IT, Stephen King’s
| release date | November 18 1990 |
| studio | Warner Bros. |
| director | Tommy Lee Wallace |
| writer | Stephen King |
| starring | Richard Masur, John Ritter, Dennis Christopher |
| tagline | The Master of Horror unleashes everything you were ever afraid of. |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
16 Comments
i love stephen king movies and books but this movie was horrible, i dont think i even finished it.
Ummm…1980? The book, yes. The movie – not so much.
Either way. Tim Curry had Pennywise down to a science!
However, for such a long movie, it sure could’ve lost a lot and gained so much more from the book.
I liked the movie. Pennywise scared me bad. I just wished tit was scarier.
The book and the movie were both horrible.
If you like 40′s horror cliches, this is for you. I can’t think of a single redeeming value to the entire movie.
Pennywise was amazing in both the book and movie, but in such a horrible context I cannot even give him much praise.
I’ve never cared for Stephen King because he is so traditional. As the rest of the world moves on from b-horror cliches, he still sticks to them and their utter cheesiness.
Watch it on Cartoon Network around Halloween time (yes, they play it on there, which should tell you something) but do not buy this cliche in disk form.
i love tim curry and i love stephen king,
i liked the movie but i think the book was way better. wen i was little pennywise scared the shit outa me
Fucking Pennywise.
I have plenty of nightmares during my childhood, thanks to IT.
This movie scarred me….I saw it in grade 4 && WOW who would have thought Tim Curry (Scary movie 2, The Rocky horror picture show) would play Pennywise the clown!?!
But over all i like IT
This is the scariest movie i’ve ever seen and all I like is scary movies. I watched when I was in grade 5 or 6 and I’m in nine now and I still haven’t seen it again. I still even get nightmares from it, and now I hate clowns even more.
It’s crap compared to the book. Normally, I would be able to remove myself and form an opinion not based on the book, but rarely is a novel SO good. There is no way I can separate the two. Read the book. It’s long, but it’s worth it.
“While the acting in this version of Stephen King’s It, is for the most past good, (who can argue with Tim Curry as the clown), it none the less was stripped of a lot of its themes to be put to television. It follows the general premise of the book but omits huge sections of the occurrences that happen to the children, some of which are vitally important to the character development and plot. We lose some of the most beautiful aspects to their relationships this way. Also, the structure of the novel, which although overwhelming, is supremely successful, and is again lost in the film. While they could have made it much worse, I must urge people to read the book first. It’s scarier, deeper, more complex, and a far better story.” –Meg (ouija-5), imdb.com
yawn. i never finished it.
one of the best creepy clown movies, and i felt this was a pretty lengthy, but fun movie that has shades of stand by me, and some other king stories, but this one is pretty much a standout by itself. keeps you interested and has a cool villian.
could have shaved off about 30 minutes, but seeing as how it was made for a mini series i see why it was longer.
No matter what anyone says, I was pleased with this. Sure, It was like a thousand years long and based on just a clown, but come on. The book was freaking 1000+ pages long, you can’t just turn that into a 1 hr. 50min. movie that would suck. I would say watch it if you like King, or are into long movies. Oh, and must because the Mist sucked doesn’t mean you won’t like this.
scared ne when i was a lil punt
Stephen King’s It is about 3 hours long. No joke. I didn’t watch any extended cut or director’s cut just the original movie everyone else saw. Secondly the movie “IT” has two parts to it. That’s right. The first side of the disc AKA side A is the first part, which is when the adults are little kids with the clown trying to eat them. Side B is the second part, which is when the kids are adults and now they find out what is IT? Third of all this is a non-spoiler review which means I’m not giving anything away. The first part of IT is scary because the kids see the clown and are going to be killed. The second part is average because there’s too many weird stuff going on and the clown isn’t scary anymore. Overall IT is a good movie, despite some of the second half and really is a strong recommendation from me.
Did anyone NOT have nightmares after watching this film as a child?!?
IMO this is the film that instigated the trendy fear of clowns that everybody seems to have these days. Although not the first to run with this theme, Pennywise is undoubtedly the most horrific and well-known face-painter.
Okay, so the book is a masterpiece and the film omits a lot, but how often is it that a film does a book justice? How could the 1000+ pages be converted to film without resulting in a 6hr trainwreck such as ‘The Stand’? It’s also worth remembering that in essence this was a telemovie not a Hollywood blockbuster and at times it shows.
The film is ominous and dread-inducing at best, and a little dated at worst. The opening scene with Georgie and the drain (“Do you want a balloon? They ALL float down here!”) still rocks me to this day, however as mentioned, the film loses momentum at the halfway point. Curry’s portrayl of Pennywise is disturbing and breathtaking as he manages to capture the dark humour and seediness of King’s villain. The kid crew, headed by Jonathan Brandis, convince the viewer that their fear is real, and it probably was once they’d seen Curry dolled up as Pennywise!
Unfortunately the film just wasn’t able to capture the complexity of this creature (in essence he isn’t even a clown) which results in an embarassing final showdown reminiscent of 1950′s creature-features. As mentioned, Pennywise loses a little of his edge on Side B and the film feels somewhat jumpy and patched together from this point on.
My advice? Watch the first half of the film, then borrow the book from your library and revel in its awesomeness!
I thought that stephen kings it was great and it had such an impact on me that I still hate clowns to this day. And the clown looked freaky as hell, I mean could they have picked a more bad ass looking clown? I don’t think so, thats as good as it gets. Truly scary.
Storyline: A clown terrorizes a small town by eating kids, but the kids have to be scared for him to eat them, so he shapeshifts into something that they are truly afraid of. A group of 7 kids hurt it but they don’t fully kill it. Years on they get a phone call from an old friend saying its come back. Now they have to travel back to town on a promise they made long ago and have a final showdown. 10/10
Acting: Probably some of the best acting I have seen in a horror movie. 10/10
Special Effects: You can’t complain or expect much because this movie was made pretty long ago, but the scene with the spider…..What the fuck were they thinking, it was cheesy it looked gay with its little arms out in front of it, they kill it by ripping out its heart…..What a piece of shit. Other than that everything else looked fine. 7/10
Best Scene: When the clown kills georgie. (freakiest shit ever) 10/10
Ending: It turns into a giant spider????? ummm…… 0/10
Overall the movie was awesome but I will deduct 1 point for the ending, bringing it to a total of 9/10
Made for TV, but a damn good movie.
The ending of this movie completely fell apart for me. I thought it was a cool movie until the clown turned into a giant spider. I loved the casting of this movie but the ending ruined the film for me
Not so great.
I think older movies of Stephen Kings books are much better then the movies to today….so I think this was a good movie.
even though its very different from the book i liked the movie quite a bit…i mean come on a killer clown who feeds off the fear of others as a fan of king i think this was a respectable movie!
Maybe it’s just because I saw this when I was six but it creeped me out and, since then, has always held a special place in my heart.
Sure, it doesn’t live up to it’s potential and reeks of made for television, but the characters and Tim Curry as Pennywise strengthen a dull 3 and a half hour experience.
A classic in my eyes, though I realize it’s kinda lame.
Oh, and this came out in 1990. Not 1980. The book wasn’t even written till ’86.
The first half is incredibly frightening & is the stuff that gave you nightmares as a child. The second half falls flat on it’s face with such force that it drags the first down with it. Even for a TV miniseries it should’ve been better.
i thought it was pretty good, just slow to the good parts
It will be a part of my childhood. IT’s a movie that doesn’t respects a lot the book, but scares a lot of moments (At least, when I was a kid)
Tim Curry was the lead person of my nightmares. He was amazing as Pennywise. I hope the remake will be better adaptation that this movie was, but with awesome performances of the 90s film.
This movie terrified me as a kid! this is one of the best movies ever! Instant clasic! Awsome!
truely terifying! i remember accidently catching a glimpse of it as a kid, never did i go to the circus again. scary as hell, watched many of times cant get enough of it.
FREAKED ME THE HELL OUT WHEN I WAS 5 lol good movie though, stephen king classic!!!!
pennywise you son of a gun scared the hell out a me even now if i see it i get tingle up my neck
should’nt be scared dam clown….tim curry rules
a film that is held high because of childhood memories
This movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, I still like it today but I think the ending sucks.
A really good movie with a bad ending. Stephen King just loves these really weird endings. In my opinion. But anyway, Pennywise is really creepy. And It is definitely a great movie.
Excellent television movie based on an excellent book! Like most people, I enjoyed the sections featuring the children more than the grown ups, but it all meshes together pretty well. The special effects are well done by TV standards, and though the end giant spider creature was a little weak, it didn’t bother me. My only real complaint is a lot of the weak dialogue. I don’t care what year they were living in, some of the things those kids said was hilariously bad! It’s not perfect, but IT is a great time.
Great mini-series (very well-made), I first saw it when I was a kid and it scared the s**t out of me. Not with jump scares or gore, but just all the creepy, weird and scary stuff going on. The way Pennywise haunts it’s victims is pretty unique for a horror villain. And of course you have Tim Curry’s performance, which is both frightening and funny.
The only bad thing is the ending (a spider? anti-climactic), and it does seem to drag on in some of the sequences where they are ‘adults’.
First half had one of the best horror scenes I have ever viewed, but sadly, the rest of the movie (serie) is average.
I can’t believe I found this creepy when I was young still great film though
Great book, okay movie; deserving of a remake in my opinion…could be MUCH more scary.
Used to be really scared of this film. watched it again and it’s not scary at all and it’s also not a very good film. Definetly needs a remake.
One of my favorites growing up.I use to be terrified of it.I don’t know if that would hold up now that I’m 27 years old but it definitely had the most impact on me as a child.My sister who is in her mid 30′s still doesn’t let the film into her house.lol, but with all my love for it I would like to see it remade INTO A GOOD FILM! And not as long.Definitely one of my very favorite King films.
Good movie, Great story!
Although now the FX are a little old, But still is an excellent movie!
Very enjoyable Stephen King adaptation.
Pretty long but scary as fuck. It surprised me as well, very few movies get away with murdering 4 year olds
I have never understood the hype over this movie. Watched it as a kid, never scared me and had a truly awful ending (Spider?? WTF)
Watched it again recently, have I changed my mind from when I was 12 years old??? NO not really.
Very overrated except for Tim Curry who I think has always been viewed as an underrated actor. 3 pointless fooking hours I will never get back. Bah!!
Great childhood film.
This has got to be the fucking absolute dumbest movie ever made.
The acting sucked dick ( I wanted to smash the guy from night court in the face with a sledge hammer.) the story so predictable, and not frightening in any manner. SPOILER- Never read the book, but the fucking spider at the end- fuck me. I hope this wasn’t in Kings book, and it was a fabrication of the producer!
Let me just start by saying I have loved this movie since I first saw it as a ten year old boy.I was frightened to say the least. There was a sewer drain in front of my house so that didn’t help.The image of Pennywise will always haunt me.
Let me talk about the film itself. I loved how it felt so nostalgic.The cuts they made from the book for the film weren’t that integral the film itself.Scenes that stood out for me were when Richie runs into his projection of The Wolfman in the school’s basement.The suicide of Stanley was pretty grim.The bully’s were also pretty scary for a kid growing up.The children who portrayed the characters at a younger age were suprisingly very convincing.Look for a young Seth Green playing Richie.
As I wathched this as an adult I feel the acting is a little stiff in parts.Particularly Henry’s stuttering and the dinner party scene.
But I cherish this film for also turning me into a horror fiend.Since then I have sworn my allegiance to all things horror.If you are a fan of Stephen King and somehow have never seen this I highly recommend tracking it down.You will enjoy it.
Til next time this is swanson-zombie signing off.
excelent and enjoiable story. just a movie to sit back and watch when theres nothing else to do. Pennywise is kinda creepy. its a good movie
I first saw this movie as a child and remember how shocked me, saw her again some time ago and it seemed kind of boring and long. Conclusion: This movie is not as good as I thought it was.
I loved this movie, in fact my signature is a quote from this very movie!
I see posters talking about how terrible this film is, well it was a made for tv movie, so constraint one. And its from a far superior novel, which if is read will make sense why it is a spider.
This is worth a watch, although I have to admit the first part is more entertaining than the second part.
This movie scared the living shit out of me as a kid. Seriously, f*ck this movie… in a good way. Show it to your 12 yr olds
Hobo Approved(TM)
I remember seeing this movie when I was nine years-old with my best friend and we were kind of scared shitless. However, now that I have seen it when I am older, its less scary and kind of boring, but it is an overall good movie.