Rate the last movie you saw

[The Human Q-Tip]

Are people really scared of clowns?

I always thought that was just a thing people said. Clowns don't know magic, don't have weapons, don't have superpowers. Just face paint.

 

[David.]

I'd be more scared of serial killing pedos personally..

Or white people

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

R.e. It, it was a tv movie that obviously could only scratch the surface of the book's content because of its PG-friendly, prime-time limitations.

I agree that the childhood friendships are wonderfully done and the movie's biggest strength. But Tim Curry isn't getting enough credit around here, who's performance as Pennywise is absolutely magnificent. Dude is the perfect personification of the "evil clown".

Btw, for anybody interested in the subject, there was a pretty effective little movie from the late 80s called Clownhouse, where a trio of deranged asylum escapees murder a troupe of traveling circus clowns, don their makeup/wardrobe and follow 3 brothers home to terrorize them. Stars a young Sam Rockwell.

 

[The Oi]

As a young kid I thought IT was the scariest movie ever. That clown's face haunted me for years. Watching it as an adult, it has lots of charm and I still enjoy it as a story, but not really scary at all. I'm skeptical of the new film but that's how things go when you're attached to something.

Finally read the book this last year. Very enjoyable read though the ending where it gets very mystical and meandering is not exactly... Satisfying. Like it's not bad but the book does a great job of setting out all this cool lore but it doesn't really pay off.

People want to complain about the giant spider a lot, but two things:

1) Basically IT's a dark god of some sort and the spider is just the closest thing that human mind can comprehend to its form. Might not be scary but as a concept I think it's kinda cool.

2) The clown is featured more prominently in the movie than the book. The film gives the impression that it's basically a killer clown with magic powers, but the book gives more forms that give the impression that the clown is just one of many. The movie threw in a mummy and wolfman, but the book also had a giant bird and shit.

The themes of racial hate and homophobia tying in with the horrors of your hometown are what I love about the book. It's really drawn out in detail and you feel just how fucked this whole town is, from the beginning of time to now. The way each of them dreads home has some truth, even as they enjoy the reunion of friends.

The press photo of Pennywise didn't strike me as an improvement on the Curry design. He looks like a creepy clown rather than a fun one that could actually lure a child. But I don't want to judge too harshly before it's out.

BUT the photo below looks pretty good. In the context of reality rather than "horror lighting" I could see this giving me the willies.

You nailed the book. I read it when I was in 4th grade. I know, I know. HORRIBLE idea.

The scenes from the book that I have NEVER been able to get out of my mind are as follows:

(1) Beverly going into the version of her old house where the old decrepit woman yells after her that she's going to EAT HER LITTLE CUNT.

Had no idea what that meant at that age, but I figured it out from context.

(2) The cocker spaniel puppy...situation. Ugh. Made me so sad.

(3) Black kid's dog and the meat. That made me sad too.

(4) The giant bird. Wasn't it like a big fat oriole or something? Not a lot of time was spent on it, but the image of it still stands out and creeps the shit out of me for some reason.

(5) Somebody, I think it may have been the gay kid that got thrown off the bridge, getting bit in half by "It."

Man, all of this was over 20 years ago and I haven't touched the book since. The fact that all this still sticks out goes to show how traumatizing that book was.

 

[-Akronite-]

You nailed the book. I read it when I was in 4th grade. I know, I know. HORRIBLE idea.

The scenes from the book that I have NEVER been able to get out of my mind are as follows:

(1) Beverly going into the version of her old house where the old decrepit woman yells after her that she's going to EAT HER LITTLE CUNT.

Had no idea what that meant at that age, but I figured it out from context.

(2) The cocker spaniel puppy...situation. Ugh. Made me so sad.

(3) Black kid's dog and the meat. That made me sad too.

(4) The giant bird. Wasn't it like a big fat oriole or something? Not a lot of time was spent on it, but the image of it still stands out and creeps the shit out of me for some reason.

(5) Somebody, I think it may have been the gay kid that got thrown off the bridge, getting bit in half by "It."

Man, all of this was over 20 years ago and I haven't touched the book since. The fact that all this still sticks out goes to show how traumatizing that book was.

The book opens on "present day" where they discover the young gay man that's been bit. Right from the gate that's a separation from the movie. In the film they really nail down that this thing feeds on kids and focus on that. But the book makes it into a curse on the whole town.

The fire in the black club really stuck with me. Where everyone scrambles to get out and gets burned alive, and then the image of the bird flying off. This thing breeds hate and punishes the adults who stay in the town as much as the kids. It's just that the kids can see IT.

EDIT: Just want to throw in that I ADORE Curry and his performance. As a kid he haunted my shit, and as an adult he's pretty hilarious in the role.

 

[The Oi]

The book opens on "present day" where they discover the young gay man that's been bit. Right from the gate that's a separation from the movie. In the film they really nail down that this thing feeds on kids and focus on that. But the book makes it into a curse on the whole town.

The fire in the black club really stuck with me. Where everyone scrambles to get out and gets burned alive, and then the image of the bird flying off. This thing breeds hate and punishes the adults who stay in the town as much as the kids. It's just that the kids can see IT.

Don't remember the black club part actually.

 

[-Akronite-]

Don't remember the black club part actually.

Looked it up to confirm details. Hanlon's dad is dying of cancer and tells Mike about it. As a young man, his dad started a club called The Black Spot which started out only being for negroes. The white supremacists in town burned it down with people inside.

WIKI:
"He also tells Mike that he witnessed a giant bird—the same bird that nearly killed Mike in 1958—carry off a Legion of White Decency member and fly away with him in its talons."

 

[The Oi]

Looked it up to confirm details. Hanlon's dad is dying of cancer and tells Mike about it. As a young man, his dad started a club called The Black Spot which started out only being for negroes. The white supremacists in town burned it down with people inside.

WIKI:
"He also tells Mike that he witnessed a giant bird—the same bird that nearly killed Mike in 1958—carry off a Legion of White Decency member and fly away with him in its talons."

Now that you say the name of the club I remember it.

The image of that bird still freaks me out. Like something out of a Tom Waits song.

 

[Jack Brickman]

People want to complain about the giant spider a lot, but two things:

1) Basically IT's a dark god of some sort and the spider is just the closest thing that human mind can comprehend to its form. Might not be scary but as a concept I think it's kinda cool.

2) The clown is featured more prominently in the movie than the book. The film gives the impression that it's basically a killer clown with magic powers, but the book gives more forms that give the impression that the clown is just one of many. The movie threw in a mummy and wolfman, but the book also had a giant bird and shit.

In the book, IT feeds off of fear, and thus it is capable of becoming whatever the victim fears most. That's why it changed so much throughout the book. Presumably they left this mostly out of the series because it would have been a hell of a lot more expensive, and because Curry was scary enough as the clown anyway for what they were going for.

You nailed the book. I read it when I was in 4th grade. I know, I know. HORRIBLE idea.

The scenes from the book that I have NEVER been able to get out of my mind are as follows:

(1) Beverly going into the version of her old house where the old decrepit woman yells after her that she's going to EAT HER LITTLE CUNT.

Had no idea what that meant at that age, but I figured it out from context.

(2) The cocker spaniel puppy...situation. Ugh. Made me so sad.

(3) Black kid's dog and the meat. That made me sad too.

(4) The giant bird. Wasn't it like a big fat oriole or something? Not a lot of time was spent on it, but the image of it still stands out and creeps the shit out of me for some reason.

(5) Somebody, I think it may have been the gay kid that got thrown off the bridge, getting bit in half by "It."

Man, all of this was over 20 years ago and I haven't touched the book since. The fact that all this still sticks out goes to show how traumatizing that book was.

I read it in grade school as well, although I re-read it a year or two ago. Still holds up pretty well.

If you haven't already, you should check out King's book 11/22/63. There's a huge chunk of the book that takes place in Derry and it's probably the best part of the entire book (which is really good overall). Derry is as terrifying and fucked up as ever, for what it's worth.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Nocturnal Animals - WTF/10

Seriously...what the fuck was the point of this movie? It's got great cinematography and a great style (I really like how they made Amy Adams look terrible for the present day shots where she's miserable in her marriage and then cut to her younger, more vibrant self where she's hot as hell), and the shots set in West Texas are Hell or High Water beautiful, but ultimately the film just goes fucking nowhere. The secondary story, which is the novel her ex-husband sends her, is far more interesting than the main plot, but the ending to that story is disappointing as well. I felt like the movie was building up to a really interesting ending, and then just nothing happened. It was like fucking for two hours but being unable to cum and then just deciding to go to sleep.

This movie felt like it desperately wanted to be a David Fincher film. Visually it came close. It's a gorgeous movie. But story-wise it can't even come close to Fincher classics like Fight Club and Se7en. Those movies built up to something. This movie builds to absolutely fuck all.

Spoiler: Spoilers

Like, seriously, the entire movie built up to her ex getting some petty revenge by standing her up for drinks and helping to highlight how miserable her life has become? That was it?

If I were to review this movie with one sentence, it would be: This movie has nothing to say but desperately tries to pretend it has something to say.

 

[col63onel]

Spoiler: Spoiler

Like, seriously, the entire movie built up to her ex getting some petty revenge by standing her up for drinks and helping to highlight how miserable her life has become? That was it?

Spoiler

Somewhat. Also that he had proved her wrong by writing a compelling novel....and basing the villain of the novel on her.

 

[col63onel]

Going to see Logan tonight. It's getting great reviews on RT, and a lot people saying it's way different than your typical superhero movie. Maybe it's pretentious enough to get some Oscar buzz?

 

[Jack Brickman]

Spoiler

Somewhat. Also that he had proved her wrong by writing a compelling novel....and basing the villain of the novel on her.

Yeah, but that doesn't make his "revenge" any more compelling. Overall the movie was pretty clearly all style, no substance.

And honestly, based on how the book ended, that kind of sucked too.

 

[col63onel]

Yeah, but that doesn't make his "revenge" any more compelling. Overall the movie was pretty clearly all style, no substance.

And honestly, based on how the book ended, that kind of sucked too.

I won't disagree that the setup was compelling but the ending was a bit of a letdown.

 

[MGMT]

completely agree with you JB. My gf just wouldn't shut the hell up about how bad she wanted to see it, and I was even slightly excited; a half hour in, I was thinking this has to start giving a hint that it's going somewhere. Toward the end, I'm thinking okay they can atone for a shit plot with an excellent twist or climax -- nope.

Anyone catch a cure for wellness yet?