Stephen King's IT

[elevenism]

90 miles to the nearest theater? i knew you lived in the texas panhandle, but is it seriously that remote?

well, i just did a search and there IS actually one in Guymon, Oklahoma that's like 40 something miles away but it doesn't have 3D or any of that cool shit and the screens are small according to the reviews i just read.
so aside from that, yeah, it's 80 something miles, in amarillo.
Luckily i didn't grow up here. I don't know how people could fucking stand it. I've just been here a few years.

Edit: so like i said, i am re-reading the book. i'm excited about the positive reviews, but i got to thinking: this thing could have been three or four seasons of a tv show, easily.
So for book readers, does it feel kind of truncated?

[Jinsai]

If you can read a 1200 page long book and love it, you should see the movie rendition in the theaters that will take you a little over an hour to see the two-hour-long version of it.

If you truly live in a place that removed from theaters, carpool with other friends who cannot make it is justifiable. Make it an event. You don't need the theater's help to do this.

[Dr Channard]

Possible spoilers!

Saw this yesterday, this was my first “it” foray of any kind. It was better than I was anticipating. The psychological horror element was solid, and the coming of age story of the outcast kids was nicely played. It would have been good to see way more of the psychological scares explored and less of the in your face clown monster stuff.

So about that, what the hell is Pennywise supposed to be? The movie made it clear that he was something that fed off fear every so many years (for some reason), but otherwise didn’t tell much. Sorry if the movie explained it and I just missed it. Is he a demon, or is he a manifestation of the area’s negative energy? If I remember right, at one point one of the kids even said something about the native Americans having legends of the area (or something along those lines). But by the end of the movie I was just lost in understanding what Pennywise or “it” was really supposed to be, and what all the floating people in the sewer was about.

Never read the book, but being an adaptation this is probably different from the book anyway.

[elevenism]

@kleiner352 , I nominate you to answer that one

[implanted_microchip]

It's been a bit since I read the book so if I'm wrong about anything someone who remembers better is free to correct me as much as they like but from my memory, Pennywise is basically a being from another dimension beyond our human understanding, akin to a Lovecraftian Eldritch horror -- something beyond us, something unknowable, something completely and totally foreign not just to our world but to our universe/plane of existence.

It feeds on emotions, specifically fear, while another being that appears in a Dark Tower novel that seems similar in nature feeds on laughter, suggesting that it may be up to the creature and Pennywise chooses fear since it's so easy to cultivate/find. That's the simplest explanation I can offer and it's somewhat left intentionally vague in so much as if we could flawlessly understand It then it wouldn't be an "It," it would have a hard definition and not be the same at all -- an unknowable. It's pretty much something that was born well before our universe and will be around long after, beyond any concept of life that we know and undefinable in any concrete way -- a female spider laying eggs is the closest thing comparable in our terms but that still is just a manifestation, which is to say who the fuck knows, it can be whatever it wants to be and that's where the real horror is, you can't define it, you can't understand it, It will always be around in some form or another and the most anyone can do is suspend the time before the horror returns, because horror, terror, fear, predators and cruelty are things that have been around long before us and will last long after. To me, It is the equivalent to something like BOB from Twin Peaks -- an embodiment of all that's wrong with everything, and as such, even if you were to stop that embodiment, it would never really remove the actual source of it all.

[Dr Channard]

Possible spoilers!

Okay thanks for that insight. Also from the movie I gathered that “it” had some limits. One was that he was a phenomenon experienced only in the area of Derry. Plus it seemed like Pennywise couldn’t manifest in sunlight (if I remember right the closest he got to direct daylight was his brief appearance in the shady side of the well-house). And a lack of fear in prey made him susceptible to physical defeat.

Also, why did he kill Georgie? There wasn’t even an attempt to induce fear to feed on, he just went straight for the kill. Was Georgie different from the others somehow?

[elevenism]

Possible spoilers!

Okay thanks for that insight. Also from the movie I gathered that “it” had some limits. One was that he was a phenomenon experienced only in the area of Derry. Plus it seemed like Pennywise couldn’t manifest in sunlight (if I remember right the closest he got to direct daylight was his brief appearance in the shady side of the well-house). And a lack of fear in prey made him susceptible to physical defeat.

Also, why did he kill Georgie? There wasn’t even an attempt to induce fear to feed on, he just went straight for the kill. Was Georgie different from the others somehow?

I haven't seen the movie yet but I can tell you that in the book, aside from being a personification of darkness and negativity from some alternate dimension and feeding on fear, It also apparently likes to kill people; children in particular. It is stated in the book that children in Derry disappear at a much, much higher rate than other towns of comparable sizes. And there were several other child murders in the same general timeframe as Georgie.
Also, according to this dark tower wiki, the creature that feeds on laughter (Dandelo) and It are the "same species" according to Stephen King. And in TDT, one of the characters surmises that these creatures have "a set of rules they must follow." So you're definitely onto something there.

[Dr Channard]

For those who haven’t seen “It” and intend to, sorry for dumping a bunch of movie spoilers in here. There are more in this post.

That’s interesting, I’ve never read Dark Tower, but Pennywise just prior to killing Georgie induces him to laughter, and while Georgie is laughing Pennywise gets a bizarre almost pervy look on his face. His interaction with Georgie seems completely different than with everyone else who encounters him in the movie, which led me to think Georgie was different in some way.

But yeah, for most of the movie it seemed like his plan was to terrify and kill kids. Pretty simple. At one point it’s insinuated that Pennywise was responsible for a historical mass killing of kids. But then a scene towards the end of the film threw me for a loop, where it shows many of his victims in the sewer floating in the air presumably alive in a catatonic state. At that point you realize that you never actually saw Pennywise directly kill anyone except Georgie. I don’t know what that scene was supposed to be, but am guessing that those kids were in some kind of suspended state of fear, sort of like a battery for him to juice up on? In any event, it was a weird scene that considerably altered my understanding of what had been happening up until that point.

[kel]

If you truly live in a place that removed from theaters, carpool with other friends who cannot make it is justifiable. Make it an event. You don't need the theater's help to do this.

that's a good idea. a group of us did that in high school when lost highway was only showing in boise.

all this talk about the book makes me want to re-read it.

[Jinsai]

Pennywise appears in daylight frequently.

In the Georgie scene, he definitely looked scared and weirded out, and he's definitely terrified after his arm is ripped off

[elevenism]

that's a good idea. a group of us did that in high school when lost highway was only showing in boise.

all this talk about the book makes me want to re-read it.

what you guys are missing is that not only do I really live in a place that IS that fucking remote, I literally don't know ANYBODY here to the point where we would ever kick it.
We DO go to Amarillo for Drs appointments and shit so maybe we can see it then. Tis why I cherish talking to you cats so much.
@kel rereading the book has seriously REALLY been like reading it for the first time for me

[M1ke]

I saw the new IT on Friday. I've never read the book, but I really enjoyed this rendition of the movie.

It wasn't particularly scary, but it was very enjoyable. Especially Spoiler: that bit near the end where he was dancing in front of the fire, that was awesome. He looked so grumpy.

[elevenism]

One of the reasons I'm so excited about this adaptation is that the kid who played Eddie in the first one went to middle school with me and he was a fucking uppity ass prick. It totally ruined that shit for me. He was the opposite of the character: in real life, he was the one making fun of people and talking shit. I wish I could go back in time and beat him up.

[Nyx]

Spoilers! (for the movie and the book)!

Saw It today (read the book twice and watched the first one many times). It was disappointing. Much too graphic and in-your-face. Some characters are inexplicably reduced to just kind of being there - Mike and Stan, but especially Mike, who, in the book, is the one studying Derry's history and collecting pictures and articles. Beverly was too sexualized, and Eddie was very far from who his character was (timid, quiet, fragile, under his mother's control). They had more than enough time to develop characters and give them motivations/backgrounds. Henry Bowers wants to carve his name into Ben for no good reason, really. In the book he progresses from a violent bully into a violent psycho, here he's all out from minute 1.

Pennywise felt very impersonal, like an animal or a random monster, they failed to convey just how much he would get into people's heads/under their skin. There wasn't a single moment where I'd feel genuinely creeped out. It was all about the gore, the weird faces, scary visuals, fast movements, etc..

To whomever was asking about Its origins, in the book It crashes down on earth in prehistoric times, like a meteorite, leaving a crater in which Derry later forms. That is, if I'm remembering correctly. It feeds every 30 or so years and in order to do so, it has to take a physical form (spider). It only assumes that form when deep down in the sewers, because that's when it's vulnerable. Each cycle usually ends with some big disaster taking place in Derry (fire at the Black Spot, etc) after which it goes back to bed.

[marodi]

James McAvoy and Bill Hader in talk for It Chapter 2

McAvoy would play the adult Bill and Hader would play Ritchie.

Oh and that noise you're hearing? It's me screaming "FUCK YES!!!!" at the top of my lungs.

[Bachy]

James McAvoy and Bill Hader in talk for It Chapter 2

McAvoy would play the adult Bill and Hader would play Ritchie.

Oh and that noise you're hearing? It's me screaming "FUCK YES!!!!" at the top of my lungs.

Excellent choices, in my opinion. Beep-beep, Richie.

[Bachy]

They still need to cast Mike. This is the Loser’s Club thus far. They have some spot-on choices:

[bobbie solo]

Would have preferred a cast of unknowns. Going to be hard to see past the enormous stars that are Chastain, McAvoy & Hader.

[leo3375]

I know I'm not the only one who would want to see either Donald Glover or Michael B. Jordan in the role of Mike Hanlon.

I also think that Spoiler: the film should start with the death of Adrian Mellon, like it does in the book. I think Neil Patrick Harris would be really good for a cameo appearance in the role.

[marodi]

Bunch of losers...

[Erneuert]

First trailer for Chapter 2 drops tomorrow: https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www....countdown-link

Also a possibility of a Chapter 3:

[Cookster426]

Here is the trailer!

[Jinsai]

I love it. The scene with the old lady living in the former Marsh home was always one of my favorite parts of the book, and I love what they're doing with it there.

I gotta wonder if the way they're altering the scene is invoking Albert Fish, another infamous child serial killer; maybe the most infamous. He wrote a letter bragging to one of the parents of a child he murdered, about how he lured the girl into his house, was cute and nice to her, and then walked into the other room to remove all his clothes before jumping in naked to scare her (before murdering her).

Given that some of the Pennywise creation owes a bit of "inspiration" to John Wayne Gacy, it wouldn't be that big of a stretch.

EDIT: and looking more into it, I think I'm on to something here... especially since, in the book, Pennywise says he also goes under the nickname "Bob Gray," and Albert Fish was known as "The Gray Man"

[Swykk]

The superhero music didn’t belong but I really liked what I saw.

[Erneuert]

Colour me hyped.

[Cookster426]

New Trailer!

[marodi]

There is indeed a new trailer:



Man, do I love a pissed off McAvoy.

[Conan The Barbarian]

I want to buy the first one in 4k but I’m afraid that once I do, that directors cut will come out of nowhere.

[Jinsai]

I want to buy the first one in 4k but I’m afraid that once I do, that directors cut will come out of nowhere.

The producers hinted a while back that they were considering making an ultimate collector edition w/ a cut that resequences the two movies to play out like the book. No word on that front for a while though.

[Jord]

Oh lord my body is ready for this movie.