesn't look like the crappy made for TV movies we're used to, this wasn't any sort of failed pilot for a TV series of any kind, and  I guess it was the most suitable format for a movie that runs about 3 hours long and is divided into two intertwined stories. The movie has it all, for instance we have Stephen King's neverending love for setting his stories in small towns, such as his hometown Maine, only this time the little town depicted is Derry. Also, we see that director Wallace knew what he was dealing with in terms of the original author's reputation, so he picked the right actors to perform a TV movie that pays homage to the greatest horror writer of all times. So, overall we get to see what we can expect in a movie based in the master of horror writing. 

I befriended Pedobear before he was cool.

The movie just like the book is divided in two parts. Part 1 is about a group of friends very much a la Stand By Me kind, known as "The Losers Club" for their many uncool features, but before all of develops, we're told a little about the origin of the killer clown of Derry, an evil spirit, that in the shape of an innocent clowns makes every child's fear come true only to lead them into a trap and feed off of them as above mentioned. So, time goes by, centuries go by and the undying evil spirit of Pennywise the clown comes back to life to haunt our main characters, AKA the losers club. The thing is our kids spend half movie trying to find a way to get rid of the fucking clown, until they all realize they have to fucking fight their own fears back (psychology anyone?) to get rid of the motherfucking child blood sucker. 

Part 2 is about having our "losers club" grown up, some made their dreams come true, so came close and some just didn't even make it. Someone has the idea of having a party together just to see how grown they have become. They all agree in their own special kind of agreement and decide in for the class of 60-god-knows-when reunion. Obviously, they didn't count with the unwanted guest Pennywise, once thought dead for good.

I'm hosting this big party in the sewers, come on in!

Pennywise comes back with a single idea on his mind "get fucking bloody revenge" Reasons for this revenge are kind of blurry in the film, but we don't care, I for one, don't care. As soon as our buddies get together we realize they have just hidden their past fears, but oh boy, there's one bad bastard that will remind them of their inner childhood fears. This time we see the true nature of Pennywise, a giant spider shaped monster willing for gory revenge...

The movie delivers an important lesson about staying true to your friends through the years, and of course fighting your worst fears by facing them face to face.

Oh God, this boy's flesh tasted so good.

Overall a great piece of art. It does lack some stuff from the novel, but not even the Lord of the Rings is 100% true to the novels and some freaks love it anyways. The special effects are 90's TV average, so don't expect too much on that side. The acting is great, the kids and adult actors all play their part as if the characters were written for them, and Pennywise is the man, he rules.

Here's the made for TV movie trailer:

dedicated with love to my significant other, my awesome wife.