10 Made-For-Television Movies That Are Actually Worth Your Time

4. It (1990)

Okay, so technically, It wasn't a TV movie, but a miniseries. However, the series' running time only adds up to about three hours, so I'm hoping you'll cut me some slack here. After all, It is, to my generation, what Helter Skelter was for our parents' generation. The movie isn't totally faithful to Stephen King's novel. I mean, come on, the book's over a thousand pages long. The screenwriters did a good job, however, of getting to the spine of the story and sticking with it. Said spine tells the story of five childhood friends to duel a demon that looks like a clown (Tim Curry), who they already "killed" in the late 1950s. The clown/demon, Pennywise by name, has the power to shape-shift into whatever you fear most. Pennywise rarely uses this power, but he does manage to add the fear of clowns to the mindset of those of us who have seen the series. The movie is a little slow as it gets the grown-up kids back to Derry, Maine, to fight the monster, but it gets better as our five heroes arrive. The special effects are fake-looking, and Pennywise puts up a pretty half-hearted fight against those who are trying to kill him. The movie still wields an eerie power, however, probably because of the brilliance of King's source work.