Stephen King's 'It' Trailer Sends In The Clown

Cards on the table, I’ve never read Stephen King’s It. I know, I know, it’s a classic, feel free to chastise me. I’m adequately ashamed, to the point where I just ordered a used copy online. Happy now? That said, damn this first trailer for Andres Muschietti’s (Mama) adaptation is creepy AF.

Or should I say, most of this It trailer is creepy as fuck. All the stuff with the kids is pure horror gold. It’s chilling and creepy and I watched it with a shudder. The atmosphere is dark and ominous and overflowing with dread. This is fantastic.

The clown nonsense on the other hand, I’m not so into. I’ve never cared one way or another about clowns as an instrument of sheer terror. But that’s not my issue. The shots of Pennywise all herky jerky and fast running and shit, that’s all part of the new jack studio horror nonsense that I kind of hate. It’s actually part of why I didn’t particularly care for Muchietti’s Mama. It just doesn’t do it for me.

Hopefully this turns into a minor quibble in the grand scheme, especially because the rest is so damn good. With no prior investment, I basically went from being moderately interested in It because it’s a horror movie and a classic and all that, to being damn stoked about the prospect of this movie.

If it’s successful, and I’m sure it will be, there’s also a built-in sequel. As I understand it, It is essentially two parts. The first involves these kids dueling with Pennywise as, well, kids. In the latter portion, the kids, now grown, come back to their hometown of Derry, Maine, and tussle with the sewer dwelling murder clown one more time.

This movie, at least according to the reports, only deals with the first part. Over the years, various incarnations of It have been developed with an eye on breaking the story into two films. And for once, unlike every young adult franchise, the source material actually seems to warrant this approach.

It stars Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Nicholas Hamilton, and opens September 8.