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HBO isn\u2019t clowning around with its new spin on the Stephen King<\/a> horror classic It.\u00a0<\/em>And that\u2019s not just because the prequel,\u00a0It: Welcome to Derry<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, bides its not-so-sweet time until that iconically demonic clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/a> from the hit movies) finally reveals itself.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> as monstrous Pennywise), and the blockbuster 2017 and 2019 movies, no bathroom drain is safe. But neither are the woods, or a child\u2019s bedroom, or even a grocery aisle.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got trouble,\u201d chants a chorus in the movie musical The Music Man<\/em>, a hit of the time. Derry\u2019s got trouble, all right\u2014including at the local cinema, into which you sneak at your peril\u2014and for those who can\u2019t get enough of this sort of gleefully gory monster mash, this will be the \u201cit\u201d show of the season, perfectly timed for the week leading to Halloween.<\/p>\n From its incongruously chirpy theme song (\u201cA Smile and a Ribbon\u201d from the 1950s sister act Patience and Prudence), played out against increasingly apocalyptic opening credits (in episodes after Sunday\u2019s premiere), Welcome to Derry<\/em> couches its period nostalgia in the anxiety of a post-Holocaust era where the practice of \u201cduck and cover\u201d (and we don\u2019t mean under the sheets) reflects nuclear-war concerns. As a father chides his comic-book-reading son, \u201cReality is terrifying enough as it is.\u201d (The It<\/em> franchise has never been subtle in its themes.) Derry also isn\u2019t immune to the turbulence of the civil-rights movement: \u201cThis ain\u2019t America. This is Derry,\u201d growls a stereotypically bigoted councilman.<\/p>\n Developed by\u00a0It<\/em> movie veterans Andy and Barbara Muschietti<\/a> and Jason Fuchs<\/a>, 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 \u201csuper secret spy mission\u201d that brings ace pilot Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo<\/a>), his activist wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige<\/a>), and their son Will (Blake Cameron James<\/a>) to town. The Hanlon surname will be familiar to King devotees, as will the presence of The Shining<\/em>\u2018s clairvoyant Dick Halloran (Chris Chalk<\/a>) and repeated references to a prison named Shawshank.<\/p>\n These and other \u201ceaster eggs\u201d ease us into the discomfort zone we\u2019ve come to expect from adaptations of the horror King. It\u2019s not as clever a brand extension as FX\u2019s superb Alien: Earth,<\/em> and if this isn\u2019t top-tier King\u2014it\u2019s not even the best It\u2014<\/em>it\u2019s far from the worst. And don\u2019t even bother shouting \u201cDon\u2019t go into the sewers\u201d to these poor fools, young or old. It\u00a0<\/em>and Pennywise wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll Have Rice With That:<\/strong> What with IP (intellectual property) being all the rage, AMC expands its Anne Rice universe with\u00a0Anne Rice\u2019s Talamasca: The Secret Order<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, 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\u2019s a bit of a slow-burning boil as handsome but callow law-school grad Guy Anatole (Nicholas Denton<\/a>) is recruited by the enigmatic Helen (Elizabeth McGovern<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Turns out they\u2019ve had their eye on him for years, and there are acres of exposition to tread before Talamasca\u00a0<\/em>hits its stride once Guy is sent to London, where the \u201cmotherhouse\u201d headquarters has been commandeered by a rogue vampire, Jasper (the terrific William Fichtner<\/a>, 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\u2019s who they say they are, the action builds to a crescendo every time Jasper enters the scene.<\/p>\n \u201cI have all the moves!\u201d 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\u00a0Talamasca<\/em> lacks the operatic grandeur and romantic eroticism that distinguishes AMC\u2019s Interview with the Vampire<\/em><\/a> (which volunteers several cameos from key supporting players), it\u2019s more compelling than the disappointingly insipid Mayfair Witches<\/em><\/a> adaptation. By the sixth and final episode of a puzzlingly short inaugural season, the revelations and twists in Talamasca<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n