Directed by John Campopiano and Chris Griffiths
Written by John Campopiano & Gary Smart
Featuring Tim Curry, Tommy Lee Wallace, Seth Green
Unrated
Runtime: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Available digitally October 3, and Blu-ray and DVD October 24

by Stacey Osbeck, Staff Writer

Based on the title, I thought Pennywise: The Story of It, from directors John Campopiano and Chris Griffiths, would be a solid two hours of Tim Curry, so of course, sign me up. Instead, it’s an in-depth look at It, the made-for-TV miniseries from 1990 that has withstood the test of time.

I’m sure you’ve seen movies from the 70s, 80s, 90s. How many made-for-TV movies from that same stretch of time can you think of? For me, only a few. And when you consider how many achieved cult status it’s clear that It stands in a category of its own.

For anyone who ever dreamed of pulling a picture together this feature documentary is quite informative. First, you need a spark of an idea. This starts with Stephen King relaying a real life occurrence of gripping fear. Over time, that moment morphed and grew into his novel It.

Second, you need to hire a scriptwriter to bring the book to the screen. Through interviews with Lawrence D. Cohen we learn the thought process and politics of making that happen. Then a director, in this case Tommy Lee Wallace, needs to hop on board with a clear vision.

The narrative begins with a group of seven kids plagued by an evil taken root in their hometown of Derry, Maine. This entity manifests into many forms, but its go-to is of Pennywise the clown (Tim Curry). The kids hope they’ve put the beast to rout. Just in case, they all group hug and swear that if the evil ever returns they will come back to finally destroy it. Which leaps us from the kids in the 50s to the adults in the present, 1990.

This brings some particular casting questions. Are similar looks enough to convince an audience that this is the same batch of kids all grown up? Or should they rely more on mannerisms and cadence of speech? The adult actors were famous in their own right: John Ritter (Three’s Company), Harry Anderson (Night Court) Dennis Christopher (Breaking Away). Some of the kid actors utilized this as launching pad to stardom, most notably Seth Green (The Austin Powers Trilogy, Robot Chicken). Brief reflections are shared on the tragedy of Jonathan Brandis.

When called upon as an adult to help defeat the evil clown Stanley (Richard Masur), a fictional character in the tele-series, takes his own life. During interviews for this documentary phrases like ‘he chose the easy way out’ and ‘he didn’t bother to go back’ are thrown around. Ironically, when Jonathan Brandis is brought up true compassion is shown. It’s as if the talk surrounding the fictional character perhaps reveals broader notions of suicide. And only while speaking of a person they knew, could empathy be infused into the same topic.

Curry had his fill of prosthetics after Legend, a movie well known at the time for unicorns, a young Tom Cruise and a bog monster who tapped around like an aye-aye. The Rocky Horror Picture Show already put Tim Curry on the map. But his role in Legend sealed his pop culture status as the greatest cinematic satan of all time. However, the red devil prosthetics were so all encompassing that at the end of the day they poured solvent through a hole in his head to separate the prosthetics from his skin all down his head, neck and torso.

So when he sat for Pennywise test shots with cheekbones, chins and jowls, Curry eventually made clear that when it came to extensive piecework he was spent. He convinced them not to rely on all these artificial parts to scare the audience, he would scare the audience. And so with a just a bulbous forehead, added nose and patted on makeup, Pennywise frightened the everliving hell out of us.

Interviews with the creative team behind the humongous puppet at the crescendo go in-depth with all the creature could have done. Which again becomes a lesson in the reality of filmmaking as they only shot the bare minimum due to time constraints.

The adult casting of It speculates what the seven kids would look like decades later. There lies something intriguing in seeing those kid actors actually grown up in the interviews. Like a separate timeline for the same world.

It’s hard to refuse the fun of a documentary on a cult favorite. This film delivers the goods, teasing out the most interesting aspects and showing how a film comes together from beginning to end. If I had one ask, I think it would be the same as anyone’s: please more Pennywise.