In 1990, my life changed forever. I was introduced to the film version of Pennywise the Clown. Portrayed by Tim Curry, the devilish clown graced TV screens in the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s IT. I read the book and was sufficiently creeped out, but wasn’t afraid of clowns. Now, I quake and whine and occasionally cry at the sight of a clown. You might ask what drove me to take my ass to the theater and see the thing that terrifies me most. I wanted something to terrify the shit out of me. Since I’ve been watching and reading horror since I was a wee lass, I am not afraid of much. I thought that a malevolent clown would be the thing that got me.
Tim Curry (1990) Image: IGN
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Bill Skarsgård (2017) Image: IGN
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What went wrong.
Unfortunately, it didn’t give me the full out creeps and I turtled into my sweater only once. I didn’t bite, hit, cry or punch anyone, so I’m going to say semi-fail for the movie. It’s not really their fault, they failed with the most important part of the movie, Pennywise. Don’t get me wrong, this new Pennywise is scary AF, but he doesn’t hold the same fear that Curry gave me as a teenager. In discussing the movie with my friends, I explained it like this:
Curry’s Pennywise was the clown that you see at Bobby’s 8th grade birthday party. He’s fun and nice and giggly. Then he chews your fucking arm off and you float is sewer. WHY! Ugh. The Teeth. The Facepaint. The Multicolored Ruffles. Terror at a new level. He had the calming creepy voice of a birthday party clown and then his teeth changed and he swallowed you up. If you saw him in the sewer, you would go over and try and find out why this friendly clown is stuck in such a strange place and then he ruins your life. We all float Georgie and you’re dumb.
Skarsgård‘ s Pennywise looks malevolent as FUCK! You aren’t going anywhere near that if you saw it in a sewer. You’d see that demonic looking son of a bitch, hear his creepy sing song child voice and run the other way while he danced after you for no reason!
Curry’s Pennywise was the clown that you see at Bobby’s 8th grade birthday party. He’s fun and nice and giggly. Then he chews your fucking arm off and you float is sewer. WHY! Ugh. The Teeth. The Facepaint. The Multicolored Ruffles. Terror at a new level. He had the calming creepy voice of a birthday party clown and then his teeth changed and he swallowed you up. If you saw him in the sewer, you would go over and try and find out why this friendly clown is stuck in such a strange place and then he ruins your life. We all float Georgie and you’re dumb.
Skarsgård‘ s Pennywise looks malevolent as FUCK! You aren’t going anywhere near that if you saw it in a sewer. You’d see that demonic looking son of a bitch, hear his creepy sing song child voice and run the other way while he danced after you for no reason!
The Loser’s Club (1990) Image: Warner Bros.
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The Loser’s Club (2017) Image: POPSUGAR
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What did they get right?
Both movies had incredible young actors casted as The Loser’s Club. In the 90’s, Jonathan Brandis and Seth Green were (pictured, right below) key members of the Loser’s Club. Brandis had the task of playing Bill Denbough, brother of little Georgie that was SPOILER ALERT, murdered by Pennywise in the beginning of the film. In the new film, Bill is portrayed by Jaeden Liebeher. He is determined to find out what happened to his little brother. He doesn’t want to believe that Georgie is dead. He has theories about where Georgie could possibly be. His friends are supportive but only to a point where their safety is in jeopardy. They put up a little bit of a fight then, but they still have his back and go directly into danger.
Both movies did a terrific job wth the young cast. One of my favorite characters in both the book and the movie is Richie Tozier. Richie in the 90’s was portrayed by future Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Austin Powers star Seth Green. In the new film, Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things takes the rains of the foul-mouthed, wise-cracking asshole Richie. He has a particular skill for taking things too far. One of my favorite parts of Stranger Things last year was Wolfhard’s portrayal of Mike Wheeler. He has a vunerable innocence to him. He still brought that to his depiction of Tozier, but got to curse like a sailor.
I’m sure some people will be incredibly offended by the foul language that the kids use in the movie, but lets be honest, people swear. If you don’t like, don’t fucking watch! ??
Both movies did a terrific job wth the young cast. One of my favorite characters in both the book and the movie is Richie Tozier. Richie in the 90’s was portrayed by future Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Austin Powers star Seth Green. In the new film, Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things takes the rains of the foul-mouthed, wise-cracking asshole Richie. He has a particular skill for taking things too far. One of my favorite parts of Stranger Things last year was Wolfhard’s portrayal of Mike Wheeler. He has a vunerable innocence to him. He still brought that to his depiction of Tozier, but got to curse like a sailor.
I’m sure some people will be incredibly offended by the foul language that the kids use in the movie, but lets be honest, people swear. If you don’t like, don’t fucking watch! ??
Mini-Series vs. Movie
The 1990 mini-series took the entire book and created the full vision in one package for fans. The new movie only shows us the young Loser’s Club battle against the evil clown. They are planning on a sequel that will focus on the grown-up’s battling him again - 27 years later. An interesting thing I only just realized is that Pennywise attacks every 27 years and the time difference between the 1990 movie and the 2017 movie - you guessed it, 27 years. Nice job Hollywood, nice job!
As we await the sequel, we start the guessing game of who will play the adult versions of the characters we know and love. I’ve seen some people’s wish list and I just don’t agree. I kind of hope that they do virtual unknowns. I don’t need to see Edward Norton as Bill Denbough. I really don’t.
As we await the sequel, we start the guessing game of who will play the adult versions of the characters we know and love. I’ve seen some people’s wish list and I just don’t agree. I kind of hope that they do virtual unknowns. I don’t need to see Edward Norton as Bill Denbough. I really don’t.
Final Thoughts:
Did the new movie live up to the hype? No. Did it scare the pants off of me? No. Was it worth seeing? Absolutely. It will terrify some folks, but I only got a mild scare out of it. The original still holds a place in my heart and my brain as the scariest clown on film. The 90’s version is cheesy as hell, but also just a little bit scarier than this one. Granted, a lot of the scares came from the thing that Pennywise did to the Loser’s Club as adults, so it is a little unfair to judge the new film as its not complete yet. I will give ya’ll a full debrief in a few years when the concluding chapter of IT comes to theaters in 2019.
My Score:
If I had to give each film a rating:
IT (2017) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I give the 2017 version 3 starts because it is filmed beautifully. The young cast is electrifying and light up every scene. Pennywise left a lot to be desired.
IT (1990). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️?
I didn’t think that Skarsgård’s Pennywise would be able to hold a candle to Curry, and I was right. Curry had a certain brutal gleefulness to his clown. You could see why a child would be drawn to him. He made me laugh as much as he made me cry. He will always be Pennywise to me.
What I will say about the new Pennywise - at least we have this:
IT (2017) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I give the 2017 version 3 starts because it is filmed beautifully. The young cast is electrifying and light up every scene. Pennywise left a lot to be desired.
IT (1990). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️?
I didn’t think that Skarsgård’s Pennywise would be able to hold a candle to Curry, and I was right. Curry had a certain brutal gleefulness to his clown. You could see why a child would be drawn to him. He made me laugh as much as he made me cry. He will always be Pennywise to me.
What I will say about the new Pennywise - at least we have this:
Until next time...
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