Article written by Isabella Hill-Beaman.
In the 1990’s Stephen King’s horror ‘IT’ came to our screens with Tim Curry playing the terrifying clown, and main character, Pennywise “IT” the clown. Tim Curry is known for films such as ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ and also as playing Nigel Thornberry and the TV show ‘The Wild Thornberrys’.
The movies are about a group of kids called the loser club, who go back to the town to hunt down the killer clown that took Bill's brother, Georgie, when he was a child (among other kids Pennywise captured by tricking them). Although the original movie is brilliant it can get confusing, as they go back and forth between when they were kids to future times when they’re going back to make sure the clown is gone for good.
One of the close encounters the loser club had with Pennywise was in the old abandoned house while they looked through old photos on a screen and investigating the crimes and murders of kids and others in the town of Derry. Making himself appear, IT comes out of the photo towards them making the photos quickly scatter through to one of himself, which sadly we did miss in the original film.
Even though they’re all grown up, the clown is still haunting them when they go back. People disappearing and even getting tricked by the clown thinking he’s other people, and also having blood coming out of taps and baths, even a red balloon can appear to tell them he’s nearby.
IT is the clown from everyone’s nightmares, having the big multicolour jumpsuit on, bright red hair, razor sharp teeth pointed as spikes, and his claw type hands are covered by white gloves. He’s got the creepy voice and the big clown shoes are also
featured in those nightmares.
The movie is known for many things such as the yellow raincoat Georgie wore, red balloons and the infamous quote “we all float down here”. The movie is also known for the start of both films when Bill gives Georgie a paper boat that he looses down a drain and chases it, finding Pennywise inside the drain where he then pulls him down (although the original only shows Georgie being dragged down where as the remake shows him being decapitated on the street while nobody was around to help or see him).
In 2017 the classic movie got remade but instead of being a singular movie ‘IT’ has been put into two parts. Although the same movie, it is different in the way that the first part you get an insight into their childhood, and the second part is their adult life instead of the confusing back and forth ritual like the original movie.
The first part shows Georgie being taken but also other parts that happened such as the old house at the end of the street, a shower scene where the clown is playing a trick on one of the kids and even the library scene where one of the kids gets hunted by the clown and chased into the storage room of the school and trapped for a moment trying to fight away the clown. One of his tricks to make them hallucinate and think someone or somethings chasing them other than the clown himself is used.
Pennywise’s monsters are based off B- grade horror movie characters from ‘The Mummy’, ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’, ‘The Werewolf Man’ and Nightmare On Elm Street 5’. Without copying those characters, they have managed to make his monster versions of himself much scarier and terrifying, showing that he can take more then one shape and can get into the kid’s mind to find out what scares them the most.
The difference between the original and the remake, other than customers and actors, is the scenes and what the kids went through to understand why they go back. The town is still the same, the characters are still the same, just how the story is projected as a movie is different. In the remake we also get to look into Pennywise's hideaway in the drains under the town. When the kids go after the clown they find all the missing children put up as a swing ride that you’d normally see at a fair.
There’s also a part of the movie that wasn’t in the original and that was seeing Pennywise the dancing clown on his stage with his creepy theme music that sounds like the music that would be played at a circus or freakshow back in 40’s. This wasn’t in the original but it was definitely a good part added into the remake.
There’s a few minor differences such as the decade the movie was set in, the original was set in the 50’s where as the remake was made to be in the 80’s, and the second part of the remake will be placed as this decade instead of the late 80’s. Even though it’s not much of a difference it does change up costumes and the props a lot more, including silver who was Bill’s bike that was in both movies, but was changed by style and also the name was much harder to see in the remake due to them making it into the bike.
The special effects and overall CGI of the films are different thanks to all of the modern-day gear and technology compared to when the first movie was made, making the remake much more intense and cringe worthy to watch when it comes to the death scenes in the movie. The blood looks more realistic, the monsters that it turns into look more realistic than just an imagination.
In the remake we got to see Mike Hanlon who was in the original, but we get to see more into his investigations into the murders and disappearances of the kids from Derry, that evolve around the appearance of the clown in each of the tragedy’s going back from 1906 until then. Mike was the one who brought the losers club together while researching the dark history behind the town, and he was the one who brought the club back together for the final showdown between IT and the club in the movie. When he gets older Mike works as Derry's librarian.
There is one big difference although not in the movies but from the novel and both movies. The movies have different endings to the sewer scenes, but they are far different the book’s sewer chapter. In the movies the loser club finds their way out safe and okay where as in the book they had a part where Beverly takes each of the boy’s virginity to get out from the sewers. No directors were going to put that in either movie since it is a very sexual and over the top part of the book, and it would take away from the horror side of the films.
Although a classic, the original isn’t as scary as the remake, which will make you terrified of clowns as soon as it starts. Both are definitely worth watching if you’re a horror fan and feel like getting a new phobia of clowns, and never wanting to go near any drains. I would definitely suggest it as a day time movie if you want a peaceful sleep, but if you’re a reader than I’d definitely suggest picking up a copy of the book to read.
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