Stephen King's: IT (1990)

Description

Review: "Beep... Beep... Richie...!" - The story revolves around a predatory shapeshifter which has the ability to transform itself into its prey's worst fears, allowing it to exploit the phobias of its victims. It mostly takes the form of a sadistic, wisecracking clown called Pennywise played by Tim Curry. The protagonists are The Lucky Seven, or The Losers Club, a group of outcast kids who discover Pennywise and vow to destroy him by any means necessary. The series takes place over two different time periods, the first when the Losers first confront Pennywise as children in 1960, and the second when they return as adults in 1990 to defeat him a second time after he resurfaces. In Derry, Maine, in 1960, Bill Denbrough gives his younger brother Georgie a paper sailboat to take out onto the street to sail in the gutter. Georgie is unable to stop the boat from sailing down the storm drain, but encounters a strange clown in the drain who introduces himself as Pennywise. Pennywise then entices Georgie to reach into the drain to retrieve his boat, killing the boy by ripping his arm off. Months later, during the spring semester at their school, Bill befriends the overweight new kid Ben Hanscom. He introduces Ben to asthmatic Eddie Kaspbrak who lives with his overbearing mother, Beverly Marsh who lives with her abusive father who is also the school janitor, wise-cracking Richie Tozier, and Jewish Boy Scout, Stanley Uris. Besides being tormented by a gang of local bullies led by Henry Bowers, the group each experiences disturbing encounters with Pennywise. During one afternoon when he was going to practice his band instrument for the town parade, Bill and his friends encounter African-American Mike Hanlon being pursued by Henry's gang. They chase the bullies off with rocks and befriend Mike, with Henry vowing to kill them all. The group, calling themselves "The Losers Club", come to realize that they are each being terrorized by the same entity. While looking through Mike's history scrapbook, they deduce Pennywise is a monster that surfaces every 30 years in Derry to feed on the town's children before returning to hibernation again. They also deduce that the creature, which they dub "It" since it is not human and has no gender, assumes the appearance of what they fear. After discovering that It killed his brother, Bill leads the Losers into the sewers under Derry to kill It. They are followed by Henry and his friends, Victor Criss and Belch Huggins, who are intent on killing them. It kills Victor, who had separated to set an ambush on the Losers, and Belch, who helps Henry separate Stan from the others, sparing a horrified Henry while chasing Stan as he regroups with the Losers. Pennywise grabs Stan, only for the Losers to use It's ability to access their imaginations against him; Eddie imagines his inhaler is full of battery acid and uses it to melt the clown's face while Beverly uses a slingshot and a silver projectile, which the Losers imagine will kill It, to smash a hole in the clown's head. Pennywise evades the second projectile and escapes down a drain, seemingly dying. Bill makes the others promise to return and kill It should the creature ever come back. Henry, his hair whitened from fright and driven insane from seeing It's "Deadlights", later emerges from the sewers and is institutionalized when he takes credit for murdering his friends, as well as It's previous victims. In 1990, Mike, now the town librarian, is investigating a string of missing children and killings and arrives at the crime scene of a murdered girl named Laurie Anne Winterbarger. Finding Georgie's picture and convinced that It is back, Mike proceeds to contact the others to fulfill their vow. Bill has become a bestselling horror novelist married to British actress Audra Phillips, Ben is an architect who has lost weight due to joining his high school track team, Beverly is a fashion designer abused by her husband Tom Rogan, Richie is a late night television comedian, Eddie runs a limousine service but still lives with his mother, and Stan is a married real estate broker. Prior to Mike's phone calls, the other Losers had completely forgotten each other along with their childhood traumas and memories of It. While the other five reluctantly agree to come, a fear-stricken Stan slits his wrists in his bathtub and writes "IT" on the wall in his own blood. The remaining six find themselves harassed by Pennywise once reaching Derry. They eventually meet at dinner, learning of Stan's suicide shortly after Mike calls his wife. Two other people also converge on the town: an older Henry, whom Pennywise frees to help him kill the Losers, and a worried Audra who ends up being abducted by It while exposed to the creature's Deadlights. Mike is hospitalized by Henry, who in turn is killed by his own knife during a scuffle with the other Losers. After Mike gives Bill the two pieces of silver he retrieved from the sewers, the five remaining Losers decide to destroy It for good. They descend into the sewers once again, with Pennywise informing them that they will never see It, just what their “tiny human minds” can comprehend. Bill learns Audra is being held while overcoming It's attempt to induce further guilt. The Losers eventually reach It's inner sanctum, finding both a catatonic Audra and It's true form as a giant spider. Bill, Ben and Richie nearly get lost in It's Deadlights and Eddie is killed attempting to save his friends. Beverly mortally wounds It with her slingshot, and as It limps away the surviving Losers pursue and knock the creature down and rip its heart out, supposedly killing It once and for all. They remove the comatose Audra and Eddie's body from the sewers, burying him in Derry's cemetery. With It finally dead, the Losers go their separate ways and move on with their lives as their memories of It fade away. A recovered Mike also has his memories begin to fade as he considers starting a new life elsewhere. Richie is cast in a film with an actor resembling Eddie, while Beverly and Ben are finally married and expect their first child. Bill is the last to leave Derry, using his last hour in town to coax Audra out of her catatonia by giving her a ride down the street on his childhood bicycle, Silver, which he had once used as a child to escape from It, and Audra finally recovers. The film ends with Bill and Audra kissing as a crowd looks on.