Here is the deal with "It:"

The book sucks, and so all the films made about it basically suck too. The only reason anyone remembers that shitty made for TV movie is because Tim Curry is awesome. The acting is effing horrible and embarrassing, and the writing is garbage.

The new one sucks for a more subtle reason: every time something scary happens, there is a loud clanging noise that informs the audience that it is time to be scared.

Trash filmmaking.

You think "IT," the book, sucked?
Huh. Takes all kinds, I guess.

Yes, but let's don't forget the great scene in the book though in which the only girl in the gang decided it would be a fun bonding experience if all the boys took turns having sex with her, and then of course while each of them fucked her, she had an orgasm and thought about their various penis sizes, you know, how pre-pubescent poor virgin girls with abusive daddies being gang-banged by 11-year-olds do... There are things I like about Stephen King, but he spends a lot of his career exploring some really disturbing things about his perception of childhood- Pet Sematar, Firestarter, and Children of the Corn are other examples, some of this in the Shining too. I don't know if it's critically bad, but certainly I can see why many readers/viewers would choose not to go there.

"Sematary" that is (and his spelling not mine before anyone jumps at it)

I was a little too old for IT the tv movie to really do more than jump-scare me, but I read the book a little younger and it scared me. So I have a hard time knowing if it just became less scary on film or if I just got older. I have a younger step-brother who was already a bit iffy about the tub drain, and the IT tv movie pushed him over the edge into full on temper-tantrum if you insisted he bathe in there alone with the bathroom door closed, ha ha ha. It seems mean at the time, but boy did I tease him about it then.

The Shining, both movie and book, scared the crap out of me.

"If my work is done... why is my editor yelling at me about deadlines?"

But aren't you the editor?

I’ve never read Stephen King, or seen movies made from his books. The promo with Jack way back was enough for me. That’s sounds gross EL, so I’m glad I haven’t bothered.
I’ve recently fallen in love with three gay men, two are dead, it’s true. Proust, Rimbaud and the writer who has had published a separate book on each, Edmund White. I love his words and ease of intimacy.

Really surprised Dan didn't respond to the "was it sexual assault" controversy from Yesterday's (or was it Wednesdays?) SLLOTD. Alas. Would have appreciated his opinion.

Stephen King has written over eighty books, and most of them explore disturbing things. You don't have to enjoy that, but I don't think you can single out "childhood" as if that's his primary or even secondary focus.

And, I dunno, to be slightly persnickety: she has one orgasm, not six; penis size is mentioned once; and it's not a "fun bonding experience," it's a symbolic transition to adulthood in order to tie the group together in a way strong enough to combat a serious evil--because sex is powerful. It's not gratuitous.

At least, to me. YMMV, as we say. I do know lots of people who didn't like that part, and I get that.

Okay I'm off my horse now.

Lava, a lot of Stephen King is really good--but not as often, in my opinion, the ones that get made into movies, which tend to be more straight-up horror (presumably because simpler themes make into movies more easily).

ciods I agree. I really don't understand the whole 'this horror movie was scary and I didn't like it'.

What did you expect?

I mean if horror is not your thing fine but it seems confusing to complain that a movie whose sole job was to scare you, scared you.

Georgie's death was supposed to horrifying and disturbing. It was not supposed to be fun. That it put people off means the directors did it right. It's not a flaw it's intentional.

But then I think the big issue with horror is most horror movies are just jumpscares tied together with annoying characters or conspiracy theories that don't work.

Horror works best when it tells a story.

The Babadook worked because it's a story about unacknowledged grief and the damage it does to a family.

IT works because it's a story about the horrors of childhood and how kids are often left to face it alone.

I read the book "It" when I was first coming out, and it made me so angry that it was the one and only time I ever wrote an angry letter to an author. I actually liked the recent movie (only half of the book) because it cut out the parts that angered me.

The book opens with the murder of a gay character (maybe drag queen?) who is not treated sympathetically by the cops who investigate. Now, I know that happens in real life, but even as a baby gay I thought it was irresponsible to leave that as the only impression of gay people. (This was the mid-80s, mind you.) And then only female character has sex with each and every one of the boys in order to connect their childhoods and adulthoods, or some B.S. jackoff fantasy reason. Yeah, she also was the most dexterous and had the best aim, but it sure felt like a girl was added just to have sex with her. God, that angered me so much.

The film improves on the book by cutting those two things out.

I have trouble with "It", too, as well as "The Lobster" (a dark comedy from 2015, not based on a Stephen King novel; it proved to be a little too dark humored for my liking). While I do enjoy a good Stephen King novel and there are plenty of well made film adaptations of his books (for example, The Shawshenk Redemption, among others), I have to pass at anything extremely violent and gross.
@9 msanonymous: But then, I guess "It", "Pet Semetary", et al. wouldn't be horror flicks, right? You do have a point. Thank you for the reminder of why I prefer comedy over horror films. I'd rather laugh my ass off than go screaming into the night.

Ciods, didn't say she had six, but one is pretty unlikely in that very unlikely situation. And yes, he writes about all sorts of disturbing things, but (like Dan apparently) I do better with seeing it as entertainment when it doesn't involve small children. Now if that clown had gotten ahold of a sassy 16 year old, then maybe...

@Emma, yeah, my comment was unnecessary, sorry. I carry some bias here, because my initial impressions of Stephen King, formed when I was young, were that he perfectly balanced the real-and-important aspects of life with the real-and-uninteresting, and wasn't going for cheap points (e.g., if someone is tied to a bed for a weekend in a SK book, she's gonna have to pee at some point--he doesn't conveniently cut that out; on the other hand, e.g., Cujo starts out being about an affair, and he doesn't bother with any sex scenes--it's not like later Jean Auel, where it's just soft-porn worked in whenever possible). So I tend to think of him doing the things that matter to the story, and not being gratuitous, which doesn't mean that's always the case.

@auntie @11, you're right, there are good film versions. I tend to think of Carrie and other basic horror ones first, but of course Green Mile, Shawshank, and who can forget Stand By Me!

Yes Stand by Me, who could forget that. I didn’t know that was from a King book. The Shawshank movie, one of my sons loved that movie to death. I hope to never see it again.

Sorry to hijack, but could use some anonymous advice...was talking to this guy on Tinder, it was going really well and we decided to meet, so I gave him the cross street for the coffee shop around the corner. No red flags at all during the chat but he unmatched me immediately when I gave him the meeting place. First, huge bummer because I don’t often find people I like on there. But question, do you think I should be worried about safety? He doesn’t know where I live, but he knows my coffee shop and what I look like (my pics are real and recognizable) and I have no idea who he is, given that I should probably assume his pics were fake.

Kevin @10, about this:
"The book opens with the murder of a gay character (maybe drag queen?) who is not treated sympathetically by the cops who investigate. Now, I know that happens in real life, but even as a baby gay I thought it was irresponsible to leave that as the only impression of gay people."

I think that was part of the point--the town had an underlying evil that affected its people. And horrifying things that should have been both surprising and heavily investigated, weren't. I read it not as irresponsible on King's part, but rather serious proof that the town is a bad, bad place.

But you say something I find intriguing: you think it's irresponsible to leave an impression that you nonetheless admit lines up with real life. The fact that, in the 80s, people (maybe even cops especially) were homophobic, doesn't mean it's okay to portray that in stories? I dunno. I think even fiction, even fantastical fiction, is allowed to dwell in what is and not what should be.

SomethingElse @15. Maybe avoid that coffee shop for a few weeks, just in case.
He probably bailed because you were going to meet and his pictures were false. He enjoyed chatting with you, then it got real.

I last read a Stephen King book over 30 years ago. I appreciated his imagination, but he always seemed to dwell so lovingly and in detailed length on gross or disgusting moments that I couldn't take it.
But I love his writing on Twitter.

I never read or saw either film version of "It," and now that I've read about some details from it, I am glad. If someone wants to recommend one of his books that's not especially scary or doesn't include descriptions of gore, I'd be interested.

@18 @nocutename: The Stand is frequently cited as his best book. It's not gory. It's wonderfully long, full of great characters, scary in a sort of zoomed-out sense but not in a local-horror sense. (I would recommend, however, finding the original cut version, rather than the 20-years-later uncut re-release, which is also great but doesn't add much other than length.) If you prefer something shorter to start with, I would recommend either The Long Walk or The Running Man (both originally written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman).

Thanks auntie. I mean if horror is not your think I totally get it. It's not for everyone and even as a fan there's a lot of stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten foot, sterilized pole.

Kevin_BGF The gay characters were portrayed sympathetically. And I think we're supposed to feel angry that the murder got away with it. That the despite that people really did try to put him away he got off scot free.

Ciods had it right that it's a theme in the book. Henry Bowers is a kid who threatens other kids with knives and poisons a character's dog and nothing Is done about it. He father nearly beat his mother to death and no one seems to care.

I think it's worth noting that one of the main changes in the movie is the timeline. In the book the part with the kids takes place in the 50's and the part with the adults takes place in the 80's.

I assume they changed It so the confrontation would take place in the present when the sequel comes out.

@19: Ah, ciods, I did read "The Stand" (and liked it a lot). I also read and liked "Carrie" and "Salem's Lot."

@21 (oops--lost something!). I will give "The Long Walk" or "The Running Man" a try.

@18, nocutename: "Hearts In Atlantis" is a really fascinating one, worth a read...I think you'd quite like it.

@4 EmmaLiz: Agreed and seconded on both the book and film version of The Shining. I was 16 when the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film version came out. Jack Nicholson in his role of caretaker Jack "Heeeere's Johnny!" Torrance scared the shit out of me. I thought the compilation film score was chillingly effective, too---particularly Krystof Penderecki's Polymorphia for 48 Strings (1961) and Bela Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1937).
@13 ciods: Oh---yeah---WOW--how could I forget Stephen King's first bestseller adapted into a film, Carrie? I just love when Sissy Spacek, in the title role in the 1976 original, wastes the prom! And Piper Laurie, as Margaret White was downright creepy as Carrie's psychotic religious fanatic mother. There were a lot of good ones: Misery, Delores Claiborne, The Shawshenk Redemption, The Green Mile, Stand By Me, The Stand, and my preferred edition of The Shining is Stephen King's 1999 three part made-for TV film. Rebecca DeMornay kicked serious butt as Wendy Torrance, and it was King's triumphant say so over Stanley Kubrick's bizarre, not-entirely faithful 1980 version after Kubrick died (I think Eyes Wide Shut was his last directed film). I can't wait for Dr. Sleep---what happens to Danny Torrance as an adult--coming to theaters in 2020!
@14 LavaGirl: If I remember my Stephen King book-to-film facts correctly, Stand By Me was based on King's short story, The Body.
@19 ciods: Wasn't Molly Ringwald in The Stand? I think she played one of the survivors.

@18, @21, & @22 nocutename: Along with Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, and The Stand, I remember The Running Man--starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as fugitive, Ben Richards. Richard Dawson played the evil dystopian game show host, Damon Killion.

Wow---now I want to go watch some good Stephen King screen adaptations and return to Stephen King's best books!

@23 pollyc: Hearts in Atlantis---I'm intrigued. That's one I haven't read yet. Thank you for the recommendation.

@15 Also possible - he's not single, and the fantasy of cheating hit the reality of getting to know someone through conversation in a coffee shop, and he thought better of it. Whatever image of himself he put forward online is not likely very much based in reality, so don't mourn the loss too much. Whatever reason someone has for ghosting (as the kids say), it's not for any reason that reflects well on their character. And yeah, probably avoid the coffee shop for a week, but mostly because it's hard to enjoy a cup of coffee when you're worried about a mystery creep.

@10 Kevin_BGFH It might help if you remember that at the time IT and several other were written, he was doing an amazing job of single-handedly keeping the Columbian Cocaine lords in business.Even he admits the pre-teen train on the girl was a bit much. He really doesn't want to revisit his thinking in those days because he would need to get addicted to cocaine again and he doesn't want to.

@24: Funny thing about best-selling author, Stephen King. He can give me cold, nauseous chills over something graphically explicit on one page, and then his dry sarcasm on the very next paragraph can get me laughing hysterically. Ever the captivating storyteller.

@25, Auntie Grizelda; it's one of my favorites. My absolute pleasure to pass it along!

My SK .02 -
- 'Salem's Lot scared the crap out of me when young. The movie with the boy floating outside the window apparently scared much of my generation. That Nosferatu take on the head vamp, though, just screamed 'director/producer always wanted to resurrect this particular trope, and now he will!!' Dude was supposed to be 1000+ years old, urbane, cunning, and the character just looked like a Mos Eisley cantina extra.
I super-appreciated that when they tried a reboot in the Oughts, Rutger Hauer (the Real Lestat!) got the job.
King used to talk about a sequel, but except for that one story and a non-SK movie that was so bad it hurt my feelings, don't think he ever made one. It was gonna involve Mark's (the boy in the book) father, killed in the story, calling him years later....
- IT seemed, Matrix-like, to be another example of 'it's a lot easier to start a big complex story than to satisfyingly finish one.' That Turtle shit did not work for me, nossir. And I agree that the drag queen murder was supposed to show (as in Salem's Lot) that under the surface, this was not a nice town.
- I read 'The Running Man' in the 80's, am I the only one, on 9/11, who thought, oh yeah, that thing Ben Richards did?
- 'Stand By Me' is grossly overrated. Fight me.
- Pet Sematery was scary as fuck. Even putting that little fidget from Terminator 2 in the sequel can't diminish that. I won't be seeing the new one, don't even want to drive by a theater that's showing it, but they should play up the Wendigo angle.