I consider myself a pretty big Stephen King fan although I stopped regularly buying his books sometime around “From a Buick 8” as it seemed the originality was beginning to fade. However, I have never been a huge fan of Stephen King filmed adaptations. Sure, The Shining is good and I know many love Carrie and I believe some people have told me they liked Christine (I never saw that one). You have the non-horror adaptations such as Green Mile and everyone’s favorite The Shawshank Redemption and as much as King is known as the master of horror his non-horror features prove to make the better films.
For so long King’s horror adaptations have been turned into made-for-TV miniseries and one of them is about to get a theatrical remake as Warner Bros. and Vertigo Entertainment have brought in Dave Kajganich to pen an adaptation of King’s 1986 genre classic “IT”, which was made into a TV movie in 1990 starring Tim Curry, John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Tim Reid, Annette O’Toole and Richard Thomas.
The story follows a group of kids called the Losers Club that encounter a creature called It, which preys on children and whose favorite form is that of a sadistic clown called Pennywise. When the creature resurfaces, the kids are called upon to regroup again, this time as adults, even though they have no memory of the first battle. In the television original Curry played Pennywise.
Many have fond memories of the adaptation, but I remember being thoroughly disappointed as it was just another watered down version of the madness King had put on the page. However, while the horror aspect of the novel was cut down for television I wonder if it is something that can work on the big screen. The book is incredibly long with the hardback weighing in at 3.3 pounds and totally 1,152 pages. Of course, King is known for his talent in writing and writing and writing, something he even pokes fun at in his “Dark Tower” series of novels so I don’t think there will be much of a problem cutting the story down to size.
Kajganich is really an untested factor even though he did write the box-office bust The Invasion which starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and the delayed Creek for Lionsgate, which stars Dominic Purcell and is still without a release date.
“IT” is a book I remember toting around in my book bag in school and by the time I finished it was so tattered and torn I went to a book store and bought a 1st edition hardcover copy. While “The Shining” will probably remain my favorite King novel, “IT” is one I remember thoroughly enjoying and some of the images are still burned in my memory. I hope a theatrical adaptation will impress me more than the ABC television version did.
