While The Dark Tower is set to possibly disappoint Stephen King fans this weekend, there is still hope that this year will see a good Stephen King adaptation. So far the legendary author is 0-2 in media portrayals this year, with The Mist garnering mediocre reviews on Spike and the initial reviews for The Dark Tower being brutal as can be. But the updated adaptation of It looks promising and scary as hell. While its production has seen some changes, such as the departure of director Cary Fukunaga, the first trailers for the film show that it is at least trying to update and improve upon the original TV miniseries spawned from the books.
That includes a better look and feel for Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise The Clown, filling the big clown shoes of Tim Curry and probably filling plenty of nightmares judging from what we’ve seen. While Curry brought some creepy moments to life and hammed it up in the original adaptation, Skarsgård seems to truly be menacing with his Pennywise and far more sinister with his little tricks.
While it is very hard to judge the entire film by its trailers, there’s no question about what you’ll be getting if you buy a ticket to this movie. It pulls apart from The Dark Tower‘s marketing to deliver something that actually makes you think they’ve pulled it off as opposed to casting doubts on the production. Also this moment in the TV spot above is short but right up the alley for what you want from this film:
In the second TV spot for Spanish audiences, we get to spend a longer time with Skarsgård’s titular creature as it menaces one of the kids and really just crawls under your skin with his voice. There’s no confusing this new Pennywise as a fun-loving clown that just happens to be bad under the surface. That could be a detriment, sure, especially when you’re wondering how this clown could lure anybody anywhere, especially into a sewer.
If the movie is half as scary and well-made as it looks, you’d have to call this one a win for Stephen King in 2017. After this, it’s only Castle Rock and Mr. Mercedes and it’d be nice to get a win at the theater for once.
(Via Warner Bros)