2017's It turned out to be a big hit with audiences and critics, but anyone who had read the Stephen King novel knew that the story was only going to get weirder in the second film. Let's take a look at the timeline of the entire It story.
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00:00Stephen King's It is a complex story in which a lot of things happen, and at times, things
00:05get a bit confusing.
00:07But don't worry about getting lost in the story.
00:09We're here to explain everything you need to understand the full story of the movies
00:12made from the classic novel.
00:14Possible spoilers ahead.
00:162017's It didn't get into the backstory of its ancient antagonist outside of implying
00:22that it's been around for a long time.
00:24But thankfully, King's original novel goes into much more detail.
00:28It, the shape-shifting being that often manifests itself as a creepy clown named Pennywise,
00:33has actually been around longer than mankind itself.
00:36It's an ancient cosmic being that's billions of years old that originated in another dimension
00:41outside of our universe known as the Macroverse.
00:44In prehistoric times, it came to Earth on an asteroid, landing in the place that would
00:49millions of years later become Derry, Maine.
00:52It hibernated until humans appeared, and then began a cycle of awakening roughly every 27
00:57years to feed on them.
00:59It can take on any form, but its favorite eventually became that of Pennywise the Clown.
01:04Its true form, known as the Deadlights, is apparently so trippy it'll drive you crazy.
01:08Beverly Marsh managed to glimpse them in the first film and make it out with her sanity,
01:13though doing so did render her comatose for a time.
01:16As strange as Pennywise is, its mortal enemy is even more bizarre, a giant turtle named
01:22Maturin, who hails from the same place as Pennywise.
01:27You!
01:28You!
01:29You!
01:30Yeah!
01:31Yeah!
01:32Yeah!
01:33The turtle is a being of creation rather than consumption, and actually vomited our universe
01:40into reality when it had a stomachache.
01:42So, you know, compared to that, a shape-shifting death clown isn't all that weird after all.
01:51In the 2017 film, the story of It picks up in 1988 when 7-year-old Georgie Denbrough
01:57ventures out into a rainstorm to play with a paper sailboat that his older brother Bill
02:01made for him.
02:02The boat gets away from Georgie and journeys down the street until it ends up in a storm
02:06drain.
02:07After chasing it, Georgie attempts to fish the boat out, only to discover that, uh-oh,
02:12there's a clown in the storm drain as well.
02:14Though Georgie doesn't know it, this clown is the evil entity Pennywise, who has just
02:18awoken from its most recent 27-year slumber.
02:22Pennywise entices Georgie to come into the sewer, promising not only to give him his
02:27boat back, but also by telling him that an entire circus is waiting for him in the sewer.
02:32Georgie gets a little suspicious, but he still wants his boat back, so when Pennywise offers
02:36it to him, the kid goes for it.
02:39And for his trouble, Georgie gets his arm bitten off.
02:46Don't you just hate Mondays?
02:47In the film, Georgie gets dragged into the sewer, and the town eventually moves on, assuming
02:52that he simply drowned.
02:54Bill, however, seems determined to find out what really happened to his brother.
02:59The Losers Club is the name of Bill's group of friends who eventually go head-to-head
03:03against Pennywise.
03:05Along with Bill, the club's original members are Richie Tozier, Eddie Kasprick, and Stan
03:10Uris, with three more members added as the story progresses, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh,
03:15and Mike Hanlon.
03:16Everyone in the group is an outcast in their own way.
03:19The gang bonds over the fact that they're all Losers, hence the group's name, and they
03:23spend the entire summer together following Georgie's disappearance the previous fall.
03:27Though they aren't all aware of it initially, a number of the Losers Club are also suffering
03:32from some sort of private trauma.
03:34Beverly's father is abusive and domineering, not to mention creepy as hell.
03:38Where are you sneaking off to?
03:47Eddie has an extremely overprotective mother who makes him believe he's constantly sick.
03:52Mike is an orphan whose parents burned alive, an event he witnessed firsthand.
03:56And Bill, of course, is still mourning the disappearance of his little brother, for which
04:01he feels guilty.
04:03A few of the Losers are more than just friends, or at least they hope to be.
04:07Over the course of the first film, Ben and Bill develop feelings for Beverly.
04:11Ben is the first to develop a major crush, going so far as to write Beverly a love poem
04:16from a secret admirer.
04:17Beverly cherishes the poem and comes to believe Bill wrote it, and as a result, develops feelings
04:22for him, much to Ben's chagrin.
04:24Even after discovering that Ben was her mystery poet after he revives her from her deadlights-induced
04:30coma with a kiss, Beverly is unable to dismiss her feelings for Bill, and at the conclusion
04:35of the first film, Beverly and Bill kiss.
04:38In It Chapter Two, fans can definitely expect this love triangle to increase in importance.
04:44In the book, following the Losers Club's initial defeat of Pennywise, the group all go their
04:48separate ways.
04:50In the ensuing 27 years until Pennywise returns, a number of them go through major changes,
04:55but none greater than Ben.
04:57He physically transforms from an overweight kid to a wealthy and attractive man, and Beverly
05:02certainly notices when the gang reunites as adults.
05:05After exploring some residual feelings for Bill that include sleeping with them even
05:09though they're both married, Beverly determines that it's Ben for whom she really cares, and
05:14the two of them finally end up together at the novel's conclusion.
05:18In addition to Georgie, other children go missing in Derry, such as Eddie Corcoran and
05:22Betty Ripsom.
05:23This leads the Losers to believe that something is amiss in their town.
05:27Before becoming a Loser himself, Ben begins researching the town's history and finds that
05:31violent deaths and disappearances seem to spike in the town every 27 years at a rate
05:36of six times the national average.
05:38And that's just grown-ups.
05:40Kids are worse.
05:42Way, way worse.
05:46But it's not always Pennywise who directly causes the killings.
05:49His evil influence infects the town whenever he awakes, causing violence and hate crimes
05:54to spike.
05:55In the novel, the role of town historian belongs to Mike rather than Ben.
05:59Mike first learns of the town's sordid history from his father, who kept a photo album filled
06:04with pictures of Derry's history that consequently features a number of photos of Pennywise,
06:09some from many decades earlier.
06:11As an adult, Mike is the only Loser to stay behind in Derry after the rest of his friends
06:16part ways, becoming the town librarian and furthering his knowledge about the most messed-up
06:21little town in New England.
06:22No one who dies here ever really dies.
06:32One by one, the Losers draw the attention of Pennywise.
06:35It appears to each of them separately, first appearing as one of their worst fears before
06:39showing them its clown form.
06:41Bill sees Georgie in his basement, Mike sees burning bodies trying to escape a building,
06:46Eddie sees a grotesquely deformed leper, Stan sees a painting of a ghoulish flautist come
06:51to life, Beverly is sprayed by a geyser of blood from her bathroom sink, Ben is chased
06:56by a headless man in the library, and Richie sees a maggot-infested doll of his own corpse.
07:01Some of these encounters happen differently in the book, but the upshot is the same.
07:05They soon discover that each of their hallucinations have one thing in common, a terrifying clown.
07:10The Losers quickly deduce that this clown must be behind the child slayings in Derry.
07:15Pennywise also appears to Henry Bowers, the vicious town bully who torments the Losers.
07:20But instead of eating him, Pennywise uses Henry as an agent of destruction.
07:24So why go through all the trouble of turning into a bunch of creepy monsters?
07:28Well, Pennywise needs to eat humans to survive, and greatly prefers to devour children.
07:33Its reason for this is pretty simple.
07:35According to Pennywise, flesh tastes better when it's seasoned with fear, and children
07:39are easier to scare than adults.
07:41That's it.
07:42That's why Pennywise shapeshifts into whatever its victims are most afraid of, and why it
07:46usually stalks them for a time before killing them.
07:49It wants them to be as scared as possible before making them its next meal.
07:53In the book, it compares the process to salting meat.
07:57"...and always let it rest afterwards, so it relaxes, becoming tender and juicy."
08:02After a frightening encounter with It in the abandoned house on Neibolt Street, most of
08:08the Losers lose interest in trying to fight Pennywise and just pretend like nothing ever
08:12happened.
08:13That changes when Beverly is abducted by the clown, which rallies the other Losers to come
08:18to her rescue.
08:19They follow her trail to the town's sewers, then enter its domain to search for Beverly.
08:24Then they take care of that mean old clown once and for all.
08:27Or so they think.
08:30After the traumatic experience of defeating It, the children of the Losers Club come to
08:34the realization that they're growing up fast.
08:36In the original film, after realizing the importance of what they've just gone through,
08:40Bill suggests the Losers make a blood oath to swear that if Pennywise ever returns to
08:45Derry, they'll return to defeat It again.
08:47He finds a piece of broken glass, cuts each of their palms, and then they all stand in
08:52a circle and hold hands.
08:53This scene essentially concludes the film.
08:56In the book, it's Stan rather than Bill who initiates the blood oath, but the sentiment
09:00remains the same.
09:01In It Chapter 2 and in the novel, all of the Losers eventually move away from Derry except
09:06for Mike.
09:0727 years pass, and all of those who left gradually forget the events of their childhood.
09:12But Mike, having remained in Derry, remembers everything, and when children start disappearing
09:17in the town once again, he calls upon each of his old friends to return to Derry and
09:21fulfill the oath they made 27 years earlier.
09:25The Losers all find success in their adult lives, but despite their professional successes,
09:30some are still feeling the effects of their childhood trauma.
09:33But none are holding onto more trauma than Stan.
09:36After receiving Mike's call, Stan immediately remembers the harrowing events of his childhood.
09:41Not willing to face it again, he draws a bath and slits his wrists, writing It on the wall
09:47in blood as his final act.
09:49The other six Losers reunite at a Chinese restaurant in Derry, the first time they've
09:53all been at the same place in 27 years.
09:56After learning of Stan's death, and after Pennywise makes its presence known by taking
10:00on various disgusting forms in the group's fortune cookies, they declare their intent
10:05to kill It once and for all.
10:08In the 2017 It film, Henry Bowers appears to die after Mike shoved him down a well.
10:13This posed a potential problem for the sequel because in the book, Henry goes on to play
10:17a key role as an adult.
10:19Well, fans of the book can rest easy, because Henry survived his fall.
10:22The adult version of the character has been cast for the sequel, and he can even briefly
10:26be seen in the movie's trailer.
10:28After his final confrontation with the Losers as a child, Henry is committed to a mental
10:33institution for killing his father.
10:35In the book, Pennywise again uses adult Henry as a weapon against the Losers.
10:40It frees Henry from his incarceration and tells him to kill the Losers Club.
10:45After siccing Henry on the Losers fails to eliminate them, Pennywise hatches a new plan
10:49to kill the group.
10:50In the book, Beverly's abusive husband Tom arrives in Derry looking for his wife so he
10:55can kill her.
10:56Pennywise takes control of Tom and has him kidnap Bill's wife Audra, who has come to
11:01Derry out of concern for her husband.
11:03Tom brings her to It's home in the sewers as a lure to Bill.
11:07Once there, It reveals its true form to Tom and Audra, killing Tom and rendering Audra
11:11comatose.
11:12The lure works, and Bill heads to the sewer for a final confrontation with It.
11:17But he doesn't go alone.
11:19Ben, Beverly, Eddie, and Richie all accompany him.
11:22These five members of the Losers Club prove to once again be too much for It, and after
11:26It battles them in the form of a giant spider, the Losers kill it for good by besting it
11:32with a sort of mystical battle of wills.
11:34I believe in Santa Claus.
11:37I believe in the Easter Bunny.
11:41Eddie dies during the fight, and the rest of the Losers all again go their separate
11:45ways, save for Ben and Beverly, who leave Derry together.
11:48Eventually, they all forget the saga they've been through again.