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It

It on DVD

It can be just about anything.

If your biggest fear is spiders, that’s what It is. If you’re terrified of things going bump in the night, that’s what It is. Whatever It happens to be, however, It can kill you.

A small New England town is being terrorized by an evil taking the form of Pennywise the Clown. It lures children in with its clown-like abilities, and kills them. It goes on for some time, until a group of youngsters decides to fight back. They venture into the creature’s lair, confront it, and kill it.

Or so they think.

Thirty years later, they’re all very successful (with the exception of the librarian who stayed behind in their hometown), and they soon discover It has come back. They fly back to Derry, Maine, in order to kill It once and for all. But It has other plans for them. It remembers them all, and wants some revenge.

So our heroes have to fight their greatest fears in order to overcome the evil that has taken over the town.

Originally produced as a made-for-TV miniseries in 1990, It is fairly good. It looks pretty dated now, but for the time I’m sure it was quite impressive for made-for-TV. It even features a pretty good cast, including Harry Anderson, John Ritter, Annette O’Toole, Tim Reid, and a perfectly cast Tim Curry as Pennywise.

These days, It is not very scary. In 1990 It was probably quite terrifying, for a TV production, but these days the most It can achieve is being a little bit creepy. It’s fun to watch, however, because it’s a fairly well written piece of TV horror, but watch only if you have the time. At 187 minutes, it’s long and very, very s-l-o-w.

But if you’re a fan of this not-quite-classic miniseries, the DVD is definitely worth a look.

Speaking of the DVD, it’s clear this was not planned as a huge release. Both the audio and video are sub-par, and the one extra doesn’t add much of an incentive. Although advertised on the disc itself as having widescreen and standard versions on either side, it’s actually only presented in anamorphic widescreen, but the movie is split into two parts, one part on each side. The picture quality is not that great. It looks better than It would look on TV, but it still looks a bit dated. There’s quite a bit of grain, though on the other hand it actually adds a bit to the feel, especially during the flashbacks.

The audio is presented in Dolby Surround, and they’ve done the best they can with what they have.

The only extra on the disc is a commentary by director Tommy Lee Wallace, Dennis Christopher, Tim Reid, John Ritter and Richard Thomas. It’s not a bad commentary; fortunately there are enough participants that there aren’t many lulls, and you learn a thing or two about the production, writing process, characterization, and casting.

It, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
187 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, Dolby Surround
Starring Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Richard Masur, Annette O’Toole, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Richard Thomas and Tim Curry
Teleplay by Lawrence D. Cohen and Tommy Lee Wallace
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace

 

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Updated May 13, 2006