Tim Curry's face is probably burned into your brain if you grew up in the early nineties. It’s that shock of red hair, the caked-on white greasepaint, and those yellow teeth. Honestly, Stephen King's It 1990 shouldn't have worked as well as it did. It was a "made-for-TV" miniseries airing on ABC, which meant it had to follow strict broadcast standards. No gore. No swearing. No existential turtle gods.
Yet, it ruined clowns for an entire generation.
Most people remember the drainage pipe scene. Bill Denbrough’s little brother, Georgie, chases a paper boat down a rain-slicked street. He peers into the dark sewer grate and sees Pennywise. It’s a classic setup, but the 1990 version hits different because it relies on pure, atmospheric dread rather than the CGI-heavy jumpscares of the modern remakes. It’s a story about childhood trauma, the loss of innocence, and the weird way that small towns tend to forget their own ugly history.
The Curry Factor and the Limitations of 1990s Television
You can't talk about Stephen King's It 1990 without talking about Tim Curry. Interestingly, he almost didn't take the role. He was hesitant about the amount of prosthetic makeup required—he’d already spent hours in the chair for Legend as the Lord of Darkness. But director Tommy Lee Wallace convinced him, and Curry basically carried the production on his back.
His performance is chaotic. One second he’s a jovial circus performer, the next he’s snarling with a voice that sounds like gravel in a blender. Unlike Bill Skarsgård’s more alien, supernatural interpretation in the 2017 film, Curry’s Pennywise felt like a guy in a suit who might actually be standing behind you at a grocery store. That’s what made it scary. It was grounded.
The production faced massive hurdles. They had a two-part format to fill, covering over 1,000 pages of King’s most dense prose. The "Past" segment (Part 1) is widely considered the superior half. It captures that 1950s (changed to 1960 for the show) Americana vibe perfectly. The "Present" segment (Part 2), where the adults return to Derry, often gets criticized for feeling more like a standard soap opera, but that’s kind of the point of the book—the magic is gone once you grow up.
Casting the Losers Club
The kids were incredible. You had Jonathan Brandis as Bill, Seth Green as Richie Tozier, and a young Beverly Marsh played by Emily Perkins. They had genuine chemistry. You actually believed they were friends who would die for each other.
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The adult cast was a "who's who" of nineties TV staples:
- Richard Thomas (of The Waltons fame) played the older Bill Denbrough.
- John Ritter brought a subtle sadness to Ben Hanscom.
- Annette O'Toole captured the lingering fear in Beverly.
- Tim Reid played Mike Hanlon, the "gatekeeper" of Derry's secrets.
The transition from the child actors to the adults is where many viewers feel the momentum slows down. It’s a common complaint. In the book, the timelines are braided together, jumping back and forth constantly. The 1990 miniseries opted for a more linear split. Part 1: The Kids. Part 2: The Adults. This made it easier for a TV audience to follow but sacrificed some of the tension.
Why the Ending Still Divides the Fandom
We have to address the spider.
For many, the climax of Stephen King's It 1990 is a bit of a letdown. After hours of psychological terror and Tim Curry’s menacing grin, the Losers Club finally descends into the sewers to face the true form of It. Because of the budget and the technology of the time, they ended up with a giant, stop-motion animatronic spider.
It looks... dated.
Actually, it looked a bit stiff even in 1990. Tommy Lee Wallace has admitted in various interviews, including the documentary Pennywise: The Story of IT, that the physical monster didn't quite live up to the buildup. But if you look past the rubber legs, the emotional core is still there. The Losers have to stop being afraid. They have to literally rip the heart out of their nightmare.
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The Derry That King Built
Stephen King has a thing for Maine. Derry isn't a real place, but it feels like it. The 1990 miniseries filmed in British Columbia, using the Vancouver area to stand in for New England. It worked beautifully. The Barrens—that marshy wasteland where the kids hang out—became a character of its own.
There's a specific texture to the cinematography in this version. It's soft-focused and hazy, like a half-remembered dream. It captures the "Seven-Year-Old Logic" that the book is famous for. To a kid, a balloon floating against the wind isn't just weird; it's a violation of the laws of the universe.
Small Town Secrets and Real-World Horrors
What the 1990 version handles surprisingly well for a network show is the "human" evil. The Bowers Gang, led by a menacing Jarred Blancard as Henry Bowers, represents the very real threat of bullying and systemic indifference. Derry's adults are often depicted as glassy-eyed or intentionally ignorant. They see the blood on the walls, but they look away.
That’s the real horror of Stephen King's It 1990. It’s not just the clown. It’s the idea that your parents and the police won’t save you because the town itself wants you to be eaten. It’s a dark, cynical theme for a 1990 ABC miniseries.
The Lasting Legacy of the 1990 Version
Even with the massive success of the Andy Muschietti films, the 1990 version isn't going anywhere. It’s a foundational piece of horror history. It proved that you could adapt King’s massive, sprawling epics for the small screen if you focused on the characters rather than just the gore.
Most horror fans today cite this as their "gateway" movie. It was accessible. You didn't need a fake ID to watch it; you just needed to stay up late while your parents were in the other room. It tapped into a universal fear: the idea that the things we were afraid of as children are still waiting for us in the dark corners of our hometowns.
Surprising Facts You Might Not Know
- The "blood in the sink" scene was done with a practical rig that was incredibly difficult to clean up.
- Tim Curry stayed in character as Pennywise even when the cameras weren't rolling, which genuinely unnerved some of the younger actors.
- The runtime was originally supposed to be longer, but they had to trim it to fit the two-night broadcast window.
- The "Deadlights" were portrayed as a glowing light behind Pennywise's eyes, a simple but effective choice that avoided the need for complex cosmic CGI.
Honestly, the 1990 version is more about the "vibes" than the plot. It’s about the feeling of a hot summer afternoon turning cold. It’s the sound of a distant carnival organ. It’s the realization that you can’t go home again, because home might just be a place where monsters live.
How to Revisit the Story Today
If you’re looking to dive back into Derry, don’t just watch it for the scares. Watch it for the performances. Look at the way the lighting changes when Pennywise appears. Pay attention to the score by Richard Bellis, which won an Emmy for its haunting, circus-inspired themes.
Actionable Next Steps for Fans
If you want to truly appreciate the 1990 miniseries, try these three things:
- Watch the Documentary: Track down Pennywise: The Story of IT (2021). It features hours of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew. It explains exactly how they pulled off the effects on a shoestring budget.
- Compare the "Georgie" Scenes: Watch the 1990 opening and the 2017 opening back-to-back. Notice how the 1990 version relies on what you don't see to build tension, whereas the 2017 version leans into the visceral violence.
- Read the "Adult" Chapters: If you’ve only seen the show, go back and read the sections of the book where the adults return to Derry. The miniseries had to cut a lot of the psychological breakdown the characters go through, and it adds a whole new layer to the 1990 performances.
Stephen King's It 1990 remains a masterpiece of atmospheric television. It’s flawed, yes. The spider is goofy. Some of the dialogue is pure nineties cheese. But at its heart, it understands something fundamental about being a kid. It understands that sometimes, the only thing scarier than a monster is the thought of facing it alone.
So, next time you see a yellow raincoat or a red balloon, you can thank Tim Curry for the chill that goes down your spine. He’s been waiting in the sewers for over thirty years, and he’s still just as terrifying as the day he arrived.