Film Credits

Teleplay by: Lawrence D. Cohen

Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace

Starring: Tim Curry, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Richard Masur, Annette O'Toole, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Richard Thomas, Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Adam Faraizi, Seth Green, Ben Heller, Emily Perkins, Marlon Taylor

Review

Set in the small mythical town of Derry, Maine, Stephen King's It tells the story of seven childhood friends (Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Adam Faraizi, Seth Green, Ben Heller, Emily Perkins, Marlon Taylor) who confronted a malevolent child-killing presence. The presence, the "It," which could only be seen by children, took the form of a very nasty circus clown named Pennywise (Tim Curry). Thirty years later, Pennywise has arisen once again, children are being murdered, and our now grown-up group (Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Richard Masur, Annette O'Toole, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Richard Thomas) is reunited in order to take care of the "problem" once and for all.

When horror auteur Stephen King's 1986 novel "It" became an incredible bestseller (and what King novel isn't?), it was inevitable that a movie version would follow along at some future point. Eventually showing up in November 1990 as a two-part ABC-TV mini-series, It was an enormous ratings success. But as an adaptation of King's novel, it was only half a success. The opening half of the mini-series is thrilling to watch - it's involving, it's suspenseful, and it's scary. The period continually shifts between the present day and the past, with our grown-up "heroes" remembering their childhood days. While the adult scenes work fine, the childhood sequences are absolutely magical in construction, and those are the scenes that grab hold of your emotions. The concluding half of the show, however, isn't up to the quality of the opening. Some scenes are still excellent (again, generally the childhood scenes), but the writing lacks the consistency and emotional depth that made the first half so effective. Scenes that should be involving and scary became merely silly, and the ending, where the group fights "It" in its most terrifying form (resembling a large, scaly crab!?), is an incredible let-down.

While home video companies are hesitant to release mini-series on laserdisc domestically, there is a market for them overseas. Which is where you'll find the Warner Home Video (Japan) disc release of Stephen King's It. As is should, the disc transfer looks much better than what was originally broadcast on TV - the picture is sharp and clear, and the colors bright and accurate. Since It is a Japanese import, Japanese subtitles appear onscreen, usually on the bottom edge, but sometimes on the sides; if you're like me, you'll be too engrossed in the film (or at least the first half) to pay them any notice. Additionally, while It was originally shown in two parts, each having its own opening and closing credits, those two parts are combined into a complete whole on the disc (even though disc one contains the entirety of "Part One" and disc two is "Part Two"...get it?). The CX-encoded digital surround stereo soundtrack is in fine shape, but the audio mix is your standard "TV movie" variety - besides the musical score and some scattered sound effects, the stereo and surrounds are rarely used. Stephen King's It was pressed at Pioneer (Japan), is Table of Contents encoded, and contains four chapter markers (one for the beginning of each disc side). This two-disc set comes in a nicely-designed and eerie gatefold jacket, and contains a one-sided insert (in Japanese, of course) discussing Stephen King, his films, and It.

Stephen King fans may be interested to know the company which developed It for television is currently in production on another King novel, "The Tommyknockers." The Tommyknockers is scheduled to appear as a two-part, four-hour ABC-TV mini-series in November 1992.

Supplementary Recap

• One-sided insert sheet (in Japanese)