A Movie Review Tribute To Tim Curry: Stephen King´s IT ( 1990 )

I was never a big reader of books in my youth, i would rather read physical movie reviews in movie magazines such as Empire Magazine from the United Kingdom. I would also try writing my own movie reviews on paper, writing each review in english and let my mother Lena read them. Every month i would sit down reading every single movie review in the latest Empire Magazine issue and i loved it. Back in the 90´s i even brought with me every summer a magazine to my beach visit, i was probably the only teenager reading movie reviews at the beach. I remember especially one Empire Magazine number where they reviewed the new Joel Schumacher film Falling Down with legendary actor Michael Douglas. This was during the summer of 1993, so imagine what a magical summer that was reading about such a fantastic film such as this. Speaking of Empire Magazine i even remember reading their review of the family comedy Home Alone 2 - Lost In New York. A positive review and not only did they praise the acting of child actor Macaulay Culkin, but they also praised the performance of actor Tim Curry as the Concierge. When i saw the name of Tim Curry of course i knew this was the actor, who did the cult classic horror comedy musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The biggest reason why i remembered actor Tim Curry was actually because a big double VHS release known as Stephen King´s IT, a TV mini series based on the novel by horror author Stephen King. I can still remember seeing the poster at the local Videomix VHS store in my hometown Uddevalla, you never forget such an iconic movie poster as Stephen King´s IT. The VHS version of Stephen King´s IT was so popular at that time in my hometown that it was pretty much impossible renting it the first couple of weeks, which was the biggest reason why i bought the double VHS release instead. Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, who directed the horror films Halloween III - Season Of The Witch and Fright Night Part 2, which i both enjoy for different reasons. I even enjoyed his 1992 B horror movie The Presence ( also known as Danger Island with American Cyborg: Steel Warrior actor Joe Lara ), which i am sure not many of you have seen. After i got the news that legendary actor Tim Curry passed away this year i decided to do a review of my favourite performance in his amazing career, where he played Pennywise The Dancing clown in the TV mini series Stephen King´s IT. Have this TV mini series become even better over the years or is this more a nostalgic throwback to the glory days of VHS rental stores?

In May 1990, a little girl known as Laurie Ann Winterbarger ( Chelan Simmons ) is brutally murdered by the evil clown known as Pennywise - The Dancing Clown ( Tim Curry ). Mike Hanlon ( Tim Reed ) who look around the crime scene notice a picture of Georgie Denbrough ( Tony Dakota ), a young boy who was brutally murdered back in the 1960´s by the same demonic clown. Mike is the only one still living in Derry, Maine among the friend group he had back in the 1960´s who experienced the terror of Pennywise. He makes a call to all of his old friends, to unite them all to Derry, to face Pennywise once more to finish him for good.

If you grew up watching Stephen King´s IT on VHS just like myself, you probably remember that actor Tim Curry was without a doubt the strongest acting performance in this TV mini series. The way he portait a demonic clown straight from Hell, to be able to capture that combination through acting and express that pure evil with facial expressions, Tim Curry knew exactly what he needed to do to make the character Pennywise come to life. Even if this TV mini series is 36 years old, i still feel that Pennywise The Dancing Clown is a true horror icon that will live on in true horor fans heart´s. I personally will always see Pennywise as the finest acting performace that actor Tim Curry ever did, even though i appreciate a lot of his films in s career this TV mini series will always have a special place in my heart. There is so much else to appreciate about this TV mini series as well, where i especially feel that the children actors do wonderful performance. Just look at the performance of actor Jonathan Brandis playing the stutter child Bill Denbrough, you can see the suffering he is going through since his little brother Georgie was brutally murdered by Pennywise. You definetely feel sympathy for the bullied kid Ben Hanscom played by actor Brandon Crane, a character i think a lot of us who were bullied at school can relate to. I have to mention the little girl Beeverly Marsh ( played by actress Emily Perkins ). Another tragic child portrait where she is physically abused by her father, she does a powerful performance at her young age. The whole team of children who become friends really capture true friendship, no matter how nerdy they are they will always have each other. The adult versions of the children also give some solid performances, where especially actor John Ritter ( from the wonderful 90´s comedy Problem Child ) stand out as the adult version of Ben Hanscom ). The horror scenes where they confront Pennywise both as children and adults are very effective, Sure, some of the special effects may look a little bit old but i still think they work really well. I really feel that director Tommy Lee Wallace manage to tell this story from different time periods, by using simple methods to dig into these children´s biggest nigtmares and manage to capture that fear through their performances, where the fear still stay within them as adults as well. Speaking of different time periods, i also feel that they capture the 1960´s really well through costume design, the right small town location and the right kind of character´s for this period of time in history. Stephen King´s IT really show the power of having the right kind of character to tell a horror story to capture you right from the start, and keep you fascinated by the darkness. This TV mini series will continue to be a horror classic and in my eyes no one could play Pennywise the way Tim Curry did. A must own on physical media where future generations will appreciate the greatness of legendary actor Tim Curry.

Rating: DDDD