An official trailer has finally dropped for the highly anticipated movie adaptation of Stephen King’s horror epic, It.
Unfortunately, though, those excitedly following the King film’s pre-release will have to wait a little while to see the trailer themselves; it was only shown at a closed screening yesterday at the SXSW event in Austin, Texas. As the Inquisitr noted in a report published yesterday, pretty much everyone who saw the trailer, including movie review authority Rotten Tomatoes, absolutely loved it and said it bodes very well indeed for the Stephen King-inspired flick.
Stephen King fans and movie buffs needn’t be too disappointed that they have to wait, though, because one lucky reporter from horror news source Bloody Disgusting who did get to see the trailer has published a great blow-by-blow summary of how it went down , from the opening shot to the title card at the trailer’s end. And just a heads up, the reporter who composed the summary found the trailer just as awesome as mostly everyone who was there. Admittedly, he is a Stephen King-fan himself, but this is nonetheless a good reason for those who have been looking forward to It to celebrate.
The trailer, according to the first-hand recounting, begins very appropriately with what is definitely the most iconic pair of scenes from It and maybe from Stephen King’s entire body of work: Bill Denbrough making a paper boat for his little brother, Georgie, and Georgie going out in the rain to sail it. Of course, Stephen King fans will already know what’s coming next: Georgie’s boat gets lost in a sewer drain and, when Georgie tries to retrieve it, he runs into Pennywise the Clown.
It is the audience’s first glimpse of the antagonist Stephen King unleashed on the world when he published the book in 1986, and according to another trailer summary from Aint It Cool , it was handled very well indeed.
“The tension is really ratcheted it up here as his little face peers into the darkness and we get an over the shoulder shot of him looking at the black void. Then Pennywise’s white face jumps into view for a split second giving us just enough of a glimpse to see his insane smile before it cuts to black.”
The report notes the moment King’s infamous clown emerged from the shadows was pretty terrifying and startled many an audience member.
“Pennywise’s appearance is a jump scare, not a slow, spooky reveal,” it recalls.
According to the Bloody Disgusting trailer recap, we are then introduced to the seven child actors chosen to play the “Losers Club,” the self-appointed name of Stephen King’s band of protagonists. You can check out a previous Inquisitr report covering pictures of all seven actors in makeup posted by a producer on Instagram. Rest assured, though, they all look perfect for their parts, as laid out in Stephen King’s masterpiece.
The trailer shows us that Stephen King’s Losers bond over the realization that all seven of them have encountered Pennywise in one shape or another, and then it shows a scene that goes on for the majority of the trailer’s running time.
In the scene, The Losers are looking at slides on a projector when the machine takes on a life of its own. It begins scrolling rapidly through slides showing pictures of Georgie and his parents. At one point, the pictures begin to actually move, and Pennywise reveals himself in one of them.
Although no scene with a slide projector appears in Stephen King’s novel, the scene sounds an awful lot like one from King’s book where The Losers are looking through one of Georgie’s photo albums. The photo album’s pages begin turning by themselves and Pennywise appears in one of the pictures. The tweak on the Stephen King scene is likely due to the altered time period — Stephen King’s book takes place in the 1950s while the movie version takes place in the ’80s — and it is nice to know director Andres Muschietti will be making use of the change while still maintaining the bones of Stephen King’s plot.
The Bloody Disgusting account continues.
“The trailer then blows through a flurry of shots, as most trailers are known to do. The most striking image from this succession of shots is the unforgettable moment when blood flows out of Beverly’s sink, only in Muschietti’s film it spews out like a geyser and blasts her in the face. There is also a sublime image of Pennywise approaching two of the children (he has them cornered against a wall), but the shot is framed in a way so that only his long, bony fingers fill the screen. The children are in the background, out of focus but clearly terrified.”
Sources agree that the trailer saved the best for last. In fact, according to NME , the last few seconds caused some members of the audience to literally scream .
“The teaser ends with Bill walking down into his flooded basement,” the account continues, “where Georgie’s ghost taunts him by repeatedly screaming ‘We all float down here!’ before Pennywise rises from the water and rushes at him… it is at this moment that the screen cuts to black and the word ‘IT’ appears on screen.”
Trailer end.
Wow. If that’s not enough to get Stephen King fans excited, then what is?
It sounds like the movie will definitely be including more of the horror-heavy scenes from Stephen King’s vision than the well-remembered 1990 TV miniseries adaptation did. Sources agree it was difficult to tell for sure whether Bill Skarsgard’s performance as Pennywise will be able to touch Tim Curry’s legendary portrayal of the character, because the trailer did not offer a good long look at the clown. Regardless, though, it is much more likely that this new adaptation will finally do justice to Stephen King’s novel.
Now King fans can eagerly await the trailer being made available for public consumption. Cinema Runner says the trailer will be released in early April , but let’s keep our fingers crossed for an even earlier debut.
Either way, the movie, which is to be released on September 8, looks like it will do a bang-up job of renewing the widespread fear of clowns that Stephen King tapped into 31 years ago.
[Featured Image by Redhumv/iStock]