Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
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THE SEWERS — Just because you saw the “It” TV miniseries on ABC back in ‘90 and survived, that doesn’t make you a tough guy.
I recently had a revealing conversation with a friend who is now an adult who admitted to not being able to shower without a towel over the shower drain for a very long time after he watched “It” on TV back in the day. I find this funny because, although as a young adult I would have never admitted it, I kept a healthy distance from storm drains I passed on the street as a precaution because, you know, clowns.
Even though we all survived to adulthood, it doesn’t mean the threat of a sewer based death didn’t linger somewhere in the back of our minds. With the big screen release of Stephen King’s “It” the fear is again all too real, but if you think the threat of a cheesy, watered down version of “It” is what you are going to get, you may want to read on.
Violence / Gore
If you are at all familiar with the story of “It” through Stephen King’s novel, you have an idea of what can be expected. If you are not familiar with the story, be prepared for a lot of violence and even more gore. The premise of the story is based on fear and “It” uses every trick in the book to elicit a visceral reaction from the audience as part of the plot. The film is over-the-top bloody in many places and shockingly violent throughout. This alone is probably enough to earn its R rating. Some of the gore in the movie lends itself to the type of campy visual imagery that we will be likely to see copied in countless haunted houses for years to come, giving it a sense of unbelievability that in a lot of ways lessens its impact. There is one scene, in particular, I would give a 10 out of 10 on the blood scale as probably the bloodiest five minutes of any horror movie I've ever witnessed.
Language
I am an adult and not a particularly sheltered one, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by the amount of language in the film, but there was a lot of swearing. Since “It” is not intended for children, there was really no incentive to put on the language brakes. By far, most of the swearing consists of the F-word delivered primarily by 12- and 13-year-old boys throughout the film. Curse words and crude humor were used to comedic effect and worked as tension breakers throughout the film. Based on language alone “It” could have earned an R rating.
Sexuality
A lot of the humor in “It” revolves around teenage boys making crude and sometimes sexually graphic jokes. Beyond the dialogue, there is nothing sexually graphic in the film, and nudity never gets beyond a group of kids swimming in their underwear at an abandoned quarry.
Even though there is no graphic sexuality or nudity in “It,” the topic of child molestation is a key story component for one of the characters in the film, resulting in several intense scenes which may be difficult for some viewers to watch.
Conclusion
“It” is a very R-rated movie based on violence and language alone. Chances are, if you are reading this article, you have already made up your mind about whether or not to let your children see this film, and I’m not here to tell you how to parent. If you are reading this article because you are unsure, please know this is not the TV miniseries you remember from 1990. It is everything the TV show couldn’t be and more. I would say the big screen version of “It” falls somewhere closer in content to Stephen King's novel, but not quite as graphic. As always, use this information as a guide to help you make informed choices for you and your family.
