Today’s October movie suggestion is another Stephen King miniseries and it is the suggestion that has the most meaning to me. I am suggesting IT. Currently you can watch the two part miniseries on Max and YouTube. Based on the 1986 novel IT by horror master Stephen King this is a great introduction to his style of storytelling. Something evil exists in the town of Derry, ME and it calls itself Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The series takes you from enjoying brotherly love to outright terror in the first five minutes. The series takes place in two eras. The first when the main cast are children and encounter Pennywise after the death of Georgie. The second when the main characters have grown up and return to Derry, ME after realizing Pennywise is back. There is plenty of horror here with limited gore as this was made for broadcast television.
Stephen King did not think television was a suitable medium for his writing. He said he thought IT would be "in the basement. Here was a book that sprawled over 1,000 pages, and they were going to cram it into four hours, with commercials.“ ABC did not want Stephen to see the miniseries until it released. He refused to do any promotion for the network unless he saw IT first stating "It's my damn book and I worked on it for three years." After the miniseries aired he said “I liked that series a lot, and I thought Tim Curry made a great Pennywise.”
Being made for broadcast television there are parts of the book that simply could not be filmed, a challenge the two part theatrical release ( 2017, 2019) faced as well with some of the content. The technology of the time, 1990, made it difficult to do some scenes from the novel justice. The creators did a great job with what was possible at the time so don’t go into it expecting 2024 effects. It is a great adaptation of the novel and I highly recommend it.
I was thirteen years old when the novel IT was released. I had gone to the mall with my father and while he was looking for something I wandered the mall until I came to either B. Dalton's or Walden Books, it's been a long time. In the window was the display for the brand new novel by Stephen King, IT. I was familiar with his name because I had seen it associated with horror movies. The book cover and the window display captured my full attention. When my father found me I begged him to buy it for me. I could see his reluctance, funds were a little tight for the family and I had never shown an interest in reading. I had not even gone into the store to look at the book description. I'm not sure why but he decided to buy it for me. I devoured it. Every free moment I had was dedicated to reading the book. After finishing the book you would have been hard pressed to see me out anywhere, even school, without a King book with me.
In 1990 I joined the Army Reserves to pay for college. While I was in training the invasion of Iraq happened so I was sent there instead of home. I took a few Steven King novels I had not read with me in paperback form along with an audio cassette of The Mist (which you can enjoy in 3D sound by clicking here). There wasn’t a lot of down time in war but when there was I was reading.
While I was away the mini series of IT was aired. I had no clue it was even happening. The day I came home my father handed me a VHS cassette and told me "just watch". He had recorded the mini series for me. He and I always had our differences. It was rare he did something for me that wasn't designed to teach me a lesson or at my mother's behest. Now he had allowed me to discover Stephen King and recorded the show I wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. Tim Curry's Pennywise is heavily associated with good thoughts about my father. So, he's my favorite Pennywise performer.