In part one of this miniseries a group of seven 12 year old children are brought together to fight an ancient evil in the form of a clown called Pennywise (played by Tim Curry) who murders children in their hometown of Derry Maine.
In part two the adults who were the children who fought Pennywise the clown return to Derry to fight him again and hopefully defeat him after another series of child murders begins in Derry.
The cast in both of these parts are great. They all fairly accurately portray the characters as they were written in the novel. This miniseries is a great example of how the filmmakers of the newer It films could have tried following the novel while making slight cosmetic changes and still staying true to the story. You care about these characters and you can probably relate to some of them (apart from the scary clown and living in a haunted town of course). They cut out a lot of details but the story is still well done. I don't think that they had the budget to bring the novel more fully to the screen but still it's a great movie. The special effects haven't necessarily stood the test of time (particularly the spider) but it's pretty good all things considered.
Tim Curry is amazing as Pennywise. He is the reason that I was and still am scared of clowns. He was so convincing that even as an adult I can't fully reconcile him as the same person who plays Pennywise versus other beloved characters (for me) that he's played over the years. His portrayal is more like the novel in that Pennywise is supposed to be a clown so that children feel safe to approach him so that he can get them. In the newer versions they tried too hard to make Pennywise scary. No child in their right mind would approach the newer Pennywise. He even looks like he is possibly crying tears of blood from a distance. Tim Curry's is warm and cuddly. He's friendly. He would never hurt you. As I said in another post I'm very glad that no one has tried to replicate Tim Curry's performance. It simply can't be done and no one should ever try.
Everyone gets caught up in how fake looking the spider is and how stupid the spider is. While the special effects aren't great, imagine for just a moment that you are being faced with a giant spider like that. Until the spider kills you, you would be scared too I don't care who you are.
I'm going to give a bit of spoiler from the novel that might help you better appreciate the spider. Quite a few people are like "It is a spider?!" and immediately think how stupid that is. I myself was one of those people when I first read the novel. Silly me. The novel explains, from It's perspective no less, that It is a spider because It is trapped in that form. It isn't really a spider, that is simply the closest thing that the children can reconcile what they are seeing with. That's part of It's problem It is bound by whatever images that It's victims come up with, It transforms into whatever It's victim is scared of and It can even simlutaneously be two different things when two different people see It (there's a few scenes in the novel where this happens). Unfortunately for It, It has become trapped in spider form because of the Loser's Club. It's pissed off because of this. As an added frustration for It, It is bound by that form to have the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities. For example, because It is a spider, It can be injured and/or killed as a spider. So don't get caught up in the spider. It actually makes a lot more sense if you give it some thought.
Don't get caught up in the weak special effects. They did the best that they could considering their budgetary and time constraints and their presentation of It is better and more accurate than the two newer films.
If you haven't seen this miniseries, give it at least one full watch. You might not like it for whatever reason but give it a shot. It's worth the four hours (four hours!? Yes, four hours. Each part is two hours long and there are two parts. The newer film versions are longer so don't sweat it.)
Hopefully whenever It is remade again (and it will be I hope) the filmmakers of that future version will refer to this miniseries and the actual novel when it comes to making their vision. If they consider the newer versions at all it is hopefully to learn from the mistakes and not repeat them and/or make worse mistakes.
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