Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Stephen Rider, Chris Chalk, Bill Skarsgård, Matilda Lawler, Amanda Christine, Clara Stack, Blake Cameron James, Arian S. Cartaya, James Remar, Thomas Mitchell, Madeline Stowe, Peter Outerbridge, Kimberly Guerrero, Joshia Odjick, Maya McNair, Hannah Storey, Maya Misaljevic, Alixandra Fuchs, Shane Marriott, Dorian Grey, Larry Day, Morningstar Angeline, Miles Ekhardt, Mikkal Karim Fidler, Craig Porritt, Sophia Lillis.
To be a contemporary author whose work has been the subject of a plethora of films and television series is surely to feel secure, the ultimate accolade of the age that your vision, the universe you brought into existence, is able to expand beyond even your own imagination, and the way further stars explode into life, connections formed that were never even mentioned but through the foundations of your storytelling, through clues perhaps subliminally laid, is to know that you are not just popular, but you have transcended beyond your wildest dreams.
For Stephen King has become in the late 20th Century/early 21st Century the bankable author, the one to whom such an accolade was previously attributed to the likes of Charles Dickens for example; and whilst we cannot place the two side by side, one of social observation, the other pounding at the door of horror most foul, the one thing in common is they both understand the nature of creating characters that resonate with the age.
For Dickens it was perhaps the ghastly and violent Bill Sykes, for the writer from Maine the argument is firmly resolved that Pennywise the Clown, the figure to which the alien entity found its perfect cover to murder and maim within the heartland of Derry. One the epitome of human villainy, the other, the smiling face of humanity with a mask covering its evil, its insatiable need for flesh, for darkness…only difference is how they kill, and how they are killed.
To bring to television a prequel to the phenomenal two-part film It may have seemed to some as capitalisation, acquiring an audience already hooked on the disasters and horror that befall the cursed Maine city, but in It: Welcome To Derry what transpires is the piecing together of narrative, the expansion of Stephen King’s world to a point where it becomes all consuming, where the fear is ramped up exponentially, and the small nuggets of connection, such as the post credit scene in the final episode which sees an original character from the film return is nothing short of joyful and magnificent.
It: Welcome To Derry could have been very different, but thankfully in the hands of what is to be seen as expert fans, pouring over even the minutest details within the original book, the eight-part series is to be beheld as a near masterpiece of the exploration of horror.
With such a large ensemble delivering such intricate performances it should be near impossible to single out an individual as being the centre, and that is for the main part a truism, each of the children to whom Pennywise torments, whether they succumb to his evil or escape almost intact holds a fearless cool and should be congratulated as such, James Remar as the obsessive General determined to use the entity in the war against the Soviets, Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann, and especially Bill Skarsgård who returned to the part of the demonic clown despite well founded concerns of reprising such a figure but who gave heart as the very human and fond of children Bob Gray, all deserve attention and applause for going above and beyond the point of reason in their search for capturing the sincere horror at the heart of It.
It: Welcome To Derry is a pinnacle, a veritable Everest perhaps, of capturing the modern-day genius behind works such as The Shining, The Stand, Insomnia, and Salem’s Lot. It is disturbing, filled with memories of childhood fears given horrific form, and is utterly compelling a watch.
Ian D. Hall