Somewhere in the Skies - BONUS EPISODE : Reviewing "IT" with Andrew Sanford

Episode Date: September 10, 2017

On a special BONUS episode of SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES, Ryan and Andrew sit down after both attending opening night releases of the highly anticipated 2017 remake of 'IT'. 'IT' tells the story of seven children in Derry, Maine, who are terrorized by the eponymous being, only to face their own personal demons in the process. Adapted from the 1986 Stephen King novel, the 2017 film was directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman. It starred Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, and Finn Wolfhard With opening box office numbers skyrocketing through the roof, the film garnered a lot of positive reviews and buzz. But did it truly live up to the hype? This is a SPOILER HEAVY and very opinionated dissection of the film by two die-hard Stephen King fans and horror movie buffs in general. So grab your popcorn, hold on to your paper boats, and tune in to hear our thoughts on The Loser's Club. And maybe... just maybe... you'll float too! Guest Bio: Andrew Sanford is a writer/performer in New York City. As a writer he has written a full-length graphic novel, Gwendolyn, that was published in 2014 and he has twice been a featured writer in the 2014 and 2016 ABC New Talent Showcases. As a performer, he has produced and starred in a host of online content and is currently hosting a weekly podcast called Half White Son of a Black Man. His work can be found at www.halfwhitesonofablackman.com. Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com Email: [e-mail] Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Order Ryan's Book by CLICKING HERE Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per Kiilstofte Episode Edited by Jane Palomera Moore SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES is produced by THIRD KIND PRODUCTIONS, in association with Antica Productions Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, Ryan Sprague here. As you all know, the Somewhere in the Sky's podcast is always free to consume, but it isn't free to create. That's why I've started the Somewhere in the Sky's Patreon campaign. On a monthly basis, you give what you think the show is worth. You'll be helping the show continue, grow, and to be something truly communal. And remember, there are rewards for each level of contribution, and the list is only growing.

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I'm not supposed to take stuff from strangers. Oh, well, I'm Pennywise dancing cloud. Now we aren't strangers. Are we? I should get going now. Without your boat. Hi guys, Ryan Sprag here. And this is a very special episode of Somewhere in the Skies.

As I'm sure you're well aware, the highly anticipated film, It, premiered late last week to much acclaim. And I, like many others, flocked to the theater to see it. Now, as a very big Stephen King fan, I had high hopes and expectations for this remake. And so did my good friend and colleague, Andrew Sanford, whom you've heard on the show before. So after our viewings, we sat down to discuss the film in depth, and this is what came of it. I think it goes without saying this is a very spoiler-heavy discussion, so you've been warned. If you haven't seen the film yet, I highly suggest going out and seeing it before listening.

And if you have, I hope you had a terrifyingly good time like we did. So sit back while we discuss it, directed, by Andre Mouschetti and starring Finn Wolford, Sophia Lillis, and Pennywise himself, Bill Scarsguard. God, I hate clowns. Hey guys, Ryan Sprag here from Somewhere in the Skies, and this is new for us. This is the first episode where we will not be covering UFOs or the paranormal,

per se. We will be talking sort of about the supernatural today. I am back with Mr. Andrew Sanford, who you guys have heard on the show, before and we are fresh off our viewing of it. Andrew, how you doing, my man? Oh, Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. That's me.

Yeah, uh, right. I was trying to do the, I'm, I, it will be a few more times that I see it, but I will get Bill Scarsgaard's voice down, his It voice, his Pennywise voice. The youngest, I think, of the Scars guards, am I correct in that? Oh, I'm so, oh, he is at. I don't know. You're not a specialist on the Scarscars cards? I'm not a Scarskard specialist.

All right. Well, I took a course. It was like a three-week course. I got to Skelan and I was like, this is enough for me. Community College, I assumed. Stellan Scarska. No, Stellan. Yeah, it was a community.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Okay. It's like Chris Rock said. I slapped $5 down and I went in and I was like, let me get my learn on. Community College. So you saw this movie in New York. I saw it in Hollywood. So we probably had very similar experiences, I would assume.

Was it a very lively crowd at your viewing? You know what? It was. I went to a 34th Street theater, and I will say, for those of you who are not familiar with New York, you have your, like, sections broken up of Midtown. And some of the bigger sections of theaters are on 42nd Street by Lincoln Center on 68th Street. And then there's a theater down on 34th. Don't get me wrong.

There are a lot of movie theaters. But those are what I would say. would be like the main ones and maybe one in like Union Square anyway 34th is probably the least busy of all of those so while I didn't have a super full theater they were into it which was nice and nobody was too there was a few people there were chatting a little bit but they were I always have a little bit more leniency when that when I can tell they're

clearly like enjoying themselves and that's kind of why they're talking that's like, you know, I, I, I, I, that I'm fine with. It's when somebody's just like, so, you know, I just figure if we go to Chipotle after this and then we go, like, that's, that's when I start to get upset. But they were into it, and when I loved, and I haven't seen something like this in a while, and I'm sure we'll get into this a little bit more later, they, they started, everybody started with kind of like fun jump scares, like, ooh, like, oh, it's, oh, man, this was crazy, it'd be kind of loud when they got scared, and then they got progressively, more creeped out as the movie went along, and those scares became more like uncomfortable screams. I was like, this is pretty fantastic.

Absolutely. I mean, so I'm kind of the same as you. Like, I kind of, I get, I get very hesitant to go to openings or big, big movie events because I'm always afraid there's going to be that one jerk who's like talking the whole time.

Like you said, just like doing it to be noticed. No, I went to, the Arklight Theater in Hollywood and this place was massive. Like, I don't know how many people this holds. I'm guessing like 6, 700. It was freaking huge.

So you had like the stadium feel to it and I'm like, oh, great. So the odds are against me that someone's going to be an asshole for this whole movie. I was wrong. I mean, it was... It was incredible. It was a communal experience. Everyone had a great time.

It is funny, however. The girl I sat next to. So, okay, the movie hasn't even started. We're into maybe the first preview, and people are still walking in trying to find their seats. It's the previews. Like, I get that. A lot of people don't want to come and watch half an hour of trailers. So we're in the first trailer.

The movie's not starting for another 20 minutes. And this girl is just vocally to everyone saying, are you serious? Come on time. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me right now? So while I am like this person in the sense that I hope people don't come late to the movie, I was like, you are, really, really, is this happening right now? First of all, first of all, as you made very clear, you're in a theater that seats hundreds.

Yes. There are statistically, there are going to be late people, statistically. And that's what we have reserved seats for now. I think we can talk just about the movie-going experience for a little bit longer. I don't know how I lived without reserve seats. I really don't. Same here. It's the new, it's the new sliced bread.

Reserve seats at the movie theaters. Yeah, you can quote, quote me on that. Reserve seats at the movies are the new sliced bread. I love it. There's no pressure. There's no holding seats for people. You know, hopefully you get, like, if you're going with one other person, you get that little two-person section,

don't have to worry about elbow room. You know what I mean? It just, it makes the experiment, experiment, experience so much better. Yeah, and I mean, that's what they have to do now. You have to not, like, going to the movies can't seem like a chore or people definitely won't go. Labor Day weekend had the worst box office for Labor Day weekend since the early 90s with the number one movie in America being Hitman's Bodyguard.

Oh, my God. Yeah, that's a problem. Now, don't get me wrong. On a recent episode of Half White Son of a Black Man, we didn't talk about the fact that myself and my good friend, Sean Lanigan, did contribute to Hitman's Bodyguard making some kind of money, but I did not assume that it was going to keep going, but there was nothing else out.

Yeah. And we went to the movies. And that's why it is cleaning up right now. It debuted $13.5 million for a midnight's greeting for an R-rated movie. Unbelievable. A remake nonetheless. It beat Deadpool. Wow.

Yeah. See, that's great. See, I'm glad to see, I'm looking right now, and it's got a 90% on rotten tomatoes. Yeah, man, it's pretty impressive. That's impressive. And we'll get into that because you and I spoke earlier about some qualms we have with this movie. But overall, just a very fun time at the movies, perfect for summer. Yeah, I really enjoyed it.

Especially for a big, I'm all for, now I actually want to see what the budget was for this movie. 35 million is not a lot of money. especially for, and that's one of the things. That'll come back later, the more we talk about, especially Derry, the town that this movie takes place in specifically. You can tell that this movie did the best that it could with a very, $35 million is not a lot of money these days to make a movie that needs to be spectacle-worthy. But it's going to make that budget back tenfold.

Not don't get me wrong, 35 is a lot for a horror movie, especially these days when people are running on the Bloom House method, which is like make something for $3 million, and then it makes $90. On their iPhone, yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. But, wow, $35 million. Yeah, it's cleaning up,

and it's going to do really well for an R-rated movie. That's nuts. And it's exciting for me that hopefully between this and all the conjuring movies and stuff like that, that studios are putting their faith in these big mythical horror-type movies, even if they leave that out. I guess that, yeah, that part of it. I also saw, oh, man, Ryan, I don't think we've talked in a while.

You're very familiar with my love of the first Conjuring movie and my obsession with the Warrens that came after that. I finally saw Conjuring 2 the other day. Oh, my God. I was not a fan. Agreed, yes. Oh, boy. Who has not seen Conjuring 2. Do not waste your time.

Oh, man, I was, oh boy. And don't get me wrong, there was a lot of, there were a lot of problems. with it as a movie, but I, I, I remember leaving the first conjuring and be like, I want to see more movies where the Warrens really, like, go out and like scooby-do it up and just solve a bunch of mysteries. And I was, that started to happen in this movie. And I was like, I don't want this anymore. I don't want it. I don't want it. But so it, so it, I, I, I wanted to ask you this because you'd mention that you're, how, how big a part does it play in your life, if any at all.

It was the first book of Stephen King's that I ever picked up. So I was, I believe, 11 years old. And in my barber shop in Syracuse, New York, I would go every second Saturday of the month with my father to get my haircut. And it was on the bookshelf at my barbershop. So every once a month or what have you, I would read a small second. of this book every time I went. So after about what, four years, I finally finished this massive book, which was interesting because I was getting older as I was reading the book.

And as we know, youth and growing up have a lot to do with this story. Absolutely. Now, I believe I started reading it at way too young and age. But it definitely got me hooked on Stephen King. I've read so much of his work since then. I'm a fan of some of his movies. There's some contention with a lot of them. But I would say 11 years old is when I was first introduced to this story.

How about you? I have vague memories of seeing the miniseries when I was very, very little. It's funny, my parents had kind of a, not like a Wild West type attitude. But the stuff that I saw when I was younger, they, A, I have an older brother. he's about four years older than me and the stuff that he wanted to see we usually saw at first you know that would change but he we would see I saw a lot of stuff early and I remember seeing it very very young and being really scared of that movie and then at one point my younger brother it became something that me and my younger brother would go and get from the video

store constantly like almost every outing we would just watch this over and over again to the point where we still to this day will just text each other random quotes from it. And I will, uh, I tried to read the book at one point when I was younger. I was probably around like 12 or 13. And I don't, I think I, there's no way I would have finished it. Um, and I actually just, I remember a lot of stuff, uh, from the beginning of the book. And then I actually read it, finally read it all the way through this past summer and finished it the day before I saw the movie. Uh, but I am. I am a huge Stephen King fan. I actually have been watched, what did I watch yesterday before I went to see? I watched Room 237, the documentary about all those ridiculous conspiracy theories about The Shining.

Right. Yep. I watched The Dark Half last week, which is on Hulu right now, which I don't know if you're familiar with that one, but you absolutely have to watch it, especially as a writer. And I watched The Stand recently. I love Steve. I love, love, love, love Stephen King. And I was very excited for this movie. And I will say, it definitely did not meet my expectations, but I was not disappointed, if that makes sense. Absolutely. No, I'm with you on that. Now, I'm sure some people will disagree with us, but this is not, the buzz that this movie has created had a lot to do with the marketing, I think. And now, now that the movie's coming out, I think we're going to see a maybe a slight decline in the quality of ratings. reviews that come out on it because it is it's definitely flawed there's there's definitely some

issues uh but we'll get into that i yeah i think what would be cool is for those who have don't know what this story is about everyone knows tim curry the clown but um i'm going to put the pressure on you here man would you mind giving us like a brief synopsis of what this story is about this thousand page book sure absolutely so uh about 1300 no no no no a little less than 1,200 A little less than 1,200 pages. So essentially, it starts off with a young child who was murdered, and it sets off a string back in 1957, and it sets off a string of events where this group of kids

who are brought together this one summer, some of them friends before, some of them not, and they find out that there's this evil entity that resides in their town that is feasting on children. and this connects to events. Now, I want to say right here that even kind of discussing the story of the book gives spoilers for the movie. Yes. Now, let's make this warning now.

Yeah, spoiler alerts from here on in. Yes. Especially when discussing the book, because for those who may not be familiar with it, the property that is being presented right now in the movie is only half of the. the story. In the book, the events of these people as children discovering that there's this entity feeding on children work as flashbacks to a main story, which is 27 years after that young boy is killed, where the murders start up again. And this one guy who stayed behind calls on all his friends to return, and that's when they start to remember the events of their

childhood and them having to take on this benevolent being. And it is, very much a story about childhood and how it shapes who we become as people and then also how we deal with certain ugliness that it's you know like Stephen King it's all about a small town ugliness

and yeah and a lot of it also is just a big old it's a ghost story and it's also a monster story and it's anything that would have frightened kids in the 50s that's kind of what he was going for um but yeah so it's about these kids this rag tag group of kids

the Losers Club having to come together to fight this evil billet being both in their youth and as adults. And it's pretty fantastic. Having just finished the book, it was, it's a real phenomenal story that he concocted. And it's got so much, which is why my expectations were so high. When I had especially heard, I'd have some friends who do reviews and who had seen early screenings in the movie. And they said it's very faithful. and they do a really good job. And I think it's just one of the things

where I have to realize, like, unless they do a 10-episode miniseries, which almost happened at one point, back before the original miniseries, they're not going to be able to touch on everything. So my problems rely with some other choices that they made, but we'll get into that. But yeah, that's pretty much the story.

That's my long, drawn-out way of explaining what the story is. I think it was pretty good and concise. Oh, thank you, right? Oh, thank you. You're very welcome. Now, this is an updated version. We should point that out that this 2017 version is in the 80s. So we've bumped it up a few decades, which I thought was awesome.

Yeah, that was a good choice. And I mean, I have to. Absolutely. Now we had the new kids on the block played a big part in this. Oh, it was great. Oh, aesthetically, aesthetically, I don't think this movie made a single mist up. It was... Everything looked beautiful.

Everybody looked like... It looked like it was 1989. Now, don't get to be wrong, I was born in 1989, but I've seen a lot of movies from 1989. They get that look and they get that feel. I remember turning to my fiancé at one point and saying, like, I love Eddie's shorts because he had these, like, little red bike shorts with, like, little rainbows on the side.

Like, it just, ah, it was great. It reminded me a lot of stranger things, to be completely honest. Sure. Well, I mean, stranger things gets a lot from it. Yes. Oh, absolutely. It's cyclical, man. Absolutely. And we even have one of the actors who's in both of them. Oh, my God, that can fit. I have the Wikipedia page pulled up just so I don't screw up anybody's names. But it's, because one thing I will say is every person in this cast deserves a round of applause.

I thought the acting was phenomenal, top to bottom. There was it a single miscast person. even when they had some like subpar writing they still you know those kids were good Finn Wolfhard Finn Wolfhardt who played Little Richie Tozier now my favorite was Jack Grazer the the hypochondriac kid uh see well so here's my question and that was something where there were some details that they changed that were very that were odd to me um like right from the beginning they have they introduced Mike Hanlon, the black kid as having a being

watched over by his grandfather who tells him about the things in this town that is complete like a detail that for some reason I'm not sure what they did maybe so it's not just like every kid dealing with their parents but like his his parents are fully alive

during the offense of this of that are transpiring in the book and in the original miniseries so they make his grandfather was strange And another thing that's strange is they kind of took Stanley, who was the Jewish kid, and made it so he, I don't know, they kind of stripped a lot of details away from him because I know they have Eddie, who is the hypochondriot, the one who has the pills and the placebos and stuff like that. Yes. But then you, so you have him as the hypochondriac, but then Stanley is also supposed to be like a germaphobe all of a sudden. And it was a weird, like, there is that element to Stanley, but because they didn't,

like really flesh out how much of Eddie's sickness was in his head. It just kind of came out of nowhere. Right. Those two kind of blended together for me a little bit. There was a little bit of that where I was starting to lose, like, they lost their individuality

occasionally. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. A lot of people are also correlating this to stand by me. Like, it's very similar in terms of having each young boy have very very unique characteristics

that make them stand out and make them a part of the group. And I think you're right. I think as this 2017 movie goes on, we did lose some of that. The character choices were not exactly what I think they were. They were just there to move the plot along.

Yes. But again, like you said, the writing for this movie was not top-notch. As for the acting and directing, I can't imagine having to work with a cast this young and make this story so compelling, so heartwarming, and so absolutely terrifying as well. So kudos to the director.

What is his name? Andy Mochetti. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. But yeah, the other movie he did was Mama, which I have not seen actually, but I've heard very good things about. And what's interesting is, I mean, this movie went through one of those classic development hell type situations where Kerry Fukenaga, who

wrote and directed the first season of True Detective and he did Beasts of No Nation, he wrote and was supposed to direct this movie. So the first and apparently a lot from his first draft carried over into this movie.

But there's also a lot that didn't because his first draft actually leaked online, I would say like six months ago or something like that. Yeah, yeah. And there's definitely more what's interesting is, and one of my biggest problems with the movie was that I did not feel that the town was enough of a character, which is very important, I feel, anyway, very important to the source material. You really get to know dairy by the end of the book and even the miniseries, I felt. And this one, I feel like they didn't do that as much.

It could have been a budgetary issue, but I know they also had to cut some flashbacks, like a big part of the book, and they do it, like, they, do it a little bit more in the miniseries through Mike Handlin where he's, he does a lot of research into Derry's past and all these different events that are going on. And that stuff gets kind of glossed over in this movie, which I thought was weird. Not only that, but they gave it to a different character. They did. And I mean, Ben does some of that in the book, but it was kind of, they gave them, They really did not give Mike a lot to do in this movie, except for Be Saved at one point. But I love that, by the way.

The rock fight was pretty fantastic. Rock war! Oh, my God, that was awesome. And to have, I love, and it shows this dude's skill as a director, that, like, they build it up like this big thing. And then the camera just pulls back, and you see that it's just kids whipping rocks at each other. Right, like five feet away from each other. Yeah. They're just whipping rocks at each other.

It's awesome. It's great. It's one of those moments in cinema where, like, you see this in Ant Man, too, where, like, you, when you zoom in on a scenario, it's so epic and big in scope. And then when you get the broader picture, it looks so small in comparison, which is wonderful, you know, that perception alone just makes for great humor. And that's another thing about this movie. I think a lot of people are coming out saying that was more funny than any. Anything. Sure.

Scary as hell. Do not get me wrong. There are some moments in this movie that were absolutely terrifying. Not many, but there were some that really left my audience, at least, completely silent or cringing in their seats. They really earned that R rating, at least as far as, like, violence against children is concerned. And having kids act like, you know, kids, especially from the late 80s, like they swore. they smoke cigarettes and early as one of them did. You know,

nervous of meeting a girl for the first time. Like, everything was there. Every element of, like, a young man's life was definitely there. You know, we have one female character, basically, in this whole movie, which I think she really stood on her own and did a wonderful job. She was great. And I was really glad, oh, man, I got real nervous at one point because they took some, like,

sweeping changes that, like for instance having georgie at the very beginning the child is killed get like taken which i didn't really like i i bill's motivations in the main character's motivation well main quote unquote in the source material material are a little bit more noble it's more of like because they he knows full well that his brother has been killed and in this one they make it it's his brother's been taken and bill doesn't think he's been killed so he's on a search to try to prove that his brother isn't killed and on the way discovers that he should take out this clown. And it was an odd, it felt like an odd choice to me. And then they doubled down on that by having Pennywise abduct Beverly at one point, the only

female character. And I got really nervous for a second that she was going to be just like a damsel in distress. Exactly. Until they made it very clear that she was taken because he couldn't hurt her because she wasn't afraid of him. That was a nice touch. I was nervous and then they kind of, they pulled it back, especially since she, like, because it also plays back into, she's the first one that's able to hurt him, because she's, like, not afraid. Yep. But then, and we talked about this earlier, because they don't really get into who or what it is, you don't get as clear of a picture as to why they're able to hurt it. Things just kind of happen. Yep. Yep. Yeah.

Yeah, there's really no rules established. There's no mythology behind what it is, which is fine. You know, in a way, I think at least in this first chapter, we're not going to know what it is. We're not going to know why it's doing this. We don't know how big a role it plays in the town of Derry. What I think is really interesting is how it feeds off of the fear of each of these boys, which was, I don't know if this is. in the original version, the miniseries, but when they go into the house

and they experience each of their individual feelings. The house is not in the miniseries at all. Interesting. Very interesting. Yeah. Well, no, no, no, that's not true. It's in it very briefly. Stanley goes in there. It's in it very briefly, and he sees somebody, like, wrapped in bandages

and stuff and is able to escape by naming all of his birds, which is a callback to something that happens in the book. But they, yeah, they do, they do, do do the individual fears in the miniseries, but I do agree that there was much more of a potency to it this time, which I enjoyed.

And they were scary. It was scary. Like some of that stuff was real creepy and odd and disturbing. And I could appreciate that they really, like, win all out with having these scenarios that the clown was creating. That's why I didn't mind the CG as much. Let's talk about that. Now, this movie definitely had some flaws with its CGI.

It was not the best. Again, we were working on a minimal budget, and it did distract a little, but like you mentioned this to me earlier, how do you create such a fantastical and nightmarish world with the budget you have with a story like this? without CGI. I don't think it would have been possible.

Especially the shooting schedules people want nowadays and like things like, like it's a practical, like people, practical effects are fantastic, but they are also very difficult. And expensive. And expensive. So it's,

and now you can, what's great about this movie, because you could argue the same thing for like, a perfect example of trying to use CG in a movie that should be really able to take advantage of CG and failing miserably is the Nightmare and Elm Street remake from 2010.

Absolutely. It is so devoid of any like it just feels like a computer simulation. In this they I thought they did a good job on some of it. There was even a shot especially where his head is kind of like moving almost. It's like very disorienting.

I forget who was looking at him. I think it might have been like Eddie. But his head is almost kind of like distorting in the picture. And at first I thought like, oh man, that's like bad CGI. And then I was like, no, this is just really like disorienting. Like this is really, they got down that like he is really trying to torture these people and play off of them and make things weird and make things feel like not real.

Like when he pops out of the like that slide scene. Oh my God. Oh, that was so cool. So yeah, for those who don't know, there's a scene where there's a scene where there's is a projector that's like starting to have a life of its own and it's flipping through these projections very quick and we're seeing it getting closer and closer and then boom he just comes out of the projection screen yeah it's like this giant oh my god that was so cool yeah yeah some of that stuff was really it honestly and what's interesting is i found myself really enjoying the

parts with Pennywise the most, and I didn't necessarily have that feeling in my other experiences with the source material, because usually the things, and this is another one of the problems that I had with the movie, is that while they did have some elements of, like, truly terrible human beings, which is always a big thrust in Stephen King's work, which is that, like, the monsters that we usually have to fear are humans, they didn't, do it enough for me. Like, it's only kind of slightly there, and then in the times when it's

supposed to look like it is making this happen, you're not really sure, because you've already... Like, they just didn't... I feel like they didn't have enough, maybe even interest in that, if that makes sense.

Like, it's... A perfect example is, like, Eddie's mom. Eddie's mom gets all the teeth taken out of her as far as, like, being a biting character, because she just, at first, they present her as being, like, almost apathetic as far as, like, what he goes and does, and then all because of the sudden she becomes more like the character from the book, which is just overly concerned with what he's doing. And it is, so then when he finally, like, stands up to her, there was no, there was nothing to it, really, which should be a big part of it.

Like, in the, in the book and in the miniseries, she is an antagonist. She's just as bad as Pennywise, you come to fight. she's just as bad as Henry Bauer's. Like, she's just, she's one of the bad guys, whether she means to be or not. And she's truly frightening, just in the kind of grip that she has on Eddie. And I don't, aside from Beverly's dad in this version, they don't really get into that with the humans. And with his, it's even simplified where he's just a creep. He's just gross.

There's no, like in the, they just full-blown make it so that he's, like, trying to have sex with her, which is only kind of like hinted at in the books and the miniseries. Like, it's never really explicit. You know he's terrible, but it's more leveled than that, which is what makes it scarier. It's more real. Like, he was a cartoon in this movie. Yeah, same with the older boy who's kind of bullying all the losers in the club,

who later in the movie literally becomes a murderer. Oh, Henry Bowers. Yes. That was, yeah, they didn't really, that was another one where there was no, it was all very sudden, like, all of a sudden he's snapped. And, like, they, but they didn't do enough to show, like, he's just kind of a bully. And I, like, don't give him wrong. Bullies don't need motivation necessarily, but there was, there was nothing here. They, they talk about at one point how he's like, oh, like, Beverly says to Ben, the fat boy in the group.

Quote a quote, fat boy. yeah fat fat boy she says like oh everybody knows he's he's got a bone to pick with you or like he's after you or something like that and we're like it's like all right could you feel what did you happen yeah yeah i was like i and i was like i've read the book i know why but i would like to know as a movie goer please right um just something um and there's a lot of weird like they they chose weird opportunities um to pick showing overtelling and vice versa this is something that i don't think any of them will ever be able to to get across. I guess it just comes across easier in prose, but in both the miniseries and in this movie, they have ridiculous scenes where the kids are just like, I guess it's just some hundred-year-old evil being that can feed off of our fears and use them to exploit. It's just like, what are you talking about? Yeah, yeah, this is, I think this film in particular, this version, is a perfect example of style over substance. This movie was gorgeous.

I mean, the sets, it looked like you were in almost like a haunted house at times, or you were in this town of Derry. And even like down to when we're in the house and each kid is having their fear played out, it felt like you were following them through a room in some sort of haunted house theme park. Yeah, the scenes in the house were probably, were probably the best scenes in the movie.

Those are pretty fantastic. That was real good. I really liked everything that happened in there. It was real scary. Bill Scarsgaard did a fantastic job with those kids. And what I love is, I don't know if you knew this, but the producers and the director wouldn't introduce the kids to him before they shot those scenes.

Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they met him for the first time doing those scenes. That's, you know, that's interesting. I do wonder how often that happens with kids who are in horror movies. How real do they really want to make it? Well, you know, what's funny is, I guess pretty often because I just recently read a story for Annabelle Creation, where Anthony LaPaglia, who's one of the actors in that movie, did the exact same thing,

like isolated himself from the kids while they were shooting. You know who else did that? Ryan Reynolds did that when he... Was it Ryan Reynolds? I believe it was. who did the Amityville movie. Oh, really? Really? Because he knew that these kids he was, you know, he was portraying their father and that he

had to brutally murder them. He did not want to have any sort of connection with the actors beforehand. That's awesome. Which is interesting. I would think it would be the other way around. You would want to build a relationship with these kids who are supposed to be your children, making it all that more powerful when he actually murders them. That's a good point. I didn't really thought about that. It always just kind of made sense to me, but now that you say that. It is interesting. Now, Bill Scarsgard. Now, how do you think he compares to Tim Curry?

It's apples and oranges. And don't get me wrong, he is not. Well, I mean, he did a perfectly fine job, and I don't mean to say, like, he's no Heath Ledger. Like, he's no, like, he didn't do a very good job. But it is very much a, you know, Jack. Nicholson did his thing in 89. Tim Curry did his thing in 90. Heath Ledger did his thing in Dark Knight and Bill Scarsgar did his thing in this. I think it's different enough and stands enough on its own. It's just a different take and it's a very grounded kind of take. Like I love

if there's something just kind of like inhuman about him that just really works. His physical, he got more opportunities. Yeah, you know, Tim Curry was probably like 40 by the time he played Pennywise, I think, or somewhere around there. Bill Scarsgarsgaard's like 25.

and because of that you get to see some really solid physicality from him which is very much more akin to like how he is in the book which he's always like you know doing cartwheels and stuff like that just a very

there's a lot more like body work that he got to do there's that one scene where he's like in just dance doing a jig in front of Beverly just staring at her with these like dead eyes and he's freaky now there are times in this

where they roll his eyes like into the back of his head. There are some terrifying close-ups of this clown where I think the CGI did work. Others not so much, but overall, some extremely visceral

aesthetics in this movie. Even the first scene where the boy gets his arm taken off by it. I was like, good on you guys. Good on you. Like they just went for it. it. Yeah, I mean, they did, but then they, you know, he steals him away inside of the sewer. It's, it's much more effective if what happens usually happens, which is he gets his arm ripped off and then is left there to die in the gutter. Yes.

We like our kids dead and cold. And in the gutter. In the gutter. In the gutter. So, yeah, there's, I mean, there's definitely elements. I will say there's one moment that felt like every now and then I can watch something. that I can be like, oh, I bet that was a studio note. And there's that part in the end when they're in his layer or whatever. And all the kids are floating up in the air. And I was just like, I was like, that's an executive going. Like, well, I mean, he's saying they all float this whole time.

Like we got to show them floating. They're going to float. Yeah, they got to float. We got to show them floating. No, no, no, no, trust me. It'll make sense. It's only going to make sense if we show them floating at some point. So we're going to do it.

We're going to show them floating. Like, I was like, what is going on here? Yeah, it was interesting. The climax of the film, it seems like, is where they took a lot of liberties. Yeah, and I will say, though, some of them worked, because I don't know if you know what happens or remember what happens in the book, but it's like, you know, when they defeat him, or quote-unquote defeat him, it's through like a whole thing where Bill, like, goes into his mind, basically, and then they go into this other universe and Bill gets transported past a giant, turtle, which is referenced in the movie. There is a turtle watching over them. The turtle is Pennywise's natural enemy, and Bill sees it as he's being transported through

the universe towards the deadlights, and then he's able to resist Pennywise and stop him and hurt him. But I did, I liked what they did here, which is make it, they definitely leaned into the, I just wish they leaned into it a little bit more. They, you know, they overcome their fear, and because Pennywise. wise like becomes what they believe if they believe something will hurt him it does and that's what happens and i love ritchie's little turn moment of like taking that baseball bat and just go to beat the shit out of it absolutely very unexpected yeah and i thought that fight against him

was where some of the cg was real effective because all of a sudden he's just morphing into a bunch of different things which is very much from the book um which was really cool and something you cannot do, you know, you couldn't have done in 1990, and you can't really do practically. It works really well with that CG. Like, can you even see him turn into a spider flog? Yes. Oh, thank you for saying that. I'm still, even, you know what, and I'll say it right now, I'll go on record.

I always understood it in the miniseries, and I understand it even more in the book. It's all there. It's just what their minds can handle. Yep. So good. Yes. Yeah, this movie, I think, it succeeded on so many levels.

It was so much fun. I think they really found the heart of Stephen King. It's for a new generation. And I think we have to keep that in mind. Like, we're not saying, oh, it's nothing like the mini series. Oh, he doesn't know. No, no, absolutely not. I'm disgusted by how many times I've said,

well, in the source material, I'm not that person. I don't want to be that person. Usually, yeah, yeah, I'm not that person. I'm a man who it talked about how much I love that Batman v. Superman just kind of took the sort of material and threw it up against the wall. And I had Doga and made a lot of knots. But we don't know. That's neither here nor there.

Well, I don't have time for that right now. You know, if you want to see literally an homage, scene by scene, watch Gus Van Sant's psycho. That is a piece of shit incarnate, where every move, every line, every shot is practically identical to the original and completely worthless to humanity. Yeah. But in this, I really think that they decided, like, while there were some choices that they made that I did not particularly understand as why they would, like, changes that they made, there were some where I was like, oh, that's a really good, that was a solid idea. That was a good thing to change. So I thought that, yeah, I enjoyed myself far too much. I'm also excited to see the sequel, because like I said, there's nothing that could have made me happier than having the, the, the, the titles come up at the end and it's saying chapter one across it across it. Just to make it very clear, like, you know, it could be like a kill bill type situation.

And while Kill Bill 1 is not as complete of a film as this one is, I still, I do think there will be some, they have a unique opportunity to really fill in some gaps and fix some of the problems in a second movie. Because they're still going to be telling the story. They can just improve on it and on what they've already done. already set up. Yes. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, in the semi-mythology we get with Pennywise, this happens every 27 years. Am I correct? 27 to 30 years, yeah. Okay. Okay. So, they say pretty definitively 27 in this movie, which is fine. It doesn't matter. But it's, you know, it's about 27 to 30 years.

So I guess if we're looking at a chapter two for this, if it when, I mean, I would assume it would come out with the box office for this movie. They'd be stupid. Oh, yeah. This is all but going to happen. Yeah. Like, this is, yeah. No, I'm wondering. I've already been picked in my dream cast. I was going to say, we're not going to be seeing any of the same actors, presumably.

I mean, if we're going 27 years old. Yep, yep, which will be interesting. I wonder if they'll keep Bill Scarsguard, you know, this immortal. Oh, they have to. They have to. He is going to be the new icon for this, I think. Yeah. Oh, yeah, they have to.

I can, oh, my God. And I can't wait. It has to, oh, I will say that's something I'm very, that is something I'm very, that is something I'm very excited to see. It has to be the same actor, and they have it. And where this movie, these movies are like Kill Bill, I will say, is they do have that opportunity where, like, this movie does have more of the, not throwaway feel, but it's more of like an adventure, just like a fun.

This is something that happens to these kids, and they fight back against it. And this is the story kind of feel to it, almost like kind of the first Kill Bill. It's kind of a straightforward, like, fun, actiony revenge movie. But then you get to the second movie, and it's got the heart and the explanation, and you really get details as to what happened and you get the emotion of the story in the background. And like I said, I'm, I, I, I, I hope that they're able to handle it correctly. And I, I don't want to like, you know, go against anybody. Some talented people worked on these movies, but I do think that I feel like there was,

if there's enough from Carrie Fukunagwa's story that got used, that got him a writing credit, that means that they have an interesting challenge ahead of them doing it without him. And I mean... Because otherwise they would have just scrapped, they would have started from scratch, and they would have done their own thing. And that's clearly not but happened. And he's not going to be around for the second one. And the second one has to be deep.

It has to be about these people, like these kids coming back as adults. It's about rediscovering your childhood and, like, memories and how to fit. Like, it's got to be where a lot of the meat is. But we'll see. And presumably how these events in this one affected their growing up. Yes, absolutely. It's not like these things can just be shaken off. And they're like, oh, yeah, it's been 27 years.

Crap! You know, it's like these things are going to haunt them for the rest of the lives. Oh, well, well, no. I mean, they'll haunt Mike, but that's the whole twist if you don't want. I don't know if you remember. Spoiler. Spoiler is they leave town and everyone forgets everything. They forget each other.

And then 27 years later, Mike is hanging out at home, and the murder start up again, and he calls everybody one by one. And all of a sudden, they're like, I'm sorry, Mike Hanlon, who are you? And then they, boom, it's like a flash. So, oh, man, I'm so excited. As long as they take their time, and like you said, they really give it the heart in love that I think they did with this one. you know, the entire creative team from the writers to the director to the cast, everyone, it's clear, was... Producers choose. Seth Graham Smith, who's more of like, you know, that's the Pride Prejudice and Zombies guy.

He's been an active producer on this since Carrie Foucanagua was supposed to be doing. Foucanago was supposed to be doing it. Yeah, and his only stayed on since then. It was a very active part of production. So, we'll see. I, I mean, I'm... going to see this one in theaters again before it's out of theaters. I still had a blast, and I can't wait to, I had to get up and pee during the cleaning, cleaning the blood scene, so I got to go back.

I, I, I'm okay with that only because I heard it was one of the weirdest things of the movie. It was pretty weird. You got like this, this nice 80s song going on. Yeah, I was about to say, just because the music choice was, was jarring. That moment should have some weight to it. Oh, absolutely um and i didn't yeah i don't know if i don't know i i can't judge i'll have to see it again because i didn't see that scene but i know in the books end in the miniseries she says like a whole like you know once they helped her clean it it never came back but they also don't show it happening again so who knows that blood scene was great yeah that was a great ultra bloody her just getting trapped in there like there was some good that dude is a good director and i'm excited to see him um he's doing a pilot for

lock and key for Hulu, which is a comic book series by Stephen King's son. Did you ever read that? No, I have not. Ryan, Ryan, I'm holding to you to this because it's being recorded. You go out tomorrow and get the first volume of lock and key. And if you're not hooked, I don't know what to do for you. But it's a, it was a comic book series by Joe Hill, who's Stephen King's son and this artist, Gabriel Rodriguez. And it's about these kids who, after their father's grisly murder, returned to, to his childhood home, which he inherited, and they find these special keys that give them, like, secret powers. But then they also find out that there is a demon that will stop at nothing to get the keys for themselves. And it is amazing. It is one of the best comic books that's ever been created. It's got, it was, you know, it's got a finite run.

I think there's maybe like 38 issues. It's great, great horror comics. Oh, I have to check that out. Yeah. And Andy Muscietti, who is doing the pilot, which there was a pilot that was done maybe like seven years ago or so that didn't get picked up. But they're doing a new pilot for Hulu. He's directing it. He's co-writing it with Joe Hill.

And the kid who plays Georgie is going to play a main little kid in the TV show. Amazing. This is what I love about streaming television. I think Beverly's going to be in it, too. Is she? Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah. She was great, by the way.

She was real good. And if they don't get Amy Adams to play an older version of her, I feel bad. That's what I said. She looks just like her. With the money that this movie made, she would be dumb to not take that role. Yeah, I'll be interested to see. I think it was clock to make like $60 million by the end of the weekend. It'll probably make more than that.

And that's, you know, twice its budget. That makes its money back in the first weekend. So we're getting a sequel. I just hope they give them more money. I want more dairy. Oh, Ryan, there was such a big tea. There's plenty of great book stuff in there. But so Richie, and they have it in this too.

Like, Richie is constantly like, you know, he's the joking one and the loud mouth and doesn't really believe what's going on. And then he has a great moment in this movie where he's finally like, oh, shit. In the book, there's this giant statue of Paul Bunyan, right, that's in the center of dairy. And it's in the movie. In the book, it bends over and talks to him. like gets right in his face and then turns into Pennywise and then like starts chasing after him. It's crazy.

So when they showed that statue in, and I'm pretty sure it's at a moment where he's just like, guys, I haven't seen anything. You're all nuts. And I was like, oh my God, is he going to see? Is that thing going to come to life? And you know what? Maybe if the budget was $60 million, it would have. Yep.

Here's my fear. The budget will be upped by millions for the sequel. I just hope that it doesn't overshadow the story they're trying to tell, making it too big budget Hollywood. Agreed. And it could, as long as they stick to the, you know, they, I'll be interested to see what they do for a finale for this next one. They have some choices, especially since they have, they could take it right from the source material or if they want since they changed it so much for this one. But I kind of, I liked the grounded feel, but I would like to see them. It's interesting.

it was interesting watching kids have to act like adults to get out of this. I want to see adults have to act like kids. Oh, what a wonderful turn of events, yeah. Like, I really want them to have to use their imagination, to have to do something, like, step out of their comfort zone as far as, like, believing. Because one thing they don't really touch on a lot in this, I mean, they mentioned it briefly with the blood and stuff, but it's like the adults just don't see this stuff. Like, they don't even, because technically what it's doing is not even really,

most of the time. So it will be interesting to see these adults who are seeing this and the sequel interacting with other adults who aren't. Yeah. Yeah, what that lends to it. So, yeah, they got some challenges ahead of them, but I'm excited. We'll see. Me too, man.

I think, you know, we can both agree. This was a good movie. It was a solid, yeah. Oh, absolutely. I will definitely be going to see it again. Yep. I'll be seeing it again within the week. easily. All right. Well, I think that's it. I think we've pretty much covered it all. I hope people

enjoyed. I hope people go see the movie. I hope we didn't give it. Form your own opinion. It's a great time of year for it. It's already starting to feel like fall and I just, this is a great, you know me and how I love me some Shocktober and I have to get prepared early this year. Yes. Because I'll be on my honeymoon and having my wedding during October this year. This is a great way to kind of kick things off. Get things going. Yes. For those you don't know, every, I did want to mention every October, Andrew does do what, a whole month, right, of covering horror movies. The entire purpose of my podcast, Half White Son of a Black Man, is throwing out the window so I can bring in some friends to talk about horror movies. And Ryan, I will have to, like I said, it will be, last year I

did nine episodes. I would say I do about four episodes a month of the podcast regularly. We did nine last year. At mostly, except for one episode, each episode was three movies apiece. So I watched three. I ended up for the month watching on my own and because of the podcast, somewhere around like 33 horror movies. It might have been way more than that, actually, because there was once that I stopped counting because I started early.

Anyway, this year it'll be a little bit lessened, but I would like to propose right now for fun. I say for a nice little synergy, we might try to get Nick in on this, who you are usually in cohorts with, yes, who I have you guys come on. But I would love to talk about the miniseries. Absolutely. Let's get it. We'll do a nice little crossover.

I'll repost this bad boy, and then we'll also talk about the miniseries for it. So people can have that to look forward to. Come Shock-Toba time. Awesome. And where can we find the podcast, Andrew? You can go to www. A Halfwhite son of a black man. You can go to Halfwhite son of a black man on Instagram,

Halfwhite son of a black man on Facebook, and at official HWSOBM on Twitter. Perfect. You got options. And iTunes. You can just type into iTunes or wherever podcasts are found. Oh, yeah. That's a thing.

iTunes, I forgot. Yeah, yeah, right? Yeah, who does thunk it? They do good work, yeah. Well, this has been an impromptu review of it. Guys, go see it. in theaters now, and let us know what you think. Once we post this, please feel free to contact us.

Let us know your thoughts. And we will maybe even read some of them on the next episode is somewhere in the sky. We shall see you. Nice. Cool, man. All right, Andrew, thank you for joining me all the way from New York, one coast to the other. And congratulations on the wedding, my friend.

Oh, thanks, buddy. I'll see you there. I will see you there. Huh? Huh? Wink, wink. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. And you, too, Andrew. You too will float.

Where in the skies is produced by third kind productions in association with Antica Productions and the Antica Podcast Network. To learn more, visit anticaproductions.com.