IT: CHAPTER 2

US, 2019, 169 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Chastain, James Mc Avoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgaard, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, fin walk hard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Teach Grant, Nicholas Hamilton, Peter Bogdanovich, Stephen King, Xavier Dolan.
Directed by Andy Muschietti.

This is certainly one for Stephen King fans, not one for those who are not Stephen King fans who may well dislike it. And, it will depend on audience response to the initial It from 2017. (Previously, It had been filmed as a television miniseries.)

The film is set in Stephen King’s state of Maine, the ordinary town of Derry. The previous film informed audiences that every 27 years evil manifests itself in the town, destructive and murderous, embodied in a weird and ghoulish character, Pennywise, a sinister clown figure. In the previous film, a group of youngsters encountered this evil, struggled against it while still struggling with difficult situations and their families. To all intents and purposes, they achieve their mission to destroy It.

However, 27 years have gone by and…

Stephen King sets up weird situations and introduces eccentric characters – as well as a great deal of the macabre, some savage horror, struggles to the death. Fans instantly accept this and are absorbed. Others may find the horror too horrible, an atmosphere of nastiness, and being invited to identify with characters, many of whom one would not want to be friends with.

Now, we have this group aged around 40. One of them has never left Derry and senses the incoming evil, the audience seeing some brutal murders and assaults and the resurrection of Pennywise. He knows that it is time to summon the friends and remind them of the blood pact they made to reunite if the terror manifested itself again.

This is a rather long film. in the early part, after the brutal murder, it spends a great deal of time re-introducing us to the main characters, seven of them, indicating what had happened to them, some successful, others trapped in their past, not exactly memories because they do not remember well, but a sense of evil from the past. And, the film uses the device of reintroducing the characters when they were children, reminding us of what has happened to them, their interactions, the experience of Pennywise.

Which means then that when each of them arrives in the town (although one opts out through suicide), the film spends quite some time following each of them into a re-visiting of their harsh past. And, again, the flashbacks to them as children.

So, finally, they are ready to combat Pennywise in cavernous locations, in physical and ghostly threats, in demands on their courage, in the way that they had done 27 years earlier. Rather repetitious… The experiences are painful, including one death, but there is literal sunshine in Derry after the ordeal.

For film buffs there is a brief appearance by Peter Bogdanovich as a film director and some visual allusions to other Stephen King’s stories, the blood-drenched Carrie, The Shining and the door opening, “here’s Jack�.

1. The popularity of Stephen King’s novels? Screen adaptations? It and television series, the two films? In Stephen King’s canon?

2. Audience expectations? Horror? Mystery? Symbols of evil? Heroism against evil? The state of Maine, towns, locations for horror experience?

3. The town of Derry, in the 1980s, the streets, homes, the drains, caves, old houses, and their being seen in the 21st-century? The atmosphere of the town and its experiences of evil? The musical score?

4. The title, the presence of evil, every 27 years? The background, the circus, the poster and Mr Pennywise? The clown? The reason for evil? The first part and the experiences of the 1980s, the children and the battle against the evil and Pennywise? The second part and the adults? The impact of the juxtaposing of past sequences with the 21st-century?

5. The emphasis on memories, retaining memories, forgetting significant details? The audience remembering the children, their characters, interactions, the struggle with evil, the hauntings? Their own personal lives, their parents, families? School, bullying? Deaths, evil, the final combat? The visualising of their oath to come together should the evil appear again?

6. The film introducing each of the central characters as adults, their lives? Bev and her brutal husband? Ben, fit, his company, controlling the board? William, his actress wife and her criticisms, writing the screenplay, the interaction with the director, people criticising his endings? Richie, nervous, being sick, going on stage, the failure of the joke? Ed, anger, pressures on him, health, the car crash? Michael, remaining in Derry, his investigations, enclosed, sensing the evil, the phone calls and pressurising everyone to come? Stanley, the message, the bath, killing himself, the letter sent, his decision not to interfere with the pact because of his own fears? His death saving them?

7. Manifestations in Derry, the gay men and their being bashed, the body in the river? Other people disappearing? The appearance of Pennywise, his biting his victims?

8. Pennywise, the symbol of horror, vengeance, in the past, with the children, their trying to destroy him? In the present, reappearance, destructive?

9. The group assembling, at the hotel, the discussions, their fears? Michael and his demands? Their agreements?

10. Each of the group going back to their past, to collect their symbols? Bev visiting her old house, the sinister woman and the attack? The poem? Ben, at school, his size, devotion to Bev, hiding in his locker? William, memories of his brother, the notes? And, his mother, his fears, abandoning her? Richie, small, cheeky, the gay implications? Michael, living in the town, his fears? Memories of Stanley and his mother? Each of them experiencing their horrors and the presence of evil? Pennywise?

11. The group combating evil, in the caves, in the drains, remembering their actions in the past, William and his concern about the death of George? In the caves, the pursuit, the damages, blood, pursuits? Injuries? Ed, his fears, Richie encouraging him? His finally vanquishing the monster? But his own death? The humiliation of Pennywise, his shrinking, destruction?

12. The collapse of the building, the group coming out, the town of Derry, the scenes of the fair, the disappearance of the boy in the ghostly ride? Now the fair deserted, the empty streets?

13. The aftermath, Richie and a sense of worth, William and his writing the novel and having better endings? Michael packing and leaving the town? The letter from Stanley? Ben and Ben have and their being together?

14. Another 27 years before the evil comes again?