Greetings, and welcome back to October Horror Fest! Today, I decided to watch one of the most requested movies of ALL TIME at Horror Fest, and honestly, after you guys see the title, you’re going to have one question for me. “Danny, why haven’t you watched this film yet?” And, to be 100% honest with you, I was scared of it. YES. Out of all the horror movies I know and have watched, this was the one that I was apprehensive to start. BUT, now that it’s been watched, I can proudly say I LOVED IT, and promptly get mad at my former self for not watching it yet. You guys are going to adore it. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…
It (2017)
Our film starts with a scene that needs no introduction, and characters we already know the fates of. Of course, I’m talking about Georgie. It’s October 1988, and Bill Denbrough (the future leader of the Losers club), makes a toy boat for his brother, Georgie. (We all know what’s about to happen.) Georgie goes out in one of the WORST storms the town of Derry, Maine has ever seen (one of the main towns in the Stephen King universe), and eventually loses track of his boat, as it is swept away by the waters. The boat, of course, falls into a storm drain. As Georgie reaches in to get his boat, a CLOWN appears. This is, of course, Pennywise, the dancing clown. Pennywise makes Georgie laugh, and gets the boy to come closer to the drain. BUT, the second Georgie reaches his hand in, (it’s time), Pennywise REACHES OUT of the storm drain with a sickening mass of teeth, and BITES GEORGIE’S ARM OFF. Georgie tries to crawl away, but is grabbed out of the street by Pennywise’s elongated arm, and dragged into the sewer, being ready to “float” with Pennywise forever…
It’s now June of 1989, and before we go even more in depth with the horrors of IT, let’s introduce our main cast of loveable losers. The losers club is ESSENTIAL to the Derry and wider IT mythos, so we have to make sure we know them! We, of course, have Bill, the nervous, very stuttery leader of the losers. We’ve got Richie (too talkative for his own good), Eddie (VERY apprehensive about things), and Stanley (Stan, he gets into a lot of trouble but he’s a really good friend at heart). These four boys are the CORE members of the losers club. But, of course, we have more! We’ve got Ben (finds comfort and friendship with the losers after a VERY hard life), Beverly (I love Bev. She’s got it ROUGH and somehow always manages to be there for her friends), and finally, Mike (ALSO rough backstory, but becomes quick friends with the losers). Along with the losers, we have their bullies, the Bowers gang, led by Henry Bowers. Along with him, the only really important one is Patrick Hocksetter. These guys are RUTHLESS. Got it? Got it. Let’s go!
Although it’s been around eight months, poor Bill is still haunted by what happened to Georgie, and never gives up on the theory that he is still alive. He spends LOTS of time going over all the sewer drains in Derry (much to his parent’s dismay), and wants to find where Georgie is, even if it’s just his body. One of Ben’s new leads is to a marsh wasteland in Derry called “The Barrens”, and he takes the losers to investigate. While the losers head to the marsh (which of COURSE there is a massive drainage tunnel heading into the sewer complex), Ben (who the losers really haven’t become friends with yet), heads to the library, only to discover that there have been SEVERAL instances of disappearances within Derry, dating back hundreds of years. However, when he is in the library, Ben has an encounter. An encounter with IT… Ben flips through a book, only to find the image in the book getting larger and larger, revealing a SEVERED HEAD in a tree from a past incident in Derry. He then goes downstairs (after following a red balloon), AND IS CHASED BY PENNYWISE (see now THIS is why I avoided this movie for so long). Ben bolts, only to be immediately chased by Bowers and the gang, who LITERALLY CUT AN “H” into Ben’s stomach with Bower’s father’s knife. Ben is able to run away (BARELY), and swim downstream, where he comes into contact with the losers (just for convenience sake, I’m calling the four original boys the losers, but the “losers club” isn’t founded until a bit later).
The boys venture like five feet into the tunnel, only to find a shoe from a missing girl named Betty Ripsom. The boys, understandably, BOLT, and try to get Ben some medical help. Patrick, however, ventures into the tunnels after the boys, literally carrying hairspray and a lighter to light them on fire. However, as Patrick walks, he looks into the dark, and sees something. ZOMBIES. LITERAL ZOMBIES. They shuffle after Patrick, as he reaches a dead end. A red balloon floats up to him, and pops. Behind it, a clown stands there. Pennywise JUMPS onto Patrick, killing him. After the boys patch up Ben, we see Bev once again, and the boys meet Mike shortly after. Bev has a HORRIBLY abusive father (I don’t even want to talk about him unless I have to), and has horrible rumors going on about her being promiscuous, to say the least. However, IMMEDIATELY after she says hi to the boys, both Ben and Bill develop feelings for our girl. After this, they even go save Mike from Bowers, and he officially joins the club. (I really love this movie guys, just saying that again).
But, after everything seems to be going okay in Derry, everything takes a dark, horrific turn. IT is awake, and IT will not rest until IT has what IT wants. Over the next twenty minutes or so, we see each of the losers have a HORRIFIC run in with Pennywise, or at least his influence. Let’s go down the list of these poor kids experiencing horrific trauma, shall we? Ben already had his trauma (the headless kid in the library along with Pennywise himself), but I’ll list it again. Bev is inside of her bathroom when HAIR comes out of the sink and attaches itself to her (Bev has a trauma regarding hair, as her father has an “obsession” with it, which causes her to cut it whenever he touches it). When she is basically attached to the sink, A GEYSER OF BLOOD comes erupting out of it, covering Bev AND the entire room in blood. However, only children (the losers) can see the blood. Eddie is chased by a rotting, diseased leper (he has a fear of diseases), coincidentally outside one of the first houses in Derry, and one that has mysterious ties to IT. A HORRIFIC painting of a woman (think the Scream painting but worse), comes ALIVE in front of Stan, traumatizing him even more. For Mike, he sees a door with rotting, flaming hands trying to escape it. I didn’t think much of this when I saw it, but of course as all things do in IT, it gets worse, because Mike’s parents literally burned alive in a fire when he was a child. Lastly, Bill has a disturbing vision of Georgie, telling him over and over that “you’ll float too”, before Pennywise JUMPS OUT and tries to attack Bill, with Bill barely making it away in time. After ALL of these horrific encounters happen, the gang finally comes together, and says what they saw. According to Ben, they are being stalked by the exact same thing, and they, of course, call this entity “It”. Our rowdy group of friends FINALLY comes together, and calls themselves “The Losers Club”. (WOOOOOO)
Our bookworm Ben puts his amazing skills to the test, (oh by the way, Ben wrote a poem for Bev but named himself as her “secret admirer”. I know this is random, but it WILL come back again I promise), and find out what is happening. IT is a creature that haunts Derry, and comes out of hibernation every twenty seven years. Going ALL THE WAY back to 1908, 1935, and 1963, It is now back for revenge in 1989 (Georgie died in 1988 but it’s roughly 27 years and honestly I don’t care enough to call the movie out on this). When It is awake, it feeds on Derry’s children, appearing to them as their individual worst fears (for example, Georgie for Bill, Blood/Hair for Bev). They figure out (these kids are really smart) that It uses the sewer lines to travel, and EVERY SINGLE SEWER LINE heads to an abandoned stone well underneath the “Neilbolt” house on Neilbolt street, also known as the Well house. During their research, however, in one of the most AWESOME scenes in the entire film (not awesome for the losers but awesome for me), Pennywise BREAKS THROUGH THEIR PROJECTOR, becoming gigantic and attacking them. After Bev is comforted by Bill with a hug (there’s a lot of cute moments for both Ben and Bill with Bev, but spoiler alert (just getting rid of false hope), Ben is confirmed to be married and happily in love with Bev in It Chapter 2, with the pair returning to Derry together).
After this encounter, however, the losers ALL team up and go to the Well House, where we get one of the most iconic fights in the entire movie. Every one of the losers gets separated, facing their individual fears. Richie gets trapped in a room full of clowns (one of the clowns is actually Pennywise from the 90s miniseries, an amazing easter egg that I spotted!), and finally breaks out, reuniting with Bill. Eddie, while this is happening, is confronted by the Leper once again. Bill and Eddie, upstairs, get confronted with the ICONIC “NOT SCARY AT ALL, SCARY, VERY SCARY” doors, where they are able to run through one of them and save Eddie from Pennywise. Bev then appears, STABBING PENNYWISE THROUGH THE HEAD, after he gloats to Bill about Georgie. It retreats, and the losers (understandably) bolt out of the house. However, outside, the losers get into a MASSIVE fight, especially between Bill and Richie. They felt like they were going to die, and all the losers eventually end up splitting off, with only Bev and Bill remaining, and being resolute in fighting Pennywise, because they know that no one else will (Sad time).
It’s now August, and all the losers are essentially locked up in their houses. One day, while Bev tries to get out of her apartment, her horrific (god I hate him) father tries to FORCEFULLY keep Bev in the house. However, Bev is actually able to incapacitate him, knocking him out. However, before our girl can celebrate or at least spend a few moments in peace, PENNYWISE appears, abducting Bev. Bill goes to the apartment, and finds a message written by It in blood “You’ll die if you try”. Bill IMMEDIATELY goes into panic mode about Bev, and reassembles the fractured losers, all with one goal in mind. Save Bev. They know that if they don’t stick together, It will pick them off one by one. Without their comradery and friendship, they have nothing.
MEANWHILE, Bowers is essentially turned into the apprentice of It, LITERALLY MURDERING HIS OWN ABUSIVE FATHER with a knife. It gives Bowers the order to “Kill them all”, and Bowers does just this. As the boys are climbing down the well with a rope, Bowers appears, attacking Mike, and knocking his gun off of him (it’s sort of a gun, Mike worked in a farm, and sadly had to execute animals (he hated this)). However, this is MIKE, and he isn’t going down without a fight. He is able to get the upperhand on the crazed, blood splattered Bowers, PUSHING HIM DOWN THE WELL. He goes FLYING to the depths, and is out of the picture. The losers finally get down to the lair, and find some of the most horrific imagery in the entire movie. A MOUNTAIN of circus props (incredibly decayed), and children’s toys goes several hundred feet up into the sky, as we see something that I was NOT prepared for, and VERY MUCH got me. All of It’s child victims float in the air, going around and around the mountain very slowly. Pennywise wasn’t lying. You’ll float too…
The Losers find Bev literally SUSPENDED IN MID-AIR due to Pennywise showing her the deadlights. (The deadlights are It’s true form, and are three blinding orange/white lights that cause anyone that sees them to either die, be totally paralyzed and put under a trance (like Bev), or descend into madness). Bill finds Bev first, but promises to come back for her after he sees a very familiar child wearing a very familiar raincoat. The other losers arrive, and pull Bev out of the air. With no other option, Ben KISSES Bev, AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS. Bev is restored to consciousness, and quotes the poem that Ben made her, and Ben finishes off her sentence (I TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT). Bill, finally, after all this time, is face to face with Georgie. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the entire movie, Georgie and Bill talk, and Bill gets all of his emotions out, saying he loves his brother. However, Bill is a certified badass, and knows one thing. That’s not Georgie. He pulls out Mike’s gun, SHOOTING Georgie in the head. He convulses on the floor, eventually turning back into Pennywise. After a short battle, Pennywise takes Bill into his arms, telling the other losers that he will spare them and go into hibernation if they abandon Bill, and leave him with Pennywise. However, Richie walks up to his best friend, and rejects It’s offer, getting ready to FIGHT. In a MASSIVE battle, all the losers team up on It, as It shapeshifts into their fears. However, the losers all face them head on, and weaken It. They aren’t afraid. The weakened It falls into the sewers, and Bill knows that It will starve during its hibernation. It looks back up at the losers, and utters one word before falling into the depths below. “Fear”.
The losers look around, and all of the floating children begin to descend towards the ground. Bill, however, spots something in the mountain. A familiar yellow raincoat. On the inside, poorly written words are inscribed on the tag. “Georgie Denbrough”. Bill collapses to his knees, holding onto the raincoat as he begins to sob. All the losers hug Bill tight, as he comes to terms with Georgie’s death. As the Losers continue to comfort Bill, we fade to black…
It’s the end of summer! And guess who is here to celebrate? That’s right, the losers. All of the losers sit on the grass in a “safe” Derry, where Bev reveals that when she was under the catatonic spell of the deadlights, she saw something. Although it is hard for her to remember all the details, Bev tells the Losers that she saw all of them, as adults this time, fighting Pennywise once more. Bill takes this in, and once again being the leader we all know he is, takes a shard of glass, and slices his hand, then proceeds to slice the hands of all the other losers. The losers hold hands in a circle, and take a blood oath, SWEARING that if Pennywise returns to Derry when they are grown up, they will be there to fight It once more. We see the losers begin to fade out, going their separate ways, until we are finally left with, once again, Bill and Bev. Bev and Bill discuss Bev’s plans to leave Derry the next day, going with her Aunt to Portland. Bev says she loved hanging out with Bill and the losers over the summer, but Bill, once again falling back into his stutter and shyness, says nothing. Bev gets up to leave, but, of course, this is Bill Denbrough. In a moment that literally had me tearing up, Bill gets up, runs over to Bev, and kisses her. She kisses him back, and holds his cheek with her hand, smearing his neck with the blood still from her blood oath hand. She says goodbye, and leaves through the beautiful field. We focus on Bill’s face. The kind-hearted, brave, amazing leader of the Losers Club softly smiles, as we fade to black…
THERE. WE. HAVE. IT. Guys, I LOVEDDDDDDD this movie so much, and as you can probably tell through the review, I am SO sad I was literally too scared to watch it for this long. However, I am SO GLAD that I was finally able to, and even more happy that I was able to share it with you all. We have three days left, my friends. Can you believe that? I honestly can’t. I know this article was a bit late, but I am LOCKING IN tonight to finish up everything, and to prepare for the Halloween Finale. It’s going to be an emotional one, dear readers. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT! Prepare for the next three days, and as always…. Make sure to join us in the sewers. We all float down here. I promise you, dear reader, You’ll float too…
