“Oh yes… they float, Georgie. They float. And when you’re down here with me… YOU’LL FLOAT TOO!” Pennywise (Tim Curry) – also known as It – sums up his MO as he kills young Georgie. This interdimensional being is out to prey on the local children of Derry, Maine. So naturally, the only people to stop It are a group of children. Who are all connected by… fate? And defeat this being through… belief? But not until It comes back 23 years later when they’re all less interesting characters. There’s a lot to talk about here. Literally over 3 hours worth. Luckily, Decades of Horror 1990s will only take an hour to float on through your eardrums!

Decades of Horror 1990s
Episode 23 – Stephen King’s It (1990)

Following 1979’s Salem’s Lot, It was the mini-series that kicked off a major trend for the era. In the fall out of this two part story, we got Tommyknockers and The Langoliers. There was nothing hotter to do back in the day then trying to cram thousands of pages into a few hours worth of time. The results are… mixed, to say the least. The children being terrorized are pretty compelling, including young turns from Ginger Snaps‘ Emily Perkins and Robot Chicken‘s Seth Green. Then their adult versions come about – played by familiar TV actors – who… aren’t as compelling. To say the least. You may be dreading any of the moments where a kid or Pennywise aren’t on the screen.

To dissect all three hours of It, Thomas brings aboard Christopher G. Moore, Dave Dreher, and Adam Thomas. The four praise Tim Curry’s iconic performance as Pennywise and are desperate to find something else that would be considered worth watching. There’s plenty to dig at, from the Stephen King cliches to the infamous ending. Of course, the optimism comes in where the upcoming It film can diverge from this adaptation. Hopefully, there’ll be fewer questions of whether Prince Albert is in a can and if he can be let out. WAH HA! WAH HA! WAH HA!

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The intro and outro is “Suck City” by Black Math. Look for more of their music via Free Music Archive.