Thursday, 29 August 2019

It: Chapter 2 – before it begins

A few months ago I did an article about the upcoming IT: Chapter 2 movie. I did several of these kinds of articles for the first instalment as well so I figured it was time to get this one out before the closing chapter of the Losers-saga is truly upon us.

As usual this article is more for my own amusement than that it’ll help anybody. I’m just going to post some thoughts I had about the trailer(s) and what I remember from the book. Just to see, when the movie finally comes out, whether or not I was right.

Obviously there will be some spoilers here regarding the book, the first movie and the original mini-series.

What’s new?
The trailer of IT: Chapter 2 promises quite a few new things. For starters Bill is chasing some kid through a mirror/glass maze and actually calling the kid by name (so he knows him). This isn’t in the book.

I doubt that this child is one of the losers’ offspring. But some kind of relative is a possibility. Or maybe it’s just a kid Bill met at the carnival.

Pennywise backstory?
The carnival, then, also isn’t in the book. What is in the book though is a reference that Pennywise the dancing clown used to be part of a carnival troupe. And low and behold both trailers make a rather big deal out of the fact that the creature Pennywise was once a ‘normal’ man (or, at least: without make-up). Moreover, that he had a daughter.

The  little old lady-scene in the first trailer is just like in the book.
A bit more elaborate, perhaps, but in the end the basis remains:
Nan is quite effectively creepy. 

This makes this whole notion of Pennywise being this eternal inter-dimensional, soul-devouring monster a bit shaky. Especially since the first trailer poses yet another notion: that Pennywise had/has a daughter.

So what could this mean? A) Pennywise was, and always has been this inter-dimensional being, even when he was in (make-up-less) human form. The daughter is just an extension of him. Or, B) The man who became Pennywise ‘invited’ the monster in. The daughter paved the way for his transformation/possession (be it: The loss of the daughter, or evil acts by the father upon the daughter. All kinds of motivations are possible).

It’s her tie with the Pennywise-backstory that’s interesting here.

New scares?
The trailer of IT: Chapter 2 brings quite a few new scares to the table that weren’t in the book. One of them is Pennywise floating in the air by balloons. But –more interesting to me- is a quick shot of Bev destroying a mirror. In the reflection of the mirror you see Pennywise hovering over (I think) Mike and Eddie. Eddie has a big cut on his belly. Now he’s not going to die just yet since later on Eddie and the troupe are seen holding hands and he has a bandage on his face. Sufficient to say, the guy is going to have a very bad time in Derry, that’s for sure.

Like Stanley in Chapter 1 he’s the only one bandaged. Is this foreshadowing to his ultimate fate?

Another quick shot features Bev underwater being held by some kind of face-less zombie. Also not in the book. And then there’s the fact that the ‘little old lady’-scene is far longer than it was in the book.

Lin Shaye would’ve been great for this part. But I guess she’s too young.

So one can assume that the movie truly takes the visual approach and is just going to bombard a massive amount of unsettling visuals towards the audience. I think this is a good thing. Returning to Chapter 1, I doubt Mike’s massive bird-scene or Richie’s werewolf would’ve worked well on screen/in the whole of the story.

Callback scares?
So, this new chapter has a lot of new scares that weren’t in the original book. But, of course, on a character-development level you also need to include some ‘old scares’. So, yes, Georgie is back to taunt Bill(y) once more (“You lie and I die!”). And, yes, Bev is back in her school-bathroom cubicle (“Hate clown”).

Not to mention she gets a whole new bloodied shower.
Poor girl.
Whose hand is she trying to reach by the way?

This is needed to tie the second chapter to the first. And, maybe, those things we took for granted the first time around might have a deeper (scarier) meaning in this second chapter.

Fan-service?
Anybody who read the book, seen the original mini-series, or just IT: Chapter 1 knows that there is a deep love between Richie and Eddie. Whether this love is friendly, brotherly or more is never explored nor explained.

The people online, however, LOVE to fan fiction their behinds off. Yes tumblr can be a bit creepy. So Ritchie and Eddie are definitely a couple in the minds of online people.

So, knowing this I suddenly saw a shot in the trailer with Richie crying and hugging someone. Who? And, why? Is it the end and Eddie died? Or is it fan-service? Are we going to see them become a couple?

The same goes for the Bill-Bev-Ben triangle. In the book and mini-series Bev ends up with Ben. Will this happen in the second chapter as well? Or will Bill and Bev end up together? We haven’t seen Bill’s wife Audra Philips yet so how important is her character going to be for Bill’s story in this adaptation?

What is old?
In the trailer(s) every single shot in Derry is without Stanley. And then there’s a lovely bathtub blood finger shot. I think it’s pretty obvious that poor old Stanley’s story will follow the bookpages to the letter.

I doubt, however, that the movie will start with his demise (as the mini-series did). I’m rather convinced the movie will begin with (a cold open?) the gay couple being harassed by hoodlums just as it is in the original book.

Also, I believe the enormous amounts of red balloons coming from under the bridge are in this particular scene.
Moreover, I think that these balloons will somehow transform in the title of the movie (as I said: a cold open).

Bowers dangerous?
The trailer offers a small shot of Henry Bowers in the asylum. Pretty much the same as the original book/mini-series. I do hope, however, that Bowers becomes a bit more threatening this second outing.

In Chapter 1 he (felt to me) was rather more an annoyance along the way of the Losers’s main quest to destroy the ultimate evil. This, whist, in the book and mini-series, he felt more like Pennywise’s general. The first big boss you have to overcome before you meet the final boss –as it were. So not some kind of pest but rather an, already, impressive force to be reckoned with.

The ritual of Chud?
Then there’s the ritual of Chud. We don’t see anything about it in the trailer apart from Pennywise slamming a wooden door shut over a hole in the ground. In the book it’s in this hole that the ritual is performed.

So, a few things to take from this: since we only see the door we can assume that the movie isn’t too keen on letting the cat out of the bag just yet. Meaning: the scene is important. Probably dealing with the aforementioned questions about Pennywise’s past. Second; one could guess that the kids from the previous movie will be back for this scene since (if memory serves) both the adults and the kids perform this ritual.

What I want.
What I want, is batshoot craziness! The ending of the original IT novel is so immensely insane. I mean, we are talking about a guy tripping to high heavens and meeting an intergalactic space turtle who vomits out worlds. If one can translate this narrative insanity visually on the silver screen I’m a happy bunny.

The trailer (especially the second one) promises this. There are strange angled shots. Pennywise defying gravity by walking on walls. One of the characters falling through a tunnel into a bright light. All very Lovecraftian (without the tentacles). And with the movie set to have a three hour runningtime I’m convinced that IT: Chapter two will throw everything at the audience (including the kitchen sink). So I’m hyped and ready to go.

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