10 Horror Movies That Made You Say 'WTF Were They Thinking'

It Chapter Two was a disappointing follow-up to Andy Muschietti terrific first film, and caught a ton of flak online for its rather indelicate treatment of adult Stanley's (Andy Bean) suicide near the start of the movie.

In Stephen King's original novel, Stanley kills himself out of fear of facing Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) again, and though It Chapter Two implies much the same to begin with, at film's end the situation is given a rather dubious update.

The remaining Losers Club members receive letters from Stanley sent before his death, detailing that not only was he too scared to return to Derry, he knew that if any of the living Losers didn't come back to fight Pennywise, it would weaken the core group and likely cause their collective deaths.

And so, Stanley says, "I took the logical step. I removed myself from the board."

Basically, the movie re-frames Stanley's suicide as a heroic, even necessary act to ensure that the remaining Losers can all unite and beat Pennywise without him holding them back. While the intent was presumably to lend added emotional weight to Stanley's death, it rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way.

Even beyond its iffy framing of self-harm, it's a bit bizarre that Stanley just kills himself in his bathtub where he'll be discovered by his wife, given that the film points out that it was actually something Stanley thought through with clarity. Enough to write letters to all the Losers, at least.