Pennywise: The Story of IT Review

PLOT: Two-hour documentary dives deep into the making of the 1990 mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s novel It.

REVIEW: With their documentary Pennywise: The Story of It, directors John Campopiano and Chris Griffiths have (along with Gary Smart, who is credited as writer with Campopiano) delivered a great treat for die-hard fans of the 1990 mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s epic horror novel It. Well, given the film’s 126 minute running time, it’s more than just a treat. It’s more like a feast.

Pennywise is packed with information, interviews with cast members, comments from crew members, behind-the-scenes footage. Stephen King didn’t sit down for a new interview with the filmmakers, but you do get to hear from him through archival footage. Fans who absolutely love the 1990 version of It will probably be enraptured for every minute of Pennywise, getting a chance to peek behind the curtain to see and hear what went into the making of the mini-series and to catch up with the cast all these years later. More casual fans might want to break their viewing up over multiple sessions (and the documentary is already broken up into chapters, so that’s helpful), otherwise you might experience information overload. And possibly start to find that spending so much time behind-the-scenes of It can get a bit dull.

Campopiano, Griffiths, and Smart clearly did their best to cover everything someone could possibly want to know about It. The documentary starts with footage of King telling a crowd about the moment that inspired him to start building the story of It, and it goes from there, letting us know step-by-step how the mini-series came to be. Lawrence D. Cohen discusses writing the adaptation, at first working with director George A. Romero to craft a mini-series that was originally going to be at least twice as long as the one we got. When ABC decided they wanted the mini-series to be shorter, Romero left and was replaced by Tommy Lee Wallace. It ended up being four hours, split over two nights. And when Cohen had to move on to another project, Wallace was left having to rewrite the Night 2 script by himself. To this day, he’s still not as satisfied with Night 2 as he is with Night 1 (which he calls a masterpiece).

The filmmakers are so enamored with every aspect of It, they even dedicate an entire chapter to coulrophobia and try to figure out why so many people are afraid of clowns. That seemed like a largely unnecessary 9 minute tangent that could have been lifted out, and the documentary could have benefited from trims here and there to get it to a shorter running time. Thankfully, all of the documentary’s other chapters are more directly focused on the mini-series. We hear about the casting, learn who was considered for the Pennywise role before Tim Curry signed on, get all the info on assembling the actors that play our heroes as children and adults. We’re told how the child and adult actors got along and how filming went in Vancouver. And we get some insight into how the special effects were brought to the screen.

Much of the behind-the-scenes footage comes from the FX crew, and some of the most interesting moments of the documentary deal with the effects they created. Including how they found the look of Pennywise himself. It was even interesting to hear how the sewer pipe was prepared for the Deadlights scene. Yes, the disappointment of the infamous spider ending is addressed along the way, and this documentary lets us see exactly how that controversial spider worked and how the cast interacted with it on set.

Sadly, we’ve lost a few prominent members of the cast over the years and their absence is felt in the documentary. Most of the surviving cast members are present to share their memories of their experiences working on the mini-series and to pay tribute to the ones who aren’t with us any longer.

If you’re not a fan of It, there is some chance that this documentary could sell you on the merits of the mini-series, especially if you watch it as a series of featurettes rather than one long feature. If you’re a casual fan, you’ll probably appreciate hearing the cast and crew reminisce. A good portion of the information is quite interesting, but the documentary does get a bit tough to continue sitting through at a point. If you love the Tommy Lee Wallace version of It, you’re going to love this documentary. Pennywise: The Story of It is for you. A two hour celebration.

Pennywise: The Story of It is now available to watch on VOD platforms and the Screambox streaming service.

Pennywise: The Story of IT

GOOD

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