'It' Is Better, More Terrifying Than Even Stephen King Had Hoped

The Losers Club of Derry, Maine, have to go up against Pennywise, the terrifying clown manifestation of an interdimensional demon who feeds on fear, in It. A new featurette for the upcoming film, “Face Your Fears,” outlines some of the challenges the kids will have to endure, interviewing the film’s director, Andrés Muschietti, some of its stars, and the man behind the horror, Stephen King.

And King had some great things to say about the film adaptation.

Based on King’s 1986 novel of the same name, It already looks to be so much more disturbing than its previous iteration, a 2-part television mini-series from 1990 famously starring Tim Curry as Pennywise.

“I had hopes, but I was not prepared for how good it really was,” King says of the new film in the featurette. “I’m sure my fans will really enjoy the movie.”

Because this version of It is rated R, it’s free to follow King’s original novel more faithfully than the television series, it makes sense that King would be a proponent. There’s some truly disturbing shit that goes down in King’s novel, and while not all of it will probably make it into the film, fans should probably expect a truly terrifying result.

For what it’s worth, King also defended the recent Dark Tower adaptation, which was based on his series of novels, and very clearly did not give a shit what critics had to say. A successful decades-long career tends to lend itself to that kind of confidence.

It premieres in theaters on September 8.