A screen shot here of what was said that started it all:
But after the backlash and apology..
More backlash..
All eyes are on a new movie THE LONG WALK coming out, based on King’s book.. Many are now clamoring online to boycott the film..
DEVELOPING..
Two new trailers are out this week–one for a sequel and the other revealed at Comic Con in San Diego for a Stephen King short..
First the King..
Written by are Strange Darling‘s JT Mollner, The Long Walk stars Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza), Charlie Plummer (Spontaneous), Judy Greer (Jurassic World), Mark Hamill (Star Wars, The Fall of the House of Usher)
The Long Walk is one of numerous novels King published under the pseudonym, Richard Bachman — a list that also includes The Running Man, which has its own adaptation coming later this year from Edgar Wright. Originally published in 1979, King cites it as the first novel he ever wrote sometime in the late 1960s, years before Carrie ever hit shelves, and was initially collected in 1985’s The Bachman Books.
Next we roll on to FNAF..
Based on Scott Cawthon’s blockbuster horror game series, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is again directed by acclaimed returning filmmaker Emma Tammi (The Wind, Blood Moon). The first film followed Mike, a troubled young man who reluctantly takes a job as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, hoping it will help him retain custody of his young sister. That fateful decision instead drags him into the black heart of a supernatural nightmare. Mike’s story continues in the upcoming sequel. One year has passed since the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza…
And this one what Blumhouse is basing some major hopes on..
The blood will flow on another Mike Flanagan adaptation of a Stephen King story.. this time CARRIE..
The famed dircetor just announced in a new Instagram post that filming on the series has begun, featuring Summer H. Howell as the latest young actress to take on the mantle of Stephen King’s first protagonist.
While it isn’t much of an update, it created enough excitement with just one picture of the series’ day one slate, paired with the caption “and we’re off.”
Bob Savage is directing The Boogeyman for Hulu.. the film received its rating, “PG-13” for “Terror, violent content, teen drug use, and some strong language.”
From press releases, the plot: “Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her little brother find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.”
Sophie Thatcher (“Yellowjackets”) and Chris Messina (Birds of Prey) star alongside David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad), Marin Ireland (Y: The Last Man, The Umbrella Academy), Vivien Lyra Blair (Bird Box, Mr. Corman) and Madison Hu (Voyagers).
The original story was first published in 1973, before finding a home in Stephen King’s Night Shift collection in 1978.
Ps the plot sounds wildly different than the original …
Boogeyman is set for a 2023 release..
MIKE HANLON
“My idea of Mike in the second movie is quite darker from the book,” the filmmaker said. “I want to make his character the one pivotal character who brings them all together, but staying in Derry took a toll with him. I want him to be a junkie actually. A librarian junkie. When the second movie starts, he’s a wreck.”
Muschietti said he wanted to “infuse more agency to him in those 30 years we don’t visit.”
“He’s not just the collector of knowledge of what Pennywise has been doing in Derry. He will bear the role of trying to figure out how to defeat him. The only way he can do that is to take drugs and alter his mind.”
Pennywise’s origin and weakness
“It resonates with what the kids do when they go to the smokehouse in the Barrens,” Andy Muschietti says. “By inhaling these fumes from the fire they have visions of It, and the origin of It, and the falling fire in the sky that crashed into Derry millions of years ago. We’ve brought that to Mike, by the end of those 30 years Mike has figured out the Ritual of Chüd.”
No, that’s not a reference to the 1984 schlock classic C.H.U.D., which stood for “Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers.” King’s Ritual of Chüd is more of a Lovecraftian spell, an old-world mysticism that involves a duel of imagination between the shapeshifting trickster and the children (now adults) who want to end It once and for all.
But even as Hanlon sounds the alarm to his old friends that they must return, his addiction becomes just another demon he has to battle.
When the Losers return, he won’t be facing it alone.
Stan Uris
“There is something in the future for him, taking his own life, that finds its seed in this film,” Andy Muschietti said. “He is the one who doesn’t want to accept what’s going on. And being the one who didn’t want to participate he gets the worst part.”
Those who’ve seen the movie know the part: deep in Derry’s sewer system, Stan separates from the group and comes face-to-uh-something with It in the form of the creepy woman from the painting in his father’s study.
When his friends finally find him, It has its comb-toothed jaws around his head and is sucking Stan’s face into its mouth. Although he survives, the memory and the traumatic stress he lives with makes him decide it’s a horror he can’t confront again.
IF you read IT by Stephen King, you may recall there were some elements that could have garnered the film an NC17 or above rating.. Group sex.. masturbation while torturing animals.. and Bevvie’s dad doing MORE to Bevvie than worrying about her..
Lots.
Lots of things could have upset the apple cart.
What resulted was a stellar film that, in a perfect would, would be worthy of some Oscars (we know Hollywood doesn’t like to reward horror often however) .. If these few elements would have been included, perhaps the movie’s successful script would never have made it to cinemas..
MOVIEPILOT has a bit more on the items that floated from the script into oblivion. Read with caution.
Concerning the MOST controversial of all (and there are a LOT), this:
Lost in the sewers and with nowhere to turn, Beverley realizes that the only way for the group to escape is for each boy to take it in turns and put their “thing” inside of her. By losing their virginity together, the Losers’ Club can then once more tap into the power of the Turtle and find their way to safety. Yes, this scene is even more insane than the Deadlights themselves, no Muschietti didn’t include it in his adaptation and yes, Stephen King himself continues to defend the sequence, even now.
Whether you believe that the sewer gang-bang should have appeared in the movie or not, it’s fascinating to see how Muschietti tried to remain faithful to #IT while still navigating the controversy of #StephenKing‘s original text. It’s no wonder then that Cary Fukunaga’s original script never made it into production. After all, there’s only so many controversial plot points one can add to a movie before the inevitable starfish attacks and incestuous rapes take things a step too far.
The HORROR REPORT ponders if these omissions are such a bad thing. After all, the film was WILDLY successful and will most likely continue to be throughout at least the early autumn.. Ignoring some of these aspects of the book, even with Stephen King adamantly defending them, may have been the best decision ever made.. mainstream for the masses! The Loser’s Club wins.
I have a few ‘floating’ observations to make about this past weekend. Initially I fell victim to the hype..the overkill..the horror–from the news media!
I have been in touch with some family and friends–a few haven’t responded yet–who live in the hurricane zone in Florida.. So far fine. Power is out for them, about over 3 million people. News media reports this morning indicate that about 5 so far have been confirmed dead because of the storm–a few from car wrecks while trying to evacuate..
But last night while trying to sleep through some anxiety that has been increasing with recent weather conditions worldwide, I tuned in to hear Chris Jericho from the WWE during the initial minutes of Coast to Coast AM hosted night by Richard Syrett. I needed to hear it.. Jericho was in the Tampa area–the location where most damage was said to be coming. The eye wall..the horror! The misery! Jericho said he was busy watching Game of Thrones and, if he didn’t know Hurricane Irma was outside, may have just thought it was a rainstorm with wind. I was thankful to have heard this…
I saw a few articles this week of people planning hurricane parties.. people saying ‘F IRMA’ online. Even a few that would have taken a really bad road and shot guns into the storm. Bad, bad idea people.
There has been looting, yes. There is flooding.Some locations may be without power for days, weeks..or months. All of those dire warnings have come true for some. The storm surge isn’t done ravaging.. and yes, low line areas like Miama have been dealt a warning shot that, in case climate change continues to march ahead, they will have to deal with being at sea level. Maybe one day below.. All of these things are true…
….fear.
With fear comes violence..with fear comes people making really awful choices. Distraught souls wandering in the land of fright .. their plight.. without might.. no fight.
Fear takes away so much potential from people. Fear, heralded by the media so often as they hype storms for ratings, forces the human condition into a less than desirable state.
Fear.
It’s interesting that Pennywise the Dancing Clown made his presence known in movie theaters across America the same weekend we dealt with IRMA. The film adaptation of Stephen King’s IT was a remarkable success! $110 million domestically and the biggest horror release ever. A record setting film. Biggest R rates release .. the global box office has been rocked by a clown and the Loser’s Club facing their fears just enough to fight off the enemy.
He thrusts his fists against the post but still insists he sees the ghost.
Pennywise is a bit like Irma, isn’t he? The fear… so many are placed into a ‘holding’ position by fear..they get locked in the ‘dead lights’ of the media. We are rampaged mentally by media outlets showcasing the doom and gloom of the planet. Just as Derry is damaged permanently by a killer shapeshifter who utilizes the deepest fears of its prey in order to defeat them quickly.
We cannot allow fear to overcome us.
So often I think we have turned into a circus of ourselves. Social media is amazing..You can literally watch someone Periscope live from a hurricane half a globe away and chat. Amazing. The speed at which information is disseminated is unbelievable .. But so often we overhype things that shouldn’t be and marginalized amazing things that need to be known. The goodness of the world is sidelined … blistering headlines this morning showcase that: DOOM! HORROR! IRMA! MISERY! DESTRUCTION! And a sale on meat at the local grocery store. Sports in section b.
Yes..Pennywise is the darkest horror figure in box offices perhaps ever. The remarkable film actually deserves an Oscar, and whether it’s the first to get one in the genre since SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, I don’t know.
Pennywise is also a lot like the media tycoons that promulgate misery and fear.. Sex doesn’t sell nearly as much as blood. If it bleeds it leads baby. Pennywise is similar.. he will lurk in shadows and sewers and wait until the moment when your’e most afraid.
When the Loser’s Club faces their fears, thrusts their fists against the post and stop seeing ghosts, they can overcome not only an outside presence of evil but also the darkest demons within themselves. We all should be a little more like the Loser’s Club from IT.
We are all messed up. We are people. People filled with histories that keep us down and nostalgia that removes the darkest days from our past. Mixed up people who so often cannot express ourselves without medication or alcohol. We have fright when we look in the mirror, but only because we see what’s inside.
So on this September 11–an anniversary of a day that also fills us with heartbreak and fear, I sa this: F Irma. And Jose too.
F Pennywise, or whatever incarnation he takes on in the madness of your mind.
Bravo Loser’s Club. We are ALL members, if we want to be..
Early Reactions to ‘It’ Praise Stephen King Film: ‘Totally Terrifying,’ ‘Scary as S—t’:
Journalists who saw an early screening of It are writing their early, spoiler-free reactions on social media — and they are overwhelmingly positive.
“I think it’s one of the finest Stephen King adaptations ever made,” EW’s Anthony Breznican wrote. “Beyond killer clowns, It also delves into the grief & anger kids feel when they realize those who should love & protect them do the opposite. These are themes in King’s stories that filmmakers often ignore. But the best adaptations figure out they’re the most vital part.”
Fandango’s Erik Davis described it as “creepy, bloody, super funny, adorably romantic and hands down among my favorite movies of the year.” Phil Nobile Jr. of Birth.Movies.Death called it “a very handsome, polished execution of a story you know inside out,” while Collider’s Haleigh Foutch answered the question on every fan’s mind: yes, it’s “scary as sh–.”
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2iz8bpI
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkyXfpebihk]
It begins with Georgie.. the poor boy who simply wants to float his boat down the street and encounters Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The images in the newest IT remake trailer are horrific.. they also appear to showcase that the film, directed by Andrés Muschietti is keeping true to the book written by Stephen King last century. Tim Curry did it best. But maybe–just maybe–there is hope with the new IT being released in September.
The rest of the trailer showcases the loser’s club.. and the seemingly invincible Pennywise, who is from a long ago place and time and not of earth, and manifests in whatever form a child fears.
There are so many things you can take from the trailer.. first, innocence lost. Childhood endangered by a clown prince of horror… Bullies… losers.. parents who disbelieve.
And the ancient and old fact that clowns, for all their laughter and horns, are the scariest creatures on the face of the planet..
Over the coming months I will have a lot more thoughts on the new IT remake, clowns, the generation that feared clowns because of Stephen King, and a whole lot more.
But for now.. enjoy the trailer.. as it floats by in real time and FTP on the computer.. safely in your hand or room.. Because Pennywise lurks…
Entertainment sites were abuzz in the past 48 hours over the first official poster for IT..
The image features Georgie in his yellow rain coat.. a clown in the shadows handing him a balloon.. the picture is coupled with a Chiller-ish font saying ‘It.’
Besides the font (in my opinion) the picture on the poster works .. it shows the foreboding terror that the idea of Pennywise the dancing clown consists of. Seeing the darkness is like seeing a mystery.. knowing the fate of poor Georgie is even more awful as much as terrifying … the whole thing is tragic. It’s horrific. It’s deeply scary.. and it has a red balloon for its own amusement and not yours…
In theaters September 8, 2017, the film is set “in a small town in Maine, where seven children known as The Losers’ Club come face to face with life problems, bullies, and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise..
Bill Skarsgard stars as Pennywise, the sewer-dwelling monster.