Now that the first trailer for Andrés Muschietti's It adaptation has dropped, you just knew we were going to comb over every frame of this thing. Hardcore Stephen King fans out there should be pleased with the filmmaker's attention to detail, in some cases down to the very letter, of the horror icon's acclaimed work. I honestly hadn't been blown away by the movie's marketing up until this point, but the trailer is very well done and hides a lot of trivia and Easter eggs right out in the open. There's honoring the source material and then there's going the extra mile to make sure the smallest detail is accounted for; It takes the latter path.
Starring in It are the members of “The Losers' Club”, made up of Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher), big-boned Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), comedian-in-training Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), neatnik Stan Uris (Wyatt Oleff), historian Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), hypochondriac Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer) and tomboy Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis). Antagonizing them along the way will be Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise, along with some local bullies played by Nicholas Hamilton, Owen Teague, Logan Thompson, and Jake Sim, to name but a few. It opens September 8th.
For the uninitiated, here's the plot synopsis for It, which will help to provide some background on the following images:
New Line Cinema’s horror thriller “IT,” directed by Andrés Muschietti (“Mama”), is based on the hugely popular Stephen King novel of the same name, which has been terrifying readers for decades.
When children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine, a group of young kids are faced with their biggest fears when they square off against an evil clown named Pennywise, whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.
Let's get to It! Some mild plot spoilers follow.
Welcome to Derry, Maine!
The fictional (thankfully) town of Derry, Maine sure seems like a lovely place to grow up, doesn't it? On the surface, it's idyllic: a riverside town that's safe, walkable, and boasts lots of greenery. But like any of King's stories, what's on the surface masks the rot within, and the prettier the picture, the darker the truth beneath it.
Case in point, this shot of the Losers looking at an overlay of a map of Derry and the sewer system that runs beneath it. The kids know what lurks in the dark places of Derry and chances are that you do, too.
With so many people going missing in the town, someone's got to do something about it, right? The extent that the local law enforcement goes to is simply to setup a curfew, as seen below:
Georgie Denbrough
Another thing about Derry, besides the awful, awful darkness that permeates it, is that the town's rainy seasons can get pretty intense. We're talking downright deluges and floods. If only little Georgie Denbrough had taken a raincheck on floating his paper boat, everything would have turned out differently...
But it's this attention to detail, which you'll see in a moment, that raises my anticipation and excitement level for this movie. As a big fan of the book, it's thrilling to see King's words come to life in often very literal ways:
Big Brother Bill makes Georgie his little paper boat to sail down the rain-filled gutter, ultimately leading his demise but giving him one last bit of fun before he goes.
With this version of It set in the 80s, Bill now gets to have a fascination with rocket ships and outer space, a cool touch that adds a bit more character to the movie's protagonist.
This is a deep cut from the early pages of the novel, but since Bill needs Georgie to find him some paraffin wax to waterproof his boat (which Georgie gets in a delightful scene in the book revealing his fear of the imaginary creatures that lurk in the basement), the younger Denbrough brother grabs a package of Gulf Wax. That's what I'm talking about when I talk about attention to detail! (There's also a poster for "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" in the background because why not!)
Here's another shot that proves Muschietti and Co. did their homework. King takes pains to talk about the flooding streets of Derry and the intersection of Jackson Street and Witcham Street, the crossroads of which you can see above.
While the joke of Georgie hitting his head on the sawhorse was a silly start to this whole sequence, the orange and black Derry Public Works signs once again bring King's literal words to life.
After tracking the S.S. Georgie across the street--something King also spells out in detail--Georgie himself meets the Big Bad Pennywise. We'll probably see much more of the dancing clown, but no more of Georgie after this, right?
The Losers' Club
While the individual members of The Losers' Club don't get to stand out too much in this first look, we do get some excellent group shots of them and some eccentricities specific to certain characters. (Of note, the scene with the slideshow in which Pennywise takes control of the carousel was originally played out in a dusty, old scrapbook in which the pictures came to life. Cool change!)
Here's a shot of the boys on their bikes, which would seem completely mundane except for the fact that Bill's bike, Silver*, plays a big part in the film's plot and mythology. (*I'm not sure if Bill's bike actually is Silver in this picture or if it shows up later.)
Good ol' Eddie Kaspbrak and his signature inhaler, making it quite easy to distinguish him in a crowd.
While Ben Hanscom's chubby cheeks and spacey shirt are delightful, I'm more focused on the key hanging around Beverly Marsh's neck. I'm guessing it's her spare apartment key, an item that plays into the plot and which King devotes more time talking about than you might expect.
Mike Hanlon sure seems scared, but I wonder why? We'll get to that in a minute...
The red balloons are a signature of Pennywise, so imagine Ben's surprise to find one floating through his sanctuary of sanctuaries, the Derry Library. This building is a formative place (and structure) for Ben's story, so it's nice to see it get a subtle shoutout here.
And now for some changes! It seems like Eddie's rocking an Airwolf (1984) t-shirt, which I totally respect. That is all.
The Many Faces of Pennywise
While the disturbing clown make-up is Pennywise's most famous face, the creature known simply as "It" takes on many more guises throughout the story. Essentially, It takes on the appearance of your greatest fear (yes, like a boggart...) and uses your deer-in-the-headlights reaction as an opportunity to steal you and your life force away. But sometimes even an ancient evil shapeshifter needs some mortal henchmen:
The local tough guys, Henry Bowers, Belch Huggins, and Victor Criss make life in Derry hell for the Losers, so once Pennywise sinks his hooks into them, things get much, much worse for everyone involved.
Patrick Hockstetter is another, deeply disturbed members of Bowers' gang, but according to this flyer, he's gone missing. Simple Easter egg for fans or a nod that we're going to see the moment he goes missing play out on screen? Your guess is as good as mine, but he's too severe a character to skip, even if they have to tone things down a bit for audiences. (And while the 207 number is a Maine area code, neither phone number connects to anything; I tried.)
And now we get to it at last, an infamous address that fans have been looking forward to seeing fully realized for some time: 29 Neibolt Street. This place is foul, as if you couldn't tell by looking at it, and it's the site of quite a few interactions between Pennywise and the Losers:
Eddie runs from It, taking the guise of a diseased leper. This is but a brief glimpse of what I'm told is a truly terrifying bit of effects work.
In perhaps one of my favorite reveals from the first trailer, this GIF looks like a scene from inside the house itself in which the Losers' run from It, who transforms from its clown visage to that of a movie werewolf. You can actually see the claws growing through his gloves above, and I love it.
Remember when Mike Hanlon was looking at something off screen, terrified? I'm thinking this is a manifestation of one of his father's stories, that of the fire at the Black Spot. It's hard to make out in this image, but there are many pairs of burned (or burning) hands attempting to force their way out of a locked door. It's a gruesome story that explains some of Derry's long-festering evil, and I think Mike's getting a taste of it here. (It sure beats running from a giant bird in the ruins of the exploded Kitchener Ironworks...)
Update: As Facebook friend Joseph Marzulla pointed out in the comments, to the left of this picture is a painting of the infamous Bradley Gang shootout, one of many stories from Derry's past that chronicles the long-standing evil of the town. Nice catch!
Poor, poor Beverly. This iconic scene of blood fountaining from her bathroom's plumbing is once again pulled straight from the pages, though I expect the effluent to look more like blood and less like motor oil once It hits theaters.
Hey, look! It's Georgie, and he's totally fine!
Creepy smile there, Georgie, but we're glad you're safe. Wait, what are you doing down here anyway?
Yeah, you know what? Nevermind. We're just going to slowly back away and ... dear god, what is that behind you?
Nope.
NOPE!
Did we miss any Easter eggs from this first look at It? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!