Derry is a dump. Honestly, if you grew up in a small town that felt like it was hiding a rotting secret under the floorboards, you know exactly what Stephen King was tapping into. When Andy Muschietti brought the summers of IT Chapter One to the big screen in 2017, he didn't just make a horror movie. He captured that weird, sweaty, terrifying transition from childhood to the realization that the world is fundamentally broken. It’s about more than just a clown in a sewer. It is about the specific, agonizing heat of a Maine summer where kids disappear and the adults just turn the page of the newspaper.
I remember sitting in the theater and feeling that immediate sense of dread during the opening rainstorm. It’s a masterpiece of tone. You’ve got the paper boat, the yellow slicker, and Bill Skarsgård’s lazy, wandering eye—which, by the way, wasn't CGI. Skarsgård can actually move his eyes in two different directions at once. Creepy? Absolutely.
The Brutal Reality of Derry's Heat
The Losers' Club isn't your typical group of movie kids. They’re foul-mouthed, bullied, and neglected. The summers of IT Chapter One work because the horror isn't just Pennywise. The horror is the town itself. Derry is a character that wants to eat you. Look at the scene at the rock quarry. It’s one of the few moments of pure, unadulterated joy in the film. They’re jumping off cliffs, swimming, and just being kids. But even there, the shadow of the Barrens hangs over them.
The Barrens is where the sewage goes. It’s where they find the sneaker of a dead boy. It’s where the "Losers" find their sanctuary because the "normal" parts of town are controlled by people like Henry Bowers or the indifferent townspeople who watch a child get harassed and do nothing.
Why the 1980s Setting Changed Everything
In the original novel, the kids' story takes place in the 1950s. Moving the summers of IT Chapter One to 1989 was a brilliant move by the writers (Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman). It tapped into a specific brand of nostalgia that felt visceral for Gen X and Millennials. It wasn't the sanitized, neon-soaked 80s we see in a lot of media now. It was grimy. It was the era of "missing child" milk cartons and New Kids on the Block posters plastered over peeling wallpaper.
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Muschietti understood that for the horror to land, the friendship had to feel real. You can’t fake that chemistry. Finn Wolfhard’s Richie Tozier is a constant machine of "your mom" jokes because that’s how 13-year-olds actually talk when they’re terrified.
Pennywise and the Architecture of Fear
We have to talk about the manifestations. Pennywise doesn't just jump out and scream "boo." He targets the specific traumas of the Losers.
- Eddie Kaspbrak: His fear isn't just germs; it’s the Leper. It’s the physical manifestation of the sickness his mother has projected onto him his entire life.
- Beverly Marsh: The blood in the sink. It’s a messy, violent metaphor for puberty and the abuse she suffers at the hands of her father.
- Mike Hanlon: The burning doors. He’s haunted by the literal fire that killed his parents, a trauma rooted in the town’s racist history.
When we revisit the summers of IT Chapter One, we see how the film balances these heavy themes with genuine adventure. It’s a "coming of age" story wrapped in a nightmare. The house on Neibolt Street is the quintessential "haunted house" on the block that every neighborhood has. You know the one. The grass is too long, the porch is sagging, and you lose a dare if you don't touch the front door.
The Casting Was Lightning in a Bottle
Finding seven kids who could carry a major studio franchise is nearly impossible. Sophia Lillis as Beverly was a revelation. She brought a toughness and a vulnerability that anchored the group. Jack Dylan Grazer’s frantic energy as Eddie provided the perfect foil to Bill Denbrough’s quiet, stuttering grief.
And then there’s Skarsgård.
Tim Curry’s Pennywise from the 1990 miniseries was iconic because he was a prankster. He felt like a guy in a suit who might actually be at a birthday party before he bites your head off. Skarsgård’s Pennywise is... different. He’s an apex predator pretending to be a clown. He doesn't quite understand how humans work. The way he drools, the way his voice cracks and shifts pitch—it feels alien. It feels like "It."
Behind the Scenes: Making the Horror Real
The production design by Claude Paré deserves more credit than it gets. They built parts of Derry in Port Hope, Ontario, and they transformed it. They added the Paul Bunyan statue. They aged the buildings. Everything felt sun-bleached and exhausted.
There's a reason this movie broke records. It wasn't just the marketing. It was the fact that people recognized themselves in the Losers. Most of us didn't fight a trans-dimensional entity in the sewers during our summer breaks, but we all felt that feeling of the world suddenly getting much bigger and much scarier than we were told it was.
Critics like Peter Travers pointed out that the film succeeds because it spends time on the "quiet" moments. The bike rides. The hanging out. If you don't care about the kids, the monsters don't matter.
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Common Misconceptions About the Movie
Some people think the movie is a direct copy of the book. It isn't. The book is thousands of pages long and contains some... let’s say highly controversial scenes in the tunnels that Muschietti (rightfully) opted to leave out. Instead, he replaced them with a "blood oath" that felt much more aligned with the cinematic version of their bond.
Another misconception is that the CGI did all the work. While there is definitely digital enhancement, a huge amount of the creature work was practical. Javier Botet, the actor who played the Leper, has a physical condition called Marfan syndrome that allows him to contort his body in ways that look impossible. That jittery, unnatural movement? That’s a human being doing that.
How to Revisit Derry Today
If you’re looking to dive back into the summers of IT Chapter One, don't just watch the movie. Look at the way it uses sound. The sound design is incredibly layered. There are whispers in the background of scenes that you can only hear if you’ve got a good pair of headphones.
- Watch the 2017 film first. Focus on the lighting—how the shadows in the daylight are often scarier than the night scenes.
- Read the 1950s sections of the novel. Compare how the themes of institutional neglect are handled in two different eras.
- Check out the "making of" features. Pay attention to how the kids were kept away from Bill Skarsgård until their first scene together to ensure their reactions were genuine.
- Listen to the score by Benjamin Wallfisch. It uses a children’s nursery rhyme ("Oranges and Lemons") in a way that is genuinely upsetting.
The legacy of that first chapter remains strong because it reminds us that while monsters are real, you don't have to face them alone. The Losers won not because they were the strongest, but because they were the only ones who refused to look away.
To get the most out of your next viewing, pay close attention to the background of the library scene where Ben is reading. If you look closely at the librarian in the distance, she isn't just watching him—she’s frozen in a way that suggests she might not be entirely human in that moment. It’s those tiny, missable details that make the Derry experience so immersive. Next time you're stuck inside on a hot day, dim the lights and head back to the Barrens. Just stay out of the street drains.