This year will be chock full of Stephen King adaptations big and small. The Dark Tower just came out Friday, while The Mist and Mr. Mercedes are in their debut seasons on cable. But no project seems to have people more excited than the upcoming adaptation of It.
Actually, it's just an adaptation of the first half of King's mammoth novel. (A sequel catching up with the characters 20 years later – and finishing the book – hasn't been announced yet. But it wouldn't be surprising, especially if the film does well.) While I'll always mourn what could have been when Cary Fukunaga (True Detective season 1) was going to helm the project, this version looks to provide plenty of scares.
This trailer focuses even more on Pennywise, the evil clown that lures children to their deaths. Anyone with coulrophobia will be hiding under the covers, especially in the last scene of the trailer when a character has to enter a room full of clown dolls. (Nope!)
It opens September 8.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
