The 2017 movie IT was a huge success, a rare standout in the horror genre. Made with a relatively small $35 million budget, it broke box office records, earning $123.4 million domestically and $704 million worldwide – making it the highest-grossing horror film ever, a title it still holds. Critics loved it too, giving it an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its skillful combination of touching friendship and chilling suspense. However, the 2019 sequel, IT: Chapter Two, didn’t achieve the same magic. Despite costing $79 million to make, it earned over $230 million less at the box office, and critics were much more divided, giving it a score of only 63%. Now, the new prequel series, IT: Welcome to Derry, hopes to bring excitement back to the franchise, but the first episode suggests it’s repeating the mistakes of the sequel.
The new series, Welcome to Derry, aims to build on the story of Pennywise by showing its deep, historical connection to the town and how it fuels repeated cycles of violence. Set in the early 1960s, the show will also examine social issues like systemic racism and how human cruelty creates an ideal breeding ground for a monster like Pennywise. The first episode introduces a new group of kids – the beginnings of the Loser’s Club – each dealing with personal struggles that make them easy targets for the creature hiding in the sewers. This setup has the potential for the compelling, character-focused horror that worked so well in the 2017 film. However, the first episode unfortunately falls into the same less effective patterns as IT: Chapter Two.
Warning: Spoilers below for IT: Welcome to Derry, Episode 1
Why Chapter Two Faltered Where IT Triumphed
The significant 23-point difference in Rotten Tomatoes scores between the two films highlights a change in how they create horror. The first IT succeeded because it understood that Pennywise was scariest when the horror felt personal and connected to the characters’ inner fears. The film cleverly used each character’s specific anxieties – like Stan Uris’s fear of paintings, Eddie Kaspbrak’s health worries, and Bill Denbrough’s guilt over his brother – to create truly frightening moments. This careful, character-focused approach is what audiences connected with, leading to strong reviews and a reputation for building genuine suspense.
Unlike the first film, IT: Chapter Two received a lot of criticism for being overly long and drawn-out. Many reviewers noted its nearly three-hour runtime and a storyline that split the adult characters into separate adventures, which weakened the strong group dynamic that made the original so successful. Perhaps more significantly, the sequel traded suspenseful psychological horror for loud, over-the-top action. Both critics and viewers felt the film relied too heavily on unrealistic computer-generated imagery – like the scene with the giant Paul Bunyan statue – making it visually impressive but not frightening. This focus on spectacle was a major reason for the film’s poor reviews and lower ticket sales.
Welcome to Derry Starts With a Bang (For Better or Worse)
The first episode of IT: Welcome to Derry really sets the stage, and honestly, it immediately shows they’re leaning into some of the same tricky ideas as the original story. We meet a young kid, Matty, running from his dad on a snowy night – you can see he’s been hurt, he has a black eye. It’s a powerful scene, and it instantly connects to what IT is really about: Pennywise isn’t just a monster, he is the evil that people do to each other, and Derry has a lot of that going on.
Matty briefly finds safety when a family gives him a ride, but the situation quickly turns terrifying. What starts as a kind gesture devolves into a violent and gruesome scene. A bizarre, computer-generated creature bursts forth, horrifically killing the pregnant woman who had offered Matty help.
The new series leans heavily on special effects, mirroring a common criticism of the second IT film. Although the death of Matty is intended to be similar to Georgie’s, launching the plot of this spin-off, it doesn’t have the same impact. Matty’s experience drags on, and instead of building suspense like the iconic sewer scene with Georgie and Pennywise, it feels like a typical horror sequence. The same monster reappears in the finale, targeting the new Losers’ Club. While this final scene is more successful, particularly due to a plot twist, it still doesn’t reach the level of the most frightening moments in the original movie.
While these scenes aren’t poorly made, they don’t quite work because the show quickly jumps to action instead of slowly building tension. The horror feels forced, unlike the original film where fear crept up on you – this new series relies more on jump scares than on psychological chills. It’s too early to judge the whole series after just one episode, and IT: Welcome to Derry has time to improve. However, starting with a big, loud spectacle instead of the subtle, unsettling atmosphere that made the first film so great isn’t a good start.
New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere on HBO every Sunday.
What were your thoughts on the premiere of IT: Welcome to Derry? Share your opinions in the comments and join the discussion in the ComicBook Forum!
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2025-10-28 16:14