It is a 2014 American Supernatural Horror film. It is the second film adaption of Stephen King's 1986 novel of the same name. The film also serves as a remake of Tommy Lee Wallace's 1990 film adaption starring Tim Curry, Richard Thomas, John Ritter, Annette O'Toole and the original young ensemble cast which included the late Jonathan Brandis, Emily Perkins and Seth Green.
The remake is written by Cary Fukanaga, David Kajganich and Chase Palmer and directed by Cary Fukanaga starring an adult ensemble cast including Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Connolly, Sarah Silverman, Will Arnett, Martin Freeman, Charlie Day, Nolan North, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Joanna Garcia.
The child ensemble cast comprises of Mason Cook, Luke Benward, Maxwell Perry Cotton, Dmitri Schulyer, Ryan Ketzner and Taylor Geare, Dusan Brown, Jonathen Morgan Heit, Billy Unger and Dylan Everett.
Shooting for the film began on February 23rd, 2012 in Gaston County, North Carolina, Queen Anne, Seattle,Lower Manhattan, New York City,Hampstead, London, Atlanta, Georgia (Martin Luthor King Jr's childhood home serving as the Uris residence), Chicago, Illinois and on a controlled set at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Shooting concluded on March 19th, 2013 and post-production on August 29th, 2013.
The film was then released theatrically on February 6th, 2014 to phenomenal box office success and critical acclaim.
It has been praised as a truly frightening, atmospheric and devilishly entertaining remake as well as more faithful re-imagining of King's illustrious 1986 novel.
Mixed reception was dealt out to the performance of the film's iconic antagonist Pennywise The Dancing Clown which is portrayed by Steve Buscemi who agreed to portray the role and auditioned after recommendations from friends, internet raving fans and even by the original Pennywise Curry who contacted him in regards to portraying the role.
Certain critics had a mixed response to the one drastic change in the story of the remake/second adaption of King's novel as it kills off all it's lead characters as adults down to two: Bill Denbrough and his trailing wife Audra who through the same act of the 1986 King novel and original 1990 adaption is able to shock her out of her state of paralysis at the hands of the primordial antagonist.
The change was criticized as the film was meant to be an immensely more faithful adaption to King's novel but writer/director Fukanaga commented in an interview with Variety who praised the change along with viewing audiences, he wanted to go for the horror, not the original happy ending and in consultation with King when explaining the reason he wished to change the ending coerced him to agree, telling the faithfulness promised that was apparently more absent from the original 1990 masterpiece was the inclusion of several cut characters: including the highly significant young homosexual teen victim Adrian Mellon.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times praised a particular scene involving a manifestation of Mackenzie Foy's deceased character who begins to sing the Hearse Song before turning a corner and becoming the Steve Buscemi played Pennywise who further continues the song taunting a young Beverly Marsh, he hails the scene "as one of the most terrifyingly creepy moments in a horror since Isla Cameron's O Willow Waly scene in the 1961 Deborah Kerr starring picture The Innocents."
Plot
The film begins with a 6 year old girl Lori-Ann Winterbarger, of the small town of Derry, Maine riding home as a rainstorm is coming in.
She is riding a toy tricycle back from around the block and takes a stack as she hits a cracked part of pavement which causes her to become frightened and receive a small scratch on her forehead.
As she is face down on the pavement after the fall she is distracted by a photo of a boy and what appears to be blood trickling beneath it and vanishing beneath the cracks.
Rain then begins to come drizzling down signalling the start of the rainstorm as Lori-Anne's mother Diane can be heard from afar at their house calling her.
Lori-Ann heaves herself and her tricycle up and begins to continue on home whilst singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider.
She sees her mother pulling in washing from outside.
Her mother tells her to put her tricycle in the shed and hurry inside as the storm is about pour down and she has warm food inside.
Lori-Ann then steps off her tricycle and begins to pull it towards the shed when she begins to hear a laugh sounding from around the house.
She looks around and follows the source of the laugh to a male clown standing within her mother's clothes line who greets her a warm Hello.
Lori-Ann then begins a conversation with the clown man whilst her mother prepares the food inside for her.
The clown asks her name and then tells his to be Pennywise The Dancing Clown.
She tells the clown Pennywise as her mother calls out for her again that she must go inside and Pennywise tells her to wait as he pulls forth a red balloon for her and asks her if she would like to float.
Lori-Ann is then stopped in a state of paraylsis as she stares into Pennywise's eyes and a flash captures the attention of Diane inside.
Lori-Ann is then grabbed by Pennywise who appears right in front of shocking her out of her paraylsis and she then turns screaming for her mom as she seizes hold of her tricycle.
Kids across the street, as well as parents, neighbors and an officer stopping a drunk driver hear her screaming as Lori-Ann is suddenly pulled from the tricycle which lapses over and begins to spin uncontrollably.
A splatter of blood hits all the white sheets not yet withdrawn from the clothesline and a partial amount hits the still frantically pedals of Lori-Ann's tricycle.
The officer rushes over along with several teenagers and adults following and Diane comes outside calling for Lori-Ann as she turns to face the clothesline which has its steel frames break upwards like wings lifting the bloody sheets up which then fall upon the bloody mutilated corpse of Lori-Ann as her mother begins to rush forward breaking down screaming and crying.
The officer then comes into the Winterbarger yard and tells the kids and adults who followed to stay back as he calls in for paramedics and units to report to the scene and as he looks at a still dangling off the bent clothesline sheet he sees written in blood "She Wanted It" and the spinning pedals of tricycle then stop and begin to drip blood as police cars and an ambulance pour out onto the scene.
Police tape goes around the residence as a broken down Diane is escorted out with Lori-Ann's mutilated corpse on a stretcher by the on-scene officer.
Sheriff Markus walks through the yard and sees the bloody sheet with the writing just as a bawling Diane outside the property looks up and sees a red balloon flying ahead which becomes stuck on a power line.
Soon at the scene is local Derry librarian Mike Hanlon, who begins asking the officers and Sheriff questions about wether the mother saw a clown, the Sheriff becomes angry at this and tells him to stick to his books and leave their work to them and lets him know upon Mike asking again in frustration that the girl's mother didn't see any clown, just her ripped apart 6 year old daughter underneath a clothesline.
Mike overhears two officers discussing the bloody sheet with the bloody writing and how the girl was the only daughter of Diane Winterbarger the local patisserie owner in Derry who had been knocked up by some out of town jerk boyfriend six years ago and she had been taking care of and spoiling her daughter every chance she'd get.
Mike then looks up and sees the same red balloon as Diane as he weaves around the gossiping officers who yell out to him as he walks down the pavement Lori-Ann rode her tricyle up.
He then comes to the crack she hit which caused her pre-mortem scratch on the forehead, he discovers the photo of the boy Lori had been staring at which Mike proceeds to pick up.
Mike marvels at the photo and then turns it over to see the name on the back as George Denbrough 1961.
He then hides the photo within his jacket and utters no himself.
Mike then that night returns to the Derry Public Library and whilst saying goodnight to Ilaine a fellow book clerk at the library who is knocking off her shift hears his name being called.
He pulls from his desk a revolver and follows the voice into the upstairs balcony stacks and then comes across in the section of Horror/Terror novels a vast collection of balloons and then sees a glimpse of Pennywise turning the corner around an aisle knocking down several books.
Mike freaks out and begins to turn the other way and back up against a shelf with his revolver cocked and ready to shoot just as suddenly random books begin falling from the shelf he is leant against hitting him.
As one knocks him down he looks upon the books to see they all are written by Bill Denbrough.
Mike then hurries his way out of the stacks and to his horror at the reception desk in the lobby sees sprawled out on the table articles and articles on several different individuals he has collected.
Articles concerning famed London based author William Denbrough, Articles on a Manhattan Architect Benjamin Hanscom, Articles pertaining to a Seattle Designer Beverly Marsh, Articles on a Chicago based television stand-up comedian Richard Tozier, Articles on a Hampstead estate owner Edward Kaspbrak and Articles on a Jewis revered Atlanta businessman tying the knot his girlfriend of 8 years Stanley Uris.
Mike then hears the voice of Pennywise again calling out his name in a sinister tone whilst laughing maniacally and the singing of Itsy Bitsy Spider by the deceased six year old Lori-Ann Winterbarger who suddenly appears in her corpse, dismembered form heaving alongside her blood saturated tricycle which prompts Mike to close his eyes and utter to himself no fear thrice before once again opening his eyes only to see Pennywise on the side lunge at him.
Mike yells as he falls down over a magazine stack to the side of the reception desk and then flees the building.
Mike drives home and upon coming inside finds certain rooms to be flooded one containing the half decomposed floating corpse of a teenager who springs upright and asks Mike wether he remembers him.
He then bellows out his name Adrian as his face rots away and he collapses into the water which becomes blood and Mike rushes to his study, an unflooded room with water leaking through cracks in the roof.
As the lights flicker on and off he pulls files on the murder of 18 Adrian Mellon by 19 year old Christopher Unwin.
He reads into the case file and the scene then takes us to Adrian Mellon, a homosexual 18 year Derry youth attending the town fair with his in the closet 18 year old boyfriend Don Hagarty.
At the fair he wins a hat in a competition and is harassed by a trio of homophobic Derry 19 year old bullies led by Chris Unwin.
Adrian stands up to Chris in front of a large crowd of the fair and humiliates questioning him on his sexuality.
Adrian then departs with Don home as Don is paranoid over the scene he just caused at the fair.
At the bridge they are met by Chris and his two friends who corner him.
Two apprehend Don as Chris starts to beat upon Adrian who still stands up sarcastically to him prompting him in a moment of pure rage and frustration to pull his cap from his head and throw him over into the canal off the large bridge they were standing upon.
Adrian survives the fall but has large cuts on his head and has broken his left leg leaving him immobilised on the ground below.
Chris panics at the severity of what he has done but as he and the now released Don look over the bridge as Chris' lackeys flee the scene they catch glimpse of a horrifying fanged clown coming over to Adrian calling him by his name and taunting him.
He bites into Adrian's armpit as he screams out in agony and is then dragged away.
Don flees the scene and Chris remains petrified on the spot as the clown begins to talk to Chris thanking him for his ever so generous offering and tells him to see him in his dreams.
Chris is then pulled over walking in an almost catatonic state down the Derry highway and is taken down to the police department and charged with the murder of Adrian Mellon despite telling them he didn't kill him only threw him off the canal bridge and caused him to break one of his legs, he tells a clown with horrible teeth came forth and took Adrian away.
Don is interviewed about Adrian's death as well and asked about the clown apparently present at the scene as the one who dismembered and cannibalised Adrian Mellon though Don too scared to mention anything claims there was no clown.
The scene then returns to Mike as all the lights to his house return and all the water flooding certain rooms and leaking into his study has disappeared.
Mike then goes to his phone and pulls forth a sheet of paper with the names for Bill Denbrough, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak and Stanley Uris sided by listed numbers.
He begins to ring in chronological order beginning with Bill.
Bill at his large estate in Hampstead, London typing up the script for a movie adaption of his first book has his Latina wife Audra pick up the phone.
Bill upon being told by Mike that IT has returned to Derry and killed again and telling about the picture of George recalls the death of his younger brother George Denbrough in 1961.
Bill who had come down with the influenza and had remained bed-ridden for a span of two weeks had his brother George also be allowed two weeks off school to spend with him and on a rainy day when Bill had been particurlarly under the weather he had built him a newspaper sailboat.
George had taken the sailboat and sailed it down a stream going past gutters of their street all the way down to a large a large construction boarded gutter where waterworks were being done.
The boat had gone into the construction boarded gutter and George had been coerced by Pennywise who appeared in the drain with his boat to reach in for it after introducing himself formally, brandishing a red balloon and telling of all the wondrous things down in the sewers with him.
Geroge upon reaching for it had his arm seized violently by Pennywise who then revealed his true fanged face roaring at George as he maniacally laughed and proclaimed that he would be floating too before tearing off George's right arm.
Two fishermen from a nearby house heard the screaming along with a couple of waterworks workers and they came to the scene to pull away George's body from the drain.
Cast
- Matthew McConaughey as Bill Denbrough
- Kevin Connolly as Ben Hanscom
- Sarah Silverman as Beverly Marsh
- Will Arnett as Richie Tozier
- Martin Freeman as Eddie Kaspbrak
- Charlie Day as Stanley Uris
- Nolan North as Henry Bowers
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mike Hanlon
- Joanna Garcia as Audra Phillips Denbrough
- Steve Buscemi as Pennywise The Dancing Clown
- Mason Cook as Bill Denbrough Age 11
- Dmitri Schulyer as Ben Hanscom Age 11
- Taylor Geare as Beverly Marsh Age 11
- Maxwell Perry Cotton as Richie Tozier Age 11
- Ryan Ketzner as Eddie Kaspbrak
- Jonathen Morgan Heit as Stanley Uris Age 11
- Dusan Brown as Mike Hanlon Age 11
- Luke Benward as Henry Bowers Age 18
- Billy Unger as Reginald "Belch" Huggins
- Dylan Everett as Patrick Hockstetter
- Willow Shields as Vicki Burroughs
- Griffin Gluck as Nathaniel Carter
- Mackenzie Foy as Thelma Daniels
- Gavin Kent as George Denbrough
- Nat Wolff as Adrian Mellon
- Moisés Arias as Don Hagarty
- Cameron Monaghan as Chris Unwin
- Avery Phillips as Lori-Anne Winterbarger
- Keeley Hawes as Diane Winterbarger
- Gina Carano as Ilaine
Soundtrack
- Pink Shoe Laces- Dodie Stevens
- Mule Skinner Blues- The Fendermen
- Yogi- The Ivy Three
- Who Put The Bomp- Barry Mann
- Ricochet (Rick-O-Shay)- Teresa Brewer
- Four Seasons- Vivaldi
- The Hearse Song- Mackenzie Foy & Steve Buscemi
- The Itsy Bitsy Spider- Avery Phillips