Film Year: 1990
Genre: Horror
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring: Tim Curry, Richard Thomas, Annette O'Toole, John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Richard Masur, Tim Reid, Richard Thomas, Johnathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Emily Perkins, Seth Green, Adam Faraizl, Marlon Taylor, Ben Heller
The Movie
*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*
It's back!
Too subtle?
Our favorite characters from the first episode, including stuttering leader, kinda-fat-but-not-really kid, token black kid, token woman of the group, asthmatic, prankster, and whiner are now adults and pushing 40. It's 27 years later, and the creature they battled when they were kids has returned to Derry to feast on even more children. Recalling a vow they made after defeating Pennywise the first time, they all gather up in Derry to hunt down the clown and stop his reign of terror...except whiner...he killed himself at the end of the first part.
Well, is there really all that much to say about part two that I haven't covered in part one? It's a fairly cheap and laid back production that doesn't really succeed in any of its goals, so that's about the summary of my feelings on this miniseries as a whole. I'm pretty sure most agree that the second half is weaker than the first, which I definitely can see being true. The story of bonding children fuels the first portion of the story with a slight charm that this second half just doesn't have. Hell, this aspect is what made pretty much saved the 2017 retelling from being a fairly weak horror film that startles with load noises. The 1990 miniseries did it much worse, having been diced down, edited for content, and formatted to wrap around commercials.
Part two has a little bit of stuff with the kids, though it's just brief moments that they didn't have time for in part one. The majority of part two belongs to the adults, who give crazy, melodramatic, soap opera performances and meander around in Derry trying to "remember" Pennywise. If I were watching these two productions back to back, it would be a bit exhausting, because one would feel the pace finally picking up only for it to slow down and never really start running again.
Tim Curry gets to dance around again, and that's fun, but he in all honesty hasn't done much in this miniseries except taunt kids, maybe threaten them without actually making good on those threats. I was going to say it seems to me he's in less of part two than he is in part one, but I also remember thinking to myself he wasn't in very much of part one either. What I do know is that the protagonist fight a giant spider puppet at the end instead of him, and it's hilarious.
So I've seen this version of It to it's conclusion. It was very bad. The 2019 equivalent, It: Chapter Two, isn't perfect, but it's hard to deny it's an improvement over this limp effort. But still, the lack of Tim Curry and John Ritter leave a hole in my heart.
The Riff
"When a clown in the sky wants your friends to all die, that's a murder!"
I enjoyed the Cinester Theater riff of the first It episode, and I am amused by the idea of two different riffing groups tackling both halves of this miniseries. It seems like a swell way of keeping the perspective fresh so you don't run out of ideas after three hours of this thing. Here's to hoping Hor-RIFF-ic can catch the ball and run it in for a touchdown! Which is pretty much what they do. Part two of this miniseries is a weaker episode than part one, but the riff is constantly funnier.
It's a pretty impressive feat, because this portion of the story is a bit aimless and tiresome. But Greg and Erin are both very good at this riffing game, and their riffs are constantly a bit more clever and aggressive than Cinester Theater's for the first film. Because of that, I think each group chose the right half of the movie to work with. Cinester goofed around with a silly kids vs. clown movie, and Hor-RIFF-ic goes for the jugular in the overlong and boring climax to the story.
I love how Gary and Erin deliver their lines, as they're very animated and enthusiastic. Cinester's Shawn and Keith feel less so which allows for their lesser moments to feel more mundane. Even if Gary and Erin deliver a riff that isn't a winner, it's always a treat to hear their presentation and interplay. It part two is another win for the Slasher duo, and as always, I look forward to seeing more work from them.
Good
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