8 Things IT Chapter 2 Must Do To Succeed

2. Evolve The Losers' Fears To Suit Them As Adults In The Modern Day

it part 2
Warner Bros.

Pennywise's whole shtick is that he takes the form of whatever will scare his victims the most - in Chapter One, these range from diseased lepers and Georgie's ghost to the evil clown himself.

These were all well-established in the film - Eddie's hatred of germs and disease is very clear, making his fear of a leper completely logical - but when the kids grow up and become adults that are roughly 40 years old, their fears will have shifted from when they were kids, especially since Chapter Two will take place in 2016.

This means that the filmmakers will have to be very careful when writing each of the Losers as adults. Bill isn't likely to still be afraid of Georgie's ghost all these years later, so what would scare him? The novel uses traditionally scary monsters - Dracula, a witch, a leper - to spook the adult Losers, but these things just aren't frightening in the modern day.

Instead, Chapter Two could focus on the psychological side of fear, rather then the physical side. Maybe it could incorporate emotional threats, things that a group of world-weary adults would rightfully fear, like disloyalty, and not knowing who to trust.

Maybe Pennywise takes the form of one of the Losers and makes them turn on each other, or maybe he forces the people of Derry to treat the Losers with hostility. In the novel, Pennywise is able to manipulate people and force them to attack the Losers, so this is an angle the movie could explore further.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.