Editorials
‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Explained: The Many Stephen King Connections & References in Episode Two
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for It, It: Chapter Two, and It: Welcome to Derry.
The inaugural episode of It: Welcome to Derry introduced us to the sinister town via a lumbering, airborne mutant baby slaughtering a theaterful of screaming kids. Episode 2, “The Thing in the Dark,” debuts a strangely charming opening credits sequence. Set to the wholesome “A Smile and a Ribbon,” we drift through Norman Rockwell-esque illustrations that reference some of Stephen King‘s most frightening literary moments. A little girl peers into a sewer grate, recreating Georgie Denbrough’s iconic death, while children jump from the Kissing Bridge, close to where bully Henry Bowers will one day try to carve his name into Losers’ Club member Ben Hanscomb’s stomach. A frightening lobotomy unfolds in the infamous Juniper Hill Asylum, and a family poses for pictures in front of the dreaded house on Neibolt Street, where Loser Eddie Kaspbrak will battle the Leper and the Club will mount their first attack against the murderous entity.
These disturbing images are followed by promises of seasons to come with tableaux pulled from the novel’s disturbing Interludes. A flaming Easter Bunny falls from the sky while children run for their lives, referencing the horrific Kitchener Ironworks explosion that sent the charred and dismembered remains of 88 children raining down on their horrified parents. Andy Muscietti’s It features a frightening scene in which one of these decapitated victims haunts Ben through the stacks of the Derry Public Library.
Photograph by Brooke Palmer/HBO
The song concludes with a dying gangster waving an old-fashioned machine gun as he’s surrounded by armed residents and a clown somehow defying the laws of gravity by shooting from his horizontal perch on a building’s exterior. This doomed man is probably George Bradley, leader of a Depression-era gang who were murdered by the town’s self-righteous citizens. Episode 2 ends with a glimpse of their waterlogged car pulled from deep within the earth. Just moments before this grisly excavation, we will learn that the Derry Air Force Base is the site of Project Precept, a strange initiative designed to prevent nuclear annihilation with a mysterious weapon known to spark deadly fear. While perhaps far-fetched, this plan introduces us to one of King’s most beloved characters.
Constant Readers first met Dick Halloran (Chris Chalk) as the outgoing chef of the malevolent Overlook Hotel in the pages of King’s 1977 novel The Shining. It positions a younger Dick as a survivor of the dreaded Black Spot massacre, but in Muscietti’s timeline, he is a stoic serviceman tasked with using his powerful Shine to locate beacons like the Bradley Gang’s corpse-filled car, said to surround the rumored weapon—likely Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) himself.
Elsewhere in Derry, Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) is settling into a suburban home with his wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige) and tween son Will (Blake Cameron James). Father of Loser Mike Hanlon, Will, is kind and intelligent, a far cry from the deceased junky Mike will remember in Muschietti’s 2017 film. Perhaps this is a bit of retconning or evidence of the deceptive town’s habit of twisting the truth to vilify its non-white citizens.
Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige. Photograph by Brooke Palmer/HBO.
Projectionist Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) experiences this deadly manipulation firsthand when he becomes a suspect in the movie theater massacre solely because he is Black. With the investigation stalled, Chief of Police Clint Bowers (Peter Outerbridge) is confronted by Derry’s angry Selectmen and threatened with the loss of his elected position if he does not arrest the innocent man. Grandfather to the Club’s psychotic bully, Bowers, may briefly stand on principles, but he will go on to coerce Lilly (Clara Stack) into giving a false statement placing Hank at the grisly crime scene, proving the Selectmen’s dire assertion that “this isn’t America, it’s Derry.”
Charlotte encounters this sinister undercurrent on an idyllic stroll down Center Street. While passing the Center Street Drug Store, she smiles at a young Norbert Keene smoking just outside the door. This cruel pharmacist will one day hit on young Beverly Marsh and torment Eddie Kaspbrak by revealing the extent of his mother’s delusions. At the Dunning Butcher Shop—mentioned in King’s 2011 novel 11/22/63—Charlotte meets a friendly Stan Kersch (Larry Day), whose last name rings an ominous bell. As an adult, Beverly will visit her childhood home, now occupied by the elderly Mrs. Kersh, who proceeds to morph into a dangerous hag, possibly related to Pennywise himself. We don’t yet know if Stan will make a similar transformation, but his surname implies that “Stan the Cleaver” may be more than just a cheeky nickname.
Kimberly Guerrero, Taylour Paige. Photograph by Brooke Palmer/HBO.
Charlotte’s errands will eventually lead to Secondhand Rose, Secondhand Clothes, the location for one of King’s most exciting cameos. It: Chapter Two features the author himself sitting behind the thrift store’s register as adult Loser Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy) reacquires his trusty bike, Silver. But before reaching this inviting location, Charlotte witnesses the controversial construction of the Paul Bunyan statue that will one day attack Loser Richie Tozier and gazes warily at the dark alley where the newly assembled Club will attempt to mend Ben’s mangled stomach while comparing their experiences with the shapeshifting monster.
This episode sees Lilly and Ronnie (Amanda Christine) endure their own frightening encounters with disturbing variations of the child-eating beast. While grocery shopping, Lilly notices uncanny stares from other shoppers and announcements that repeat on an ominous loop. One touts the sale of Fizzola, a soda referencing King’s iconic Nozzala brand. A variation of Coca-Cola, the presence of this mysterious drink has become an indicator that an entry in King’s sprawling canon takes place in an alternate world, strangely similar to our own.
Clara Stack. Photograph by Brooke Palmer/HBO.
As shelves move fluidly on their own, Lilly finds herself surrounded by pickle jars containing the shredded remains of her father’s corpse. Ronnie survives a similar attack when her bed transforms into the oversized body of her deceased mother, who appears to have died in childbirth. Covered in viscera, the screaming girl is dragged back towards this nightmarish creature by a monstrous umbilical cord. Behind the mangled belly’s gnashing teeth, Ronnie spies a pair of familiar yellow eyes, promising the arrival of King’s notorious clown.
It’s been 75 years since The Thing From Another World first warned us to “watch the skies”, and filmgoers have done just that by showing up to multiple instances of extraterrestrial contact on the big screen. This makes sense, as a recent CBS news poll estimated that 63% of Americans believe in intelligent life on other planets, and the ongoing disclosure movement aims to raise that number with each passing day.
With Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day leaving many genre fans hungry for more alien footage (preferably of the spooky variety), today I’d like to share a list recommending six underrated alien invasion thrillers for your viewing pleasure. After all, regardless of whether or not you believe that we’re alone in the universe, it can be fun to dream about the worst-case scenario if our cosmic neighbors ever decide to visit.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be focusing on lesser-known invasion stories rather than the popular extraterrestrials of franchises like Alien and Close Encounters of the Third (or even Fourth) Kind. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own alien favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling movie.
While it won’t be featured in this article, I’d highly recommend checking out Dean Alioto’s UFO Abduction/The McPherson Tape if you’re up for some ufology-inspired found footage thrills.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. The Arrival (1996)
Not to be confused with Denis Villeneuve’s Academy Award-winning Amy Adams vehicle about learning to communicate peacefully with extraterrestrial life, David Twohy’s The Arrival is a much more straightforward (but no less entertaining) genre romp where Charlie Sheen faces a global conspiracy involving hostile alien invaders.
It’s not exactly up there with Close Encounters or even Independence Day, but Twohy’s conspiratorial thriller plays out like an exceptionally fun episode of The X-Files that I’d recommend to sci-fi/horror fans who don’t mind a little bit of wonky CGI and 90s excess alongside their alien thrills.
5. Extraterrestrial (2014)
The Vicious Brothers made a name for themselves with the success of 2011’s Grave Encounters, but that was far from the Canadian duo’s only collaboration. And while it’s not exactly a fan favorite, I always point out 2014’s Extraterrestrial as one of their most underrated projects simply because I agree with the filmmakers’ opinion that there aren’t enough ‘cool alien abduction movies’ out there.
Admittedly, the majority of the picture functions like a run-of-the-mill creature feature with paper-thin characters and familiar horror tropes, but I’d argue that the cosmically-terrifying final act elevates the experience to new and memorable heights. The movie also boasts great performances by both Michael Ironside and Emily Perkins – a combination that more than makes up for the occasionally janky CGI.
4. Alien Raiders (2008)
Director Ben Rock has gone on record lamenting how his John-Carpenter-inspired creature feature was forcefully renamed from Supermarket to the painfully obvious Alien Raiders (a change which likely resulted in many potential viewers skipping out on the experience), but the new title doesn’t change the fact that this single-location thriller is something of a hidden gem.
Taking place entirely within a supermarket, Alien Raiders tells the story of an ensemble of customers and employees who are taken hostage by a group of armed men looking for something far more dangerous than an easy payout. I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoiling the experience, but I’d highly recommend this criminally underseen flick to fans of John Carpenter and the Resident Evil games.
3. Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
You’d think that a Ridley-Scott-produced retelling of one of the most infamous real-life UFO sightings of all time would have a bigger following, but I rarely see Justin Barber’s Found Footage period piece brought up during discussions about extraterrestrial-focused horror movies.
This is a huge shame, as Phoenix Forgotten is just as spooky as it is convincing, with this well-researched dive into the Phoenix Lights incident benefiting from surprisingly believable special effects as well as an appropriately horrific finale.
2. Communion (1989)
I wouldn’t blame you for disregarding Whitley Strieber’s controversial book about his alleged close encounter as sensationalist slop, but I’d argue that Phillipe Mora’s 1989 adaptation of these events is much better than the source material. After all, the movie works as a standalone piece of speculative fiction while also benefiting from an incredible performance by the one and only Christopher Walken!
Mora’s take on Communion may not be particularly scary, but the film is still an unforgettable character study regardless of whether or not the abduction really happened. Not only that, but the flick also paved the way for plenty of future sci-fi stories where the extraterrestrial invaders aren’t as evil as they initially appear.
1. Altered (2006)
Originally envisioned as a Sam Raimi-style horror-comedy titled Probed, Eduardo Sánchez (of The Blair Witch Project fame) eventually realized that it would be much more interesting to turn the film into a serious exploration of the emotional aftermath of a traumatic abduction incident.
That’s how we got Altered, a clever inversion of the standard abduction narrative that follows a group of troubled friends as they capture and experiment on an alien in order to enact revenge for their own abduction years prior.
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