“It: Welcome to Derry” is not pulling any punches. The prequel collection set on the earth of Stephen King’s malevolent shape-shifting clown-monster opens with a disturbing sequence that construct and builds in the direction of a ugly climax. The present is signaling from the leap that it actually desires to scare us, and I’ve to confess I used to be type of impressed. I am a giant Stephen King fan and I contemplate “It” to be King’s masterpiece. I additionally loved Andy Muschietti’s 2017 movie adaptation of the e-book. Which meant my hype was by way of the roof for the follow-up, 2019’s “It: Chapter Two.”
Sadly, whereas “It: Chapter Two” did an excellent job with reference to casting grownup variations of the Losers Membership, the movie itself was a little bit of a large number, edited in a chaotic vogue that obtained on my nerves actual fast. So when it was revealed we have been getting a prequel collection developed by Muschietti, his sister Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs, I used to be barely apprehensive, each as a result of “It: Chapter Two” was such a disappointment and since the thought of a prequel TV collection sounded little greater than a lazy method to cash-in on brand-name consciousness (anybody keep in mind “Dune: Prophecy”? Anybody?).
So it is a good shock to say that “It: Welcome to Derry” is smarter and scarier than anticipated. It helps that the collection has King’s e-book as a guidepost: quite a lot of the storylines that unfold listed here are taken straight from that large tome of terror. I’ve seen 5 of the primary season’s eight episodes, so there’s nonetheless an opportunity the collection might collapse because it nears a finale. However based mostly on what I’ve witnessed up to now, I am prepared to offer “Welcome to Derry” the advantage of the doubt. The collection is ugly, gory, and sure, scary. And like Pennywise the Clown himself (itself?), it has quite a lot of diabolical tips up its sleeve.
It: Welcome to Derry takes us again to the Sixties
King’s novel unfolded over a number of totally different timelines, with two essential narratives going down within the Fifties and Eighties. Peppered all through the story have been a collection of interludes overlaying numerous historic moments within the cursed city of Derry, Maine, portray a wealthy image of Pennywise’s reign of terror. When Muschietti took “It” to the large display screen in 2017 and 2019, some adjustments have been made. As an alternative of telling a parallel story of the ’50s and ’80s, Muschietti’s movies have been primarily set within the Eighties and in current day. As for these time leaping interludes, they have been omitted totally – which is the place “Welcome to Derry” is available in to play. The collection is getting the meat of its meal from these interludes whereas including new twists and turns to the combo.
“Welcome to Derry” takes us again to 1962, the place numerous newcomers and lifelong residents of Derry discover themselves grappling with all types of unexplained phenomenon. Embellished pilot Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) has simply rolled into city along with his spouse Charlotte (Taylour Paige) and younger son Will (Blake Cameron James). As soon as there, he units up store on a neighborhood military base and discovers that some form of top-secret mission is underway involving the psychic soldier Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk). Horror followers will instantly acknowledge Dick Hallorann as a personality from “The Shining,” however he additionally makes a cameo look within the “It” e-book, so having him available for the collection is smart.
In the meantime, there’s additionally a bunch of native children navigating the horrors of the world: the specter of nuclear conflict hangs over every thing, and if that wasn’t unhealthy sufficient, numerous Derry children have a foul behavior of going lacking. How the present handles its younger characters is shocking — I am being obscure right here to keep away from spoilers, however let’s simply say the assumptions I made concerning the present’s Sixties tackle The Losers Membership didn’t precisely pan out as anticipated. Younger characters on this storyline embody Lilly (Clara Stack), a lady with a traumatic previous, and Ronnie (Amanda Christine), who desires to clear the title of her wrongfully accused father. Ronnie and her father are Black (similar to the Hanlon household), and the present’s give attention to individuals of coloration additionally ties straight into King’s e-book. Whereas the movie adaptation had Black character Mike Hanlon as a part of the Losers Membership, it additionally jettisoned quite a lot of the e-book’s materials about Derry’s inherent racism. “Welcome to Derry,” in the meantime, tries to handle this head-on, though it is strategy is a little more delicate than King’s.
It: Welcome to Derry is loaded with new characters and new monsters
And what of everybody’s favourite sewer clown, Pennywise? It is no secret that Invoice Skarsgård is reprising his position from the movies, but it surely’s additionally not too long ago been revealed that the character will not present up straight away — not less than not in clown type. However those that have seen the movie or learn the e-book will recall that Pennywise is a shape-shifting creature who can tackle numerous totally different appearances to scare his victims (King goes as far as to have the monster take the form of pop-culture killers just like the titular character from “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” “The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” “The Mummy,” and the shark from “Jaws”). This facet of the character permits “Welcome to Derry” to get inventive, discovering methods to have Pennywise wreck fixed havoc with out having Skarsgård seem in each episode. This may disappoint some hoping to get wall-to-wall Pennywise, but it surely really enhances the present by rising the forms of scares from episode to episode.
Sadly, “Welcome to Derry” additionally appears slightly too hellbent on explaining each single thriller. This can be a drawback inherent to prequels generally: spelling issues out and answering questions that nobody was asking to start with. A part of the facility of a horror story like this includes conserving issues mysterious; over-explaining issues kills the momentum. Talking with EW, Fuchs talked about that one of many targets of the present is to disclose the “origin” of Pennywise, however … do we actually want that? Is not the killer clown far scarier if he stays shrouded in thriller? He is a shapeshifting clown-monster — issues like that ought to defy cheap clarification, should not they?
Whether or not or not “Welcome to Derry” over explains issues stays to be seen. One factor is definite, although: the present is constantly bloody, with a imply streak that may catch some viewers off guard. Here’s a horror present that lays the horror on thick, embracing the shape-shifting nature of its monster and exploiting it for all its value (Does a pickle-jar zombie curiosity you? You are in luck! You desire a scary model of Uncle Sam? You bought it!). Any horror present that unleashes a torrent of inventive ghouls on the viewer is commendable, and ties in properly with the neverending spookhouse horrors of King’s novel. For now, “It: Welcome to Derry” is a complete monster mash that ought to fulfill hungry horror followers.
/Movie Score: 7 out of 10
“It: Welcome to Derry” premieres October 26, 2025 on HBO and will probably be out there to stream on HBO Max.
