Adaptations don’t come much more faithful than this TV movie, based on Stephen King’s mammoth chiller. The multi-layered story spends fully half its three-hour running time reassembling its seven protagonists and on flashbacks of their adventures as kids, before getting to the meat of their battle with an ancient evil that threatens the children of their town.
The Five adults return to their hometown, where decades before they all witnessed bizarre happenings connected with a ghoulish and genuinely terrifying clown called Pennywise (Tim Curry) who enticed children into his lair below the town. The five realise it’s happening again and they have to stop the creature once and for all.
What follows are some really unsettling scares as the clown prays on the fears of the children, before the film moves becomes a little far-fetched during the second half.
Adherence to the novel means that this shares its weak and overblown finale. Without giving away any big spoilers, TV budgets and giant stop-motion beasties don’t mix.
