Examining Five Key Moments In The 'It' Trailer
I literally just finished reading Stephen King's 1986 horror classic It for the first time last night, and I think it's very close to a perfect piece of storytelling. Earlier today, Warner Bros. unleashed the first trailer for the new film adaptation of the movie, and while it remains to be seen if Mama director Andres Muschietti is going to be able to fully translate the brilliance of the book to the screen, some of the visuals in the trailer indicate that he's definitely on the right track. Follow me down into the sewers as I run through a few things worth pointing out about the new It trailer.
So let's run through a few things, shall we?
RIP, George Denbrough
The boy in the yellow raincoat is little Georgie Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott), the younger brother of Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher). Bill serves as the de facto leader of a group of young misfits known as The Losers Club. In the book, George becomes the first victim in a new cycle of killings perpetrated by "It", the shapeshifting evil entity who often takes the form of a horrifying clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). Bill feels responsible for George's death, so he recruits the rest of the Losers into helping him get revenge against It and stop it from murdering more children.
29 Neibolt Street
This creepy house is located at 29 Neibolt Street and serves as a base of operations for It when he takes clown form. In the book, it's in an abandoned section of Derry, Maine, out by the old railroad tracks, and in a climactic moment seen briefly in the trailer, it's the place where the Losers Club confront It for the first time as a group. The production design team really nailed the decrepit, eerie feel of this location.
The Projector
In the book, Bill mourns his younger brother by flipping through George's old photo album – but he notices that one of the photos comes to life, and Pennywise taunts him from inside it. He eventually shows the Losers, and the event serves to strengthen their resolve to destroy It once and for all. Since the setting has been updated from the 1950s to the 1980s, this scene has received an upgrade in the form of a slide projector. This looks like it could be one of the film's scariest moments, and it's a great example of retaining the essence of what's in the book while putting a little modern spin on it.
Don't Wash Your Face With That, Bev
That's not some kind of black goo exploding from Losers Club member Beverly Marsh's (Sophia Lillis) sink: it's blood. In the book, only kids can see certain elements of Pennywise's psychological attacks – adults don't see anything at all. This is one of the most traumatizing moments for Bev in the story, and it looks like Muschietti went all-out to make sure it remains a memorable one for the audience, too.
You'll Float, Too
The trailer ends with It creating a manifestation of George and luring Bill into the basement, with George telling Bill "you'll float, too." A variation on that line is one of the most repeated phrases in the book – so much so that it serves as this film's official tagline on the poster – and it's a refrain Pennywise often uses to lure kids down into the sewers underneath Derry. I don't think this scene happens in the book (at least not like this), but again, it looks like a nice way of preserving the terrifying atmosphere and adding a bit of style to the mix at the same time. Man, that clown looks scary.
It hits theaters on September 8, 2017.