I so badly wanted to defend IT from the Honest Trailer treatment, but I decided to go with it. After all it makes some pretty good and honest points, no pun intended (or was it?). IT is the kind of creepy movie you have nightmares about just reading the book, honestly because the book was so much more in depth than any movie could ever be. And yes, the book had that pre-adolescent sex scene that had so many people up in arms when they heard the rumor that it might make it into the movie. Thankfully the Losers managed to get out of the sewers without having to lose their virginity in a very disturbing way, though Stephen King had to justify his use of it in the book yet again after all these years.
The comment about everyone else getting chomped on while the main characters got terrorized however is something that has an easy explanation and it comes largely from the book. The clown fed off of fear, and for some reason the Losers were very afraid but there was something about them that Pennywise couldn’t fully touch, as though the creature wanted them when they were at their breaking point rather than just when they got scared. If that had been the case then they would have been clown food the first time they encountered the red-nosed creep. No, there was some kind of destiny to each one of the Losers, even Stan, who just about broke when IT had him cornered and was ready to feed. Together though the Losers were stronger than IT as they proved on a couple of different occasions. Together they didn’t have to be afraid since they had each other and could keep it bay at least for a little while.
The creature had a stranglehold on the town since it had been there for so long, since beyond ancient times if you read the book. It wasn’t an alien, but instead something that came from a different level of existence. In fact it fits in nicely with The Dark Tower series just like everything else of Stephen King’s, which is kind of cool really. Hopefully the sequel will go more into the reality of what IT is, as it tried to do in the book and even the miniseries with Tim Curry. The creature is something that humans can’t fully understand and as a result can’t hope to fight unless they choose to do so. However it’s also likely that those who choose to fight would fail unless they possessed the same qualities as the Losers did.
It’s a lot to explain in one or even two movies and I get the impression that a lot of fans are going to feel cheated even after the second one drops and so many other questions are answered. But you could make this into another miniseries, longer even than the first, and still not manage to get absolutely everything in. That’s why the book will always be greater no matter how awesome the movie gets.
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