10 TERRIFYING Horror Movie Openings (That Led To Disappointing Movies)
7. It Chapter Two
Nostalgia aside, 1990’s IT – like many made-for-TV versions of Stephen King stories – wasn’t good. So, hopes were high that 2017’s cinematic retelling of the Losers Club’s childhood battle with Pennywise would be better, and it was. Honestly, it’s among the best King adaptations, period, which is partially why 2019’s IT Chapter Two was unbelievably disappointing.
Another reason is that Chapter Two begins with perhaps the most disturbing section of either picture.
First, director Andy Muschietti shows romantic couple Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty being mercilessly beaten by teens at a carnival. Adrian is then thrown over a bridge and left to die in waters below – concluding the scene’s harrowingly realistic representation of homophobia – only to be rescued and devoured by Pennywise, as Don watches and hundreds of red balloons float by.
It’s a gutpunch of an introduction for a film that quickly crumbles under the weight of its length and ambitiousness.
The nearly three-hour-long IT Chapter Two is structurally and tonally messier than its predecessor, with twice as much awkward humor and sloppy CGI assaulting viewers’ senses and insulting their intelligence. Of course, Pennywise’s lame defeat – being bullied to death by the adult Losers – is the final nail in the coffin, too.
Thankfully, 2025’s remarkably solid IT: Welcome to Derry TV series largely atoned for those transgressions.