It’s officially spooky season, and what better way to kick it off than by watching a new, terrifying TV show?
It: Welcome to Derry is HBO’s new prequel series to Stephen King’s It movie franchise. The show explores the origin story of killer clown Pennywise, as well as his earliest attacks on the children of the fictional Derry, Maine.
Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with film and TV critics Sonya Ballantyne, Beatrice Loayza and Laura Hall to discuss It: Welcome to Derry and if it’s as scary as the movies.
We’ve included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including reviews of the films Bugonia and Dream Eater, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.
WATCH | Today’s episode on YouTube:
Elamin: Laura, this is a show that is set in small-town America. The town is called Derry. We’re in 1962. How do you think the time and place inform what the show is trying to do?
Laura: Yeah, I found it really interesting thinking about the post-World War II angst. Movies like The Town That Dreaded Sundown covers this subject area where you’ve got the nice, largely white settler town. Everything’s supposed to be idyllic. The family is there. Everyone’s getting along, but clearly there’s something going on and there’s something wrong — there’s something in the water, there’s something in the snow, there’s something in the air. And so it’s a really interesting setup and it immediately introduces you to the racism, classism, sexism that the kids are also up against. So there’s Pennywise, but then there’s people, right? And the family’s a mess. The good old American family is birthing demons at this point.
Elamin: Laura, I don’t know how you did that, but that made me even more creeped out than the trailer.
Beatrice, obviously there’s a lot of Stephen King adaptations in general. Not a lot of people sit around going, “I need another Stephen King adaptation.” But yet this one’s arrived to a lot of excitement. How do you feel about this new entry into Stephen King’s cinematic universe?
Beatrice: The Stephen King adaptation is hit or miss. I saw it more as an extension of the last two It movies, which I thought were very solid. But I must say, I came in pretty skeptical. I don’t think super highly of spin-offs or shows or movies that try to milk too much of a good thing. But I watched the pilot last night and was pleasantly surprised at how nuts it is.
There’s an opening bit where a lost boy character gets abducted, and the way that unfolded was just so bizarre and off-the-wall and unhinged. And frankly, I found it really unsettling. I feel like I don’t get that surprised in horror movies, but this actually surprised me with every turn. I had zero clue what was going on and that extended to the end of the pilot. That might sound like a bad thing, but in this case, to have me on my toes — as somebody that watches a lot of movies professionally— is kind of a virtue. So I would say at this point, I’m not sure how scary I think it is because it’s really outlandish. It crams a ton of stuff in that first hour, which added to the confusion, but I really appreciate the go-for-brokenness of it.
Elamin: Sonya, you watched this first episode, you’re introduced to this universe. Are you enticed to go further? Where do you want to see the story go from here?
Sonya: I’m a huge fan of Stephen King. He was actually one of the reasons I started reading as a kid. I shouldn’t have been reading so young.
But one of the biggest complaints about his writing is that he can’t really write women or girls, his characters are always focused on boys. And one of the things I’m really excited about for this series is that it seems like it’s going to be more focused on Pennywise’s impact on women, on girls. Two of the lead characters that we meet in the first episode are a little girl who has been to a mental institution and another one who is dealing with the fact that her dad was blamed for all the disappearances and stuff and she’s Black. And so I’m really excited to see that element of the show expand the universe in a way. I do love Stephen King, but I’m like, yeah it’d be cool to see girls take on Pennywise this time.
You can listen to the full discussion from today’s show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Panel produced by Jane van Koeverden.
