Most people aren't going to rate the 1990 TV miniseries It among the greatest adaptations of Stephen King's work, even if it does feature a lot of Tim Curry laughing manically, so it made sense that Hollywood took another swing at adapting the doorstopper. The first of two installments came out in 2017, and while the big budget horror film is better overall in comparison to the 1990 version, there are still some things about the original that are just a little more chilling. Let's take a look at some moments from the 1990 version of It that are actually scarier than they are in the remake.
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00:00There are a lot of reasons why Stephen King's It was ripe for revival on screen in 2017.
00:06It'd been 27 years since the last adaptation, which is a fateful number in the story.
00:11Clowns are still pretty damn scary, and, well, the 1990 TV miniseries simply couldn't capture
00:16the most terrifying elements of King's bestseller under network restrictions and a small screen
00:21budget.
00:22The outdated special effects in particular have rendered certain portions of the original
00:26It film laughable instead of frightening.
00:29Even so, there are certain scenes in the 1990 miniseries that still hold up, and are actually
00:34even scarier than the new big-screen adaptation.
00:38The moving pictures
00:39The 2017 version of It includes a memorably terrifying sequence in which Pennywise comes
00:44to life within a sinister slideshow, but the 1990 version of that moment is a bit eerier
00:50in some respects.
00:51Bill Denbrough is alone and still completely grief-stricken about his brother Georgie's
00:55funeral when he first comes into contact with It.
00:58He skims through a book of photos when all of a sudden Georgie's most recent picture
01:02winks at him, and starts oozing blood.
01:05What's worse is that Bill's parents are more concerned about him not belonging in the room
01:09than finding out what he saw, or more importantly, what they can't see.
01:13It's nightmarish enough not to be believed or heard by your parents, but when they're
01:16smearing invisible blood all over your murdered brother's room, it's even worse.
01:21Pennywise's page-bouncing also comes into play later on, when the Losers look at Mike's
01:25dad's photo album about Derry's many child murder sprees, and the town square's carnival
01:30comes to life with a certain dancing clown at the center.
01:34If the slow burn of him coming into closer, full-color view isn't scary enough, the fact
01:38that he then reaches through the page to grab at the Losers should keep you up at night.
01:43Ben's father
01:44The new version of It makes very little of Ben Hanscom's background, but the miniseries
01:48introduces a gnawing element of the story that still works as a hair-raiser.
01:53Early on, Ben is seen traipsing through the Barrens alone and sees his long-lost father
01:57in full military dress, standing in the swamp and beckoning him into the sewer.
02:02The 2017 movie offers its own share of Pennywise's dread-inducing impressions, but the idea that
02:08Ben's dead dad would slowly morph into the clown like that is the kind of creepy cruelty
02:12that's hard to forget.
02:14Beverly's bathroom
02:16The 2017 movie does a good job of depicting Beverly Marsh's infamous bloody bathroom.
02:21Her physical maturation is stoking fear in Beverly and others in her life, but there's
02:25still something extraordinarily unsettling about the 1990 version.
02:29It's slower, there are children's voices crying out to Beverly …
02:32I'm Vicky Burroughs.
02:33I'm Matthew O'Connor.
02:34We're all the dead kids.
02:38And once the balloon of blood explodes all over the place, Mr. Marsh puts his hand right
02:42into the gory mess, unable or unwilling to see what his kid sees.
02:46So it's a test of her squeamishness and sanity.
02:50Eddie's shower
02:51There's no denying that Eddie Kasbrak's first encounter with IT in the 2017 version is really
02:56creepy, but there's a certain emotional vulnerability that's lost in translation from the first.
03:02In the first version, Eddie is being pimpled by the adults in his life.
03:05His mother has told him not to shower at school, but his gym teacher absolutely insists he
03:10does.
03:11Everyone else has already cleaned up by the time Coach wins the argument, which leaves
03:15Eddie out to dry solo in the school showers, just as they start to come to life.
03:19After a good rinse, all the nozzles start operating themselves and turn every spout
03:23into a scolding torture device meant to steer Eddie away from safety just before Pennywise
03:28pays him a visit through the drain.
03:30If Psycho didn't make you think twice about showering away from home, here's another scene
03:34that'll creep into your memory at the worst moment.
03:37Going clear
03:38The kids' final stand against Pennywise in the new film is incredibly similar to what
03:42goes down in the miniseries, and both ignore the novel's very weird ritual of chud in favor
03:48of a more old-fashioned fight with it, and make their pact to come back together if and
03:52when it returns.
03:53But despite all the faults to be found in the camera work, props, and visual effects,
03:57the 1990 version is still highly effective, thanks to some key fog machine work and the
04:02attack on poor Stan.
04:04While the losers are trying to stay together, Pennywise already sees the weakest links in
04:08their chain and tries to make a meal out of Stanley Uris.
04:12It's a terrible preview of what's to come, and the fact that Pennywise is able to break
04:15their chain certainly undermines their sense of strength in numbers.
04:19I am eternal, child.
04:22The meta element
04:24One of the essential elements of the first movie is how informative pop culture was to
04:28the losers' fear.
04:29For example, within days of the group seeing I Was a Teenage Werewolf at the Paramount
04:33Theater, the group's most entertainment-oriented member, Richie Tozier, is chased through the
04:39school's basement by a werewolf in a varsity jacket.
04:42That scene speaks volumes about Stephen King's story and influences, as it derives from so
04:46many other scares while also informing New Nightmares all its own.
04:50They float, Georgie.
04:53They float.