Stephen King's It is a wildly ambitious story, and there are plenty of details you may not
be aware of, or things you've simply forgotten about the first installment.
Here's a look at everything you need to know before seeing It: Chapter Two.
"You'll float too.
You'll float too.
You'll float too…"
At the end of It, the kids cut their hands and swear a blood oath to one another, promising
to return to Derry if the creature ever returns.
It Chapter Two sees that blood oath realized, as the creature commonly known as Pennywise
the Dancing Clown does indeed resurface after 27 years.
"Hello."
When It returns, the Losers Club is scattered across the United States, with its members
all leading very different lives.
In the book, Bill Denbrough has become a bestselling suspense novelist.
Ben Hanscom is a successful architect living in Nebraska.
Richie Tozier is a DJ in Los Angeles.
Eddie Kaspbrak runs a limousine company in New York City.
Stanley Uris is a partner at an accounting firm in Atlanta.
Beverly Marsh is a successful fashion designer living in Chicago and married to an abusive
husband.
"This meeting of The Losers Club has officially begun."
Though most of the Losers Club moved away from Derry, one member stayed behind: Mike
Hanlon, the orphan boy whose family's history is deeply tied to the violence and hatred
brought on by Pennywise.
Since Mike stayed in Derry, he sacrificed his own potential, because the creature's
supernatural influence acts as a kind of suppressant.
Mike becomes the historian of the group, and of It.
In King's novel, he keeps a detailed journal filled with research about what It is.
When the creature's feeding cycle starts again, Mike is the person who reaches out to the
other members of the Losers Club, reminding them of the oath they took and asking them
to come back and help.
Without spoiling anything, we'll just say it's a life that definitely takes a toll on
Mike.
Since It Chapter Two is a sequel, it obviously expands the world of the original film, and
there are plenty of fresh faces in the movie, too.
Well, maybe "fresh" isn't quite the word we're looking for here.
"But tell me, how is it being back in Derry?"
While Bill Skarsgård will definitely be returning to play Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the film
also features a frightening new form for the creature: Mrs. Kersh.
She's a seemingly sweet elderly woman who lives in Beverly's old apartment and she's
prominently featured in the film's first trailer.
Despite initial appearances, she is not a friendly presence.
"I was always daddy's little girl.
What about you?"
In the novel, three homophobic teenagers attack a gay man named Adrian Mellon, portrayed in
It Chapter Two by actor, writer, and director Xavier Dolan.
In the book, Mellon is thrown off a bridge and subsequently attacked and killed by Pennywise.
This is one of the most disturbing scenes in King's massive novel, and it wasn't included
in the 1990 miniseries adaptation.
But screenwriter Gary Dauberman has confirmed the hate crime will definitely be featured
in It Chapter Two.
He told The Hollywood Reporter:
"It is the first attack in present-day Derry and sets the stage for what Derry has become...It's
pure evil what happens to Adrian.
These bullies working through Pennywise was important for us to show."
It was a very dark movie, featuring a child murder in the first 10 minutes...and a terrifying
trip into the Derry sewers to fight the monster in the film's finale.
According to screenwriter Gary Dauberman, It Chapter Two effectively doubles down on
the horror.
He told SyFy Wire:
"I think it's darker in a lot of ways than the first one.
The two movies feel like a complete whole to me."
According to Pennywise actor Bill Skarsgård, a lot of the horror stems from the villain's
new mindset.
He wasn't killed by the Losers Club, but he was wounded and felt fear for the very first
time in his life.
Skarsgård told Entertainment Weekly:
"[Fear] fuels hatred and anger towards the kids, who will be adults in this one, so I
think there might be an even more vicious Pennywise.
He’s really going after it."
The first It recreated a number of key moments from King's novel, including a famous sequence
in which Beverly Marsh is tormented by Pennywise in her bathroom.
This results in gallons of blood shooting out of the sink that her father can't see.
But the blood is clearly visible to the other members of the Losers Club, who clean every
inch of the bathroom.
It's a very bloody scene, but apparently It Chapter Two is going to be even bloodier.
Actress Jessica Chastain, who plays the adult Beverly Marsh, described an extremely gory
sequence during an interview with Jimmy Fallon:
"There's a scene that someone said on set that it's the most blood that's ever been
in a horror film, in a scene."
We don't know the context of the scene yet, but the first Chapter Two trailer does feature
Beverly swimming through what seems to be a literal room of blood.
We'll find out for sure how much blood is being spilled when It Chapter Two lunges into
theaters on September 6th.
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