When I was in middle school, 6th grade to be exact, before I had really gotten too deep into watching horror movies, I watched the It miniseries. I don’t really even know why my parents allowed me to watch this, but they did. It scared the shit outta me. Let me tell everyone upfront, I am an It miniseries apologist. I love this thing, warts and all.
By now everyone should likely be familiar with the story of It and the main antagonist Pennywise the Clown. If not, then I can try to sum it up for everyone quickly. In the town of Derry Maine, kids are going missing and the adults are oblivious to the reasoning behind it, though deep down, they all know exactly what’s happening. Every 27 years, Pennywise visits the town of Derry and feeds on the kids of the town. He lures them to the depts of the sewer or will find their biggest fear and paralyze them with it. Pennywise lives off fear, and kids are full of it. Derry Maine exists in a fog, so to speak. The adults that live there are constantly aware of the danger but do nothing to stop it. Should you be lucky enough to move away from there, the fog creeps over your mind and you forget all that you feared there. Thus Pennywise is able to keep returning without any repercussions.
It scared me so much as a kid, I was afraid to take a shower. I knew it was all fake and makebelieve, but it scared me enough that when I would shower, I’d stare at the drain in case anything should start to crawl out of it. Even to this day, the sight of a single red balloon freaks me out. If only for a moment. Look, I know that there are a lot of people out there that hated this miniseries. I will admit that I only read about three-quarters of the book, and even I know that the ending is terrible. I’m not here to try to sway anyone into thinking that this is the perfect made for tv horror miniseries, but on the other hand, how many of them can you even think of?
Pennywise may actually be the perfect killing machine. A monster that is able to disguise itself as something attractive to children, and thus able to lure them in for slaughter. I don’t know if the sort of semi-amnesia that Derry creates is ever explained, but it also lends itself well to being a cover for Pennywise. People forget. They move away, and they just forget all the things that happened to them or around them when they lived there. More so now than ever, the thought of a predator that kills kids hits home for me, seeing as how I now have two small children of my own. I routinely will “test” my son by asking him about strangers and when he should run looking for help. It’s a very real fear for me now, making Pennywise (albeit less magical) an all too real reminder that the world around us is dangerous and we need to prepare or prepare our kids for it.
I have not seen the new version of It, but from what I hear it’s amazing. I don’t pretend to think that anyone will compare the two versions side by side and NOT see the cinematic release as superior. I honestly can’t even put my finger on why the miniseries still manages to hold a place so firmly in my heart. It just does.
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