Rating B｜IT, my childhood trauma

It is "IT"!"IT" is coming!

This a film which has left children -and even adults- traumatized and having nightmares for years after watching it .

It was adapted from the original novel by Stephen King. Once released, it became an unexpected blockbuster, breaking multiple box office records. It was the highest-grossing film of 2017's North American horror film opening day .

It has received good reputation on IMDB. More than half of the people who watched it gave it a score of more than 7 points, which is considered a high reputation among horror movies.

Today, I will take you along to review this classic horror film and see what it is that makes It stand out among contemporary horror films.

Meeting Pennywise in the sewer was the beginning of the nightmare

The story takes place in the fictitious town named Derry, which has been shrouded in strange terrorist attacks for hundreds of years that end with the continuing disappearances of children.

The disappearance of Georgie Denbrough, the brother of the protagonist, is the beginning of the story.

Georgie was playing with his paper boat in the rain, the SS. George follows the current and plunges into the sewers.

In the sewer, Georgie meets the clown called Pennywise.

Everytime he appears he leaves dismembered corpses. People in the town can still see the remains of the victims in various places.

Like some other children in the town, Georgie's brother, William, begins to see terrible things. Some see giant birds and others see mummies and werewolves.

Beverly hears the screams of the missing children from the washbasin, but when she comes close to hear them, she sees blood gushing towards her. This is one of the most frightening scenes in the original novel and is perfectly presented in the film.

However, the most frightening thing has not happened yet, but all adults turn a blind eye to it.

Fearing "IT" comes from a feeling of helplessness. The person who can give them a sense of security, adults, ignores their fear.

Counterattack of the "Losers"

Countless children are tortured by this. However, seven of them are destined to come together, establishing a Loser's Club.

You can see the word "Loser" written on Eddie's cast, but it has been changed to "Lover". In the original book, they all sign on his cast, representing the agreement and commitment of the club.

Some of them were born in the slums, some were called "pigs" by their classmates, and others were bullied by older children. The bullies called them "Losers", which is the origin of their club name.

They meet each other during the summer vacation. Finally, they all talked about the terrible scenes they saw. Although everyone experienced different situations, the source of terror points to the same thing - IT.

That is the clown who called himself Pennywise, the one Georgie's brother saw in the sewer.

They decide to support each other and fight with the clown to the end.

However, things are not that simple.

They have no idea how to defeat pennywise. They don't even know what this thing is, so they have to call it“IT”.

"IT"

After doing some research, they found that not only the children suffered from it, but also the whole town had been terrorized by this creature. The appearance of the clown can be traced back to 200 years ago.

One of the kids found a record in historical materials.

Since 1900, this demon has been torturing people in Derry. They realized that, every 27 years, the number of disappearances and death rates in Derry would reach its highest peak.

What makes people feel terrified is that there is a 27 year gap between the 2017 version and the 1990 version. And Jonathan Brandis, the actor who played William in the 1990 version, committed suicide in 2003 at the age of 27.

Jonathan Brandis

The clown seems to have existed since the establishment of the town. And Every 27 years, it returns to the world.

The children realized that it's not time to be afraid, but time to fight against the clown.

But do they really know anything about the clown?

Question 1: When did clowns first appear?

Like the Joker, the clown in "Batman", Pennywise has become a classic. The first film achieved a great success. It Chapter Two has been firmly established. Many questions that aroused from the first film will be answered in the second film. The biggest question is his life experience.

Many adults in the town also have seen Pennywise, but they chose to forget about it.

For example, Mike's father didn't tell his son until his death that on the day of the fire, he saw a huge bird in the sky, just like Mike saw later.

The bird was not flying, but hovering in the air. It's floating, and its wings were tied with balloons.

"Floating" or floating like a balloon is part of the most frightening words about Pennywise.

In his world, floating means death.

In the original book, the earliest and most mysterious event occurred in 1741 when 340 residents suddenly disappeared in October. Terribly, the surrounding towns had no record of this.

This is the earliest thing that the protagonists could trace back to about his appearances, but in fact, Pennywise has existed for millions of years.

In the original book, It is described as something from outer space. It had come to the Earth long before the birth of human beings.

IT 1990

At that time, it had only one name - Dead Light, because when it approached, it would emit a dazzling light.

It has the ability to read your mind, and then turn your worst fears into reality, and use your fears to suck up vulnerable souls. Therefore, different people see him in different states, what they are most afraid of.

Question 2: Where is the clown?

Although Pennywise has no entity, it has a stronghold.

The old house at 29 Neibolt Street is its ground stronghold. In the film, he always commits crimes through the sewer. The children find that this room is the hub connecting all the pipes.

However, his real nest is not there, but in the depth of the intricate underground pipeline. The crew also specially built a real sewer for this purpose.

In the original book, two battles with Pennywise are held here. In the second film, the protagonists come back here again but as grownups. Therefore, it was necessary to build a real scenery.

Building Stephen King's Horror Universe

The stories written by Stephen King are inexplicably linked, which can be called Steve King's Horror Universe.

Concept of "The Dark Tower".

And "IT" is the link of many works.

For example, many criminals in Derry have been sent to Shawshank's Prison.

Shawshank Redemption is also adapted from Stephen King's original novel.

Also, In The Dark Tower, the universe has 12 guardian gods, one of which is a turtle. The turtle also appeared in the "IT" as part of the bonus. In the film, the children get inspiration from it and learn about the exorcism ceremony of Himalayans.

The fear brought by Pennywise

Although "IT" is a horror film, its core actually wants to show people's selfishness and indifference.

Why can only children see the clown?

Because children are the simplest. They believe in what they can see, just as we believed in something as trivial as a dog eating the moon during a lunar eclipse when we were little.

The children's strength also comes from this. They have unlimited imagination and believe that they have courage, and in that courage lies their strength.

Without counting on with the support of the adults of the town, their fragile palms join together to gather the strength of unity.

IT 1990

And why do all the adults turn a blind eye to the clown's behavior?

In fact, they can see anything, but they dare not face the fear of the unknown and keep silent about terrible things when they grow up.

The wonderful thing about "IT" is that it depicts that in a complex society, only children have the courage to help in the face of injustice.

They firmly believe that the world needs them to change. If adults do not act, they cannot just stand idly by.

In the original book, 27 years later, the six children are far away from Derry and their childhood nightmares. They also choose to forget those terrible experiences.

But a phone call reminds them of the time they spent with Pennywise. They can't just leave it alone and continue to live their own lives. So, without any hesitation, they choose to return to Derry and continue to fight against the devil.

As Javier once said: We stick to one thing, not because it will be effective, but because we firmly believe that it is right to do so.

In fact, Pennywise is around us.

Would you choose to ignore him or fight against him?