Connect with us

News

Annette O’Toole Reflects on Stephen King’s ‘It’ Ahead of the New Adaptation

Published

on

Oh and she’s totally anti-remake.

Nearly 30 years after Tommy Lee Wallace’s miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s It debuted on ABC, we’re gearing up for the return of Pennywise this coming September. It’ll be the first time the creepiest clown in horror history has ever made his way onto the big screen, and the first part in the planned two film adaptation promises to be way scarier than the 1990 version.

One of the actresses who starred in the original miniseries was Annette O’Toole, who played the role of the adult Beverly Marsh in the latter portion – as a child, Marsh was played by Emily Perkins, who went on to star in the fan favorite werewolf flick Ginger Snaps!

Speaking with the website Sechrest Things in celebration of Women in Horror Month, O’Toole just reflected on her experience in Derry, sharing fond memories from the Vancouver set.

She recalled working with the late John Ritter:

I remember laughing every day shooting that movie, which is weird considering it’s all so scary onscreen. I loved ALL my guys in IT. It felt like I was the only girl at summer camp, and all of the guys were trying to impress me. But… John Ritter is/was/will always be my favorite. There, I said it. John was a wonderful human being and we thought the world of one another. I continue to think that. I feel his warmth around me all the time.

O’Toole also has fond memories of working with Tim Curry:

Tim is the MAIN reason this movie works. I have to qualify this though, because I’ve only see IT once when it first was on, so I’m solely going by memory and what I’ve read about the movie. He spent a LOT of time in a separate make-up trailer with his own team of people who at first were doing all these tests for the Pennywise make-up. I remember that he read constantly — always had a stack of books. We only had one scene together that I recall, when Ben is kissing Bev but it turns out to be Pennywise. I had to wear Pennywise’s pants in one part of the scene because of a trick of how they were shooting it. This was WAY before all this CGI. It was just cool to be around Tim. We all went out a couple of times for dinner and he always came with us. We bonded as a little family, even with Pennywise. He is the reason for the family after all.

The scariest scene for O’Toole to shoot? Oddly, it involved chocolate syrup!

I mostly remember the cup of tea that had this weird sludgy chocolate syrupy stuff that was the blood. It was probably the only scene in the whole film that FELT scary to shoot, because none of my buddies were there. It was just me. Just me and the really scary lady and the cup of chocolate blood stuff.

So what does the actress think about the upcoming re-adaptation? She kept it brief:

I don’t think they need to remake anything that was good the first time.

Be sure to head on over to Sechrest Things to read the full interview.

Pennywise IT

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

News

‘Alien Hunt’ – It’s an ‘Alien’ and ‘Predator’ Mockbuster Rolled into One! [Trailer]

Published

on

While you wait for Alien: Romulus, the folks over at Devilworks have cooked up their own slice of “mockbuster” fun with Alien Hunt, and we’re debuting the trailer here on BD this morning.

This brand-new sci-fi horror from director Aaron Mirtes (The Bigfoot Trap, Painted in Blood) is set for its US premiere on May 14, and you can find it on digital thanks to Devilworks.

You can exclusively watch the official trailer for Alien Hunt below, which looks to combine elements of Alien and Predator. This particular “mockbuster” has very little interest in hiding its inspirations, with the alien designs plucked straight out of H.R. Giger’s beautiful brain. Hey, if you’re going to pull from other movies, might as well take from the all-time greats!

In Alien Hunt, “On a hunting trip in the wilderness, a group of siblings discovers an abandoned military outpost on their land, but is it what it seems?

“Their trip takes a sinister turn when they find themselves facing off against a relentless army of extra-terrestrial beings. Suddenly, the hunters become the hunted.

“The formidable squad of alien soldiers will stop at nothing to wipe out the enemy and in an all-out, brutal battle for survival, it’s kill or be killed in Alien Hunt.”

Barron Boedecker (Escape Pod, The Bigfoot Trap), Brent Bentley (The Perfect In-Laws, Haunt Season), Deiondre Teagle (The Visitor, Painted in Blood, Death Ranch), Chelsey Fuller (The Bigfoot Trap, The Silent Natural), Jesse Santoyo (A Nashville Country Christmas, Potter’s Ground), and Adam Pietripaoli (The Bigfoot Trap, The OctoGames) star.

Continue Reading