Rating: 2.5/5
Hooptober 9.0 | 34/34 | Bonus 3/3
The doc opens with an interview with Stephen King. He talks about his fear of a troll grabbing him from under a bridge and how that evolved into a 1300-page novel.
This doc isn’t about the novel. It’s about the miniseries — the writer adapting it, the director reading it, and the long, disappointing road from the 10-episode proposal to the 2-episode snore fest.
The creators lament what could have been if the producers didn’t restrict them. Considering the story, I think more time would have helped the second episode move beyond the info dump and have an actual plot.
All these directors do is make documentaries for die-hard fans.
Of all the movies “prescribed” to me to watch, I cannot think of a less interesting subject than a two-hour documentary about the 1990 miniseries It. Still, I found some of it interesting.
Stray Thoughts
- The movie killed the clown industry, right? Or, you know, John Wayne Gacy.
- It sucks to hear how much harassment Emily Perkins faced from the other child actors. She tried to play it down, but they regularly told her she was incompetent and referred to the book orgy scene, which she didn’t know about.
- Oh yeah, she’s Becky Rosen in Supernatural! I knew I recognized her from something besides Ginger Snaps.
- I love the bully channeled Dennis Hopper.
- I don’t enjoy seeing Tim Curry this old.
- The Pennywise design was fantastic. I’m glad that Tim Curry fought so hard to let his performance be the scary aspect.
- The underground set looks more impressive behind the scenes than in the movie.
- The battery acid effect is so cool — I wish they used it more.
- The adult actors know how bad the writing was. Their fond memories are of goofing off, not the performances.
- Everyone hates the spider. All the alternatives were unfilmable, and even the spider had severe budget limits.
- Props for ace representation from Eddie.
- I can’t believe they made those actors do the bicycle stunt. So insanely dangerous.