Stephen King’s IT: Remake vs. Original

Recently, IT Chapter Two was released in cinemas worldwide and it’s fair to say that there were mixed reviews about the film. Some critics believed that it didn’t quite live up to the first remake IT movie. Whilst other critics praised the filmmakers approach of incorporating humour.

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Whether you’ve watched the latest IT addition or not, there are some similarities and differences that you can compare to the original vs. the first remake movie.

IT: Original vs Remake

The first remake of IT, which is based on Stephen King’s novel, was released in 2017. If you can’t get enough of horror, then these are the other Stephen King movies and TV shows that you need to watch. Some have recently been released and other ones are currently under development.

IT follows a group of seven children who identify as being losers. The friends come together to defeat a supernatural creature that feeds on fear. The second film features the friends returning to their childhood town, Derry, 27 years later to finally finish what they started.

The original miniseries left more to the imagination than the two remakes, which both rely on jump-scare tactics to frighten the audience.

Perhaps this difference is due to the current generation who are more visually reliant. The remake certainly doesn’t create as much psychological fear for the audience.

The original miniseries features a much stronger bond between the children, which is something that is the main focus in the book as it is their friendship and strength together that allows them to defeat Pennywise. Whilst the remake character bonds didn’t seem as strong.

Another difference with the original vs the remakes is the actor who plays Pennywise. In the original, IT was played by Tim Curry, who delivered a frightful performance throughout intertwined with humour and horror, which was the perfect mixture of uncertainty to keep anyone on the edge of their seat.

The remake cast Bill Skarsgard to play Pennywise, who also gave a frightful performance, only his character seemed a little more crazy and manic. The character in the remake isn’t as subtle, but the performance Skarsgard gives still leaves the audience gripped.

Which to Watch?

Everyone has different horror preferences and things that make them scared. Both the 1990 miniseries and the remake films provide a great deal of horror, so despite their differences we don’t believe it’s a question of which to watch, but which one to watch first.

We recommend starting off with the original miniseries first and then sinking your teeth into the remakes, that way you get a nice comparison of the two and can draw your own conclusions.