| Stephen King's It | |
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| Approx. run time | 192 min. |
| Genre | Horror Fantasy Adventure |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Television |
| Written by | Stephen King (novel) Lawrence Cohen Tommy Lee Wallace |
| Directed by | Tommy Lee Wallace |
| Produced by | Mark Basino Allen S. Epstein Jim Green |
| Starring | Harry Anderson Dennis Christopher Richard Masur Annette O'Toole Tim Reid John Ritter Richard Thomas and Tim Curry as "Pennywise" |
| Editing by | David Blangsted Robert F. Shugrue |
| Music by | Richard Bellis |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Release date | November 18, 1990 |
It (also referred to as Stephen King's It) is a 1990 horror television miniseries based on the novel of the same name. The story revolves around an evil entity who is able to adapt its appearance in order to exploit the fears and phobias of its victims. It takes place in Derry, Maine.
It aired as a two-part television movie on November 18, 1990 on ABC, and loosely follows the plot of the novel. The miniseries was filmed in New Westminster, British Columbia.
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Bill, Beverly, Richie, Eddie, Ben, Stan and Mike form the "Losers Club", a group of social misfits who meet and form a tight-knit friendship. Each of the children come into contact individually with the child-killing monster haunting their hometown of Derry, Maine. The monster, which the group later collectively name "It," usually appears as the thing the child victim most fears before taking the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Their separate encounters are later fortified when they all witness Pennywise reach out from a photograph in an album owned by Mike Hanlon, one of the children.
Spurred by Bill Denbrough's desire for revenge on It for killing his younger brother Georgie, the Losers resolve to locate It's home in the sewers and destroy the threat to Derry once and for all. Henry Bowers, a mentally disturbed bully, and two of his friends – Patrick Hockstetter and Belch Huggins – follow the group into the Barrens and into the sewers, in a bid to ambush and kill them as revenge for an earlier rock fight. During their trek through the sewers, Stan Uris, one of the Losers, is pulled away from the group by Henry and Belch, and Henry pulls out a pocketknife. Patrick has been ordered to ambush the Losers from another side but is killed by It.
As the remaining Losers come to the middle of the sewers they discover Stan is missing. Belch restrains Stan as Henry prepares to kill him with the pocketknife, but It bursts through a sewage pipe and kills Belch while Henry and Stan watch in horror. As It makes its way out of the pipe, Stan flees and Henry's hair instantly turns white from the sight of It.
Stan meets up with the Losers and they avoid looking into It's deadlights. It vanishes, and smoke fills the chamber. The seven form a circle, although It attempts to distract and break them apart by simultaneously appearing as Georgie, Beverly's father and a werewolf. As It, in the form of Pennywise, attempts to eat Stan, Beverly cracks the monster's head open with a silver earring fired from a slingshot, revealing the bright deadlights underneath. However, before the children can kill It, Pennywise flips through the air and is sucked through a drain in the floor. The group grab his arms, only for the glove and one of the clown's claws to rip off, revealing a larger claw. After arguing and deciding It is dead, the group exits the sewers and make a promise to return if It ever returns.
Mike Hanlon, the only member of the Losers who never left Darry, summons the rest of the group back to their hometown when It returns. Stan, remembering their attempt to kill It 30 years prior and fearful what may happen, kills himself instead of returning.
As the Losers congregate in Derry, each has another frightening encounter with It. Henry Bowers, having been placed in a mental hospital after being blamed for the child deaths in 1960, escapes under the influence of It and attempts to murder the remaining Losers. After escaping, Henry attacks Mike at the hotel where the Losers are staying and stabs him, after which Henry stabs himself and dies.
At the hospital, Mike gives Bill the two silver earrings they used against It when they were children. Bill's wife Audra follows him to Derry and is captured by It. Bill, Beverly, Richie, Eddie, and Ben return to the sewers and rescue Audra. They make their way to It's lair, in which they discover It's true form to be a gigantic spider.
During the climax, Bill, Richie, and Ben are hypnotized by the deadlights, located on It's abdomen. Eddie is grabbed and mortally wounded by It before Beverly shoots out the deadlights with her childhood slingshot and one of the silver earrings. The others mourn Eddie, then kill It by dismembering the spider.
After killing It, Richie begins a career in the movies, Ben and Beverly have married and are expecting a child and Bill stays in Derry for a short while. Despite their triumph, the Losers' memories of the incident and their relationships together fade.
In 2004, British magazine Radio Times held a survey for the scariest program aired on television, in which It came first. The X-Files came second. Others on the top ten list included Twin Peaks, Ghostwatch and Tales of the Unexpected.[citation needed]
The film is now available on DVD on a double-sided disc with part one on the front and part two on the back. The "To be continued..." and the 1st set of closing credits at the end of part one and the 2nd set of opening credits at the beginning of part two (unlike the VHS release) have been removed. It also features an audio commentary by the director and a few of the cast members excluding Tim Curry.
On March 12, 2009, Warner Bros. announced that the production of a new adaptation of Stephen King's novel had started, and will be releasing a theatrical remake in 2011. Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Doug Davison are set to produce. [1]
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It (also referred to as Stephen King's It) is a 1990 horror television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King.
Contents |
  | The IMDB page for ''It'' (1990) - It (1990) (TV) |
| | IMDb article - Annette O'Toole |
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