Welcome to The Attic, Georgie.

IT has had its fair share of delays and problems since the remake was officially announced. Pennywise himself even had to be recast, and it led us to wonder if we would ever see the film come to fruition. Many argue that this project never should have been attempted in the first place, due to the large scale adoration of Tim Curry’s genius portrayal of Pennywise the clown. I absolutely love him, and I will always have fond memories of not being able to sleep well for days after watching IT as a child.

However, I am the first to admit that I have been immensely excited for this remake. I understand the arguments that no one will ever replace or one-up Curry, and I fully agree, but we can have both! I liken this (to different degrees) to the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. I went into an advance screening (perks of living in Los Angeles) with great skepticism. Sure, I was excited to see a horror movie in advance of the theatrical release, and yes I may have fangirled a little bit when Michael Bay stood before us to introduce the film. However, I am the first to kneel before Robert Englund and sing his praises any chance I get. He is Freddy Krueger, and that’s just a fact.

I was shocked to realize how much I was enjoying the remake though, and it was an important lesson for me. Jackie Earl Haley stunned me with his performance, and I loved the darker and more sinister approach to the character. Just because a new actor is playing an iconic role does not, and will not, take away from what we already have from the former actor. Robert isn’t playing Freddy anymore, and Tim won’t be playing Pennywise, but I’m not ready to let these villains go for good. I’m thrilled to see them return in new ways.

But enough about that one!

After a very long wait, we finally have a trailer for IT, which will be released in theaters September 8th, 2017. After watching it numerous times, I have to say I am thrilled and beyond excited to watch this. It clearly stays very true to the original, and there are even shot-by-shot comparisons you can watch here that really show how similar they are.

There are some differences, however, like the kids watching helplessly as a carousel slide projector (this one is set in the 1980’s after all) gets taken over by an unseen force. Photographs of a woman suddenly morph into Pennywise in front of their terrified eyes. This is, of course, much like the scene in the original film where the Losers’ Club are flipping through an old photo album where the pages flip independently, finally stopping on a photo of the clown himself.

Let’s not forget to mention Georgie slamming his head against the barrier as he runs alongside his paper boat. All honesty here: we all cracked up laughing watching that, but it actually lowered my guard in the moment. That’s a great thing because I knew what was coming but that laugh allowed me to relax, right before Pennywise’s grand entrance sent a chill down my spine.

And in a flash, they had me fully convinced that this remake will actually be amazing in its own way. It was the first time we had gotten to see Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) in his element, and not just in production stills. I love that his look is more old fashioned, and that seems to fit the idea that he is timeless. He looks more like a demonic clown that’s been haunting this town for decades and less like Ronald McDonald. He is simply terrifying in this trailer and I love the darker approach they’re taking. I love that we didn’t get to hear Pennywise speak in this trailer. They’re holding a lot back so far and I appreciate that. Let the anticipation build!

This film, as I mentioned before, will focus on the Losers’ Club when they were children and fighting this force for the first time. The next installment (TBD) would focus on their return as adults, but so far it has not been confirmed yet. From what I’ve read, it sounds like they want to wait and see if this film will be a financial success, and if it is, then they will return with a follow-up. I have to think that it will do well enough to warrant a sequel, and I certainly hope it gets one as the first would feel incomplete without the second.

He terrifies me already

The fact that the trailer broke records (over 200 million views in the first 24 hours) is a very good sign that there will be enough interest to easily call this a success in the end, but we must wait and see. In the meantime, I am going to finally read the book that started it all so I can properly compare the remake to the source material.

Stay scared,
Dark Princess