HBO isn’t clowning around with its new spin on the Stephen King horror classic It. And that’s not just because the prequel, It: Welcome to Derry, bides its not-so-sweet time until that iconically demonic clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård from the hit movies) finally reveals itself.
Before then, the ancient evil befouling the small town of Derry, Maine, in 1962 takes many grisly shapes and gruesome forms, creating nightmares and bloody havoc among the young population most susceptible to succumbing to their primal fears. Much as in the 1986 novel, the 1990 TV miniseries (with Tim Curry as monstrous Pennywise), and the blockbuster 2017 and 2019 movies, no bathroom drain is safe. But neither are the woods, or a child’s bedroom, or even a grocery aisle.
“We got trouble,” chants a chorus in the movie musical The Music Man, a hit of the time. Derry’s got trouble, all right—including at the local cinema, into which you sneak at your peril—and for those who can’t get enough of this sort of gleefully gory monster mash, this will be the “it” show of the season, perfectly timed for the week leading to Halloween.
From its incongruously chirpy theme song (“A Smile and a Ribbon” from the 1950s sister act Patience and Prudence), played out against increasingly apocalyptic opening credits (in episodes after Sunday’s premiere), Welcome to Derry couches its period nostalgia in the anxiety of a post-Holocaust era where the practice of “duck and cover” (and we don’t mean under the sheets) reflects nuclear-war concerns. As a father chides his comic-book-reading son, “Reality is terrifying enough as it is.” (The It franchise has never been subtle in its themes.) Derry also isn’t immune to the turbulence of the civil-rights movement: “This ain’t America. This is Derry,” growls a stereotypically bigoted councilman.
Developed by It movie veterans Andy and Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, the series grounds its terrors in ponderous Native American myth while concocting a modern military subplot involving Strategic Air Command officers and a Cold War “super secret spy mission” that brings ace pilot Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), his activist wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige), and their son Will (Blake Cameron James) to town. The Hanlon surname will be familiar to King devotees, as will the presence of The Shining‘s clairvoyant Dick Halloran (Chris Chalk) and repeated references to a prison named Shawshank.
These and other “easter eggs” ease us into the discomfort zone we’ve come to expect from adaptations of the horror King. It’s not as clever a brand extension as FX’s superb Alien: Earth, and if this isn’t top-tier King—it’s not even the best It—it’s far from the worst. And don’t even bother shouting “Don’t go into the sewers” to these poor fools, young or old. It and Pennywise wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’ll Have Rice With That: What with IP (intellectual property) being all the rage, AMC expands its Anne Rice universe with Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order, an original thriller built around the legendary clandestine agency that tracks and seeks to control the antics of vampires, witches, and other supernatural ghouls. It’s a bit of a slow-burning boil as handsome but callow law-school grad Guy Anatole (Nicholas Denton) is recruited by the enigmatic Helen (Elizabeth McGovern adopting a plummy British accent) to ditch his lucrative law-firm prospects and put his special psychic skills to good use by joining the centuries-old hush-hush order.
Turns out they’ve had their eye on him for years, and there are acres of exposition to tread before Talamasca hits its stride once Guy is sent to London, where the “motherhouse” headquarters has been commandeered by a rogue vampire, Jasper (the terrific William Fichtner, sinking his fangs into each moment). He and everyone else is seeking something called the Seven Five Two (more exposition), and while over-his-head Guy keeps wavering whether to stay or go, since almost no one’s who they say they are, the action builds to a crescendo every time Jasper enters the scene.
“I have all the moves!” Jasper declares, and who are we to argue? With an army of beastly revenants at his beck and call, Jasper is a gas. And while Talamasca lacks the operatic grandeur and romantic eroticism that distinguishes AMC’s Interview with the Vampire (which volunteers several cameos from key supporting players), it’s more compelling than the disappointingly insipid Mayfair Witches adaptation. By the sixth and final episode of a puzzlingly short inaugural season, the revelations and twists in Talamasca will likely leave the ardent Rice fan wanting more. And screaming for more Jasper. Vampires really do have more fun in the world of Anne Rice.
It: Welcome to Derry, Series Premiere, Sunday, October 26, 9/8c, HBO (3.5 stars)
Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order, Series Premiere (two episodes), Sunday, October 26, 9/8c, AMC (3 stars)
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