IT (1990) is the 311th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell, Danielle Radford and Lon Harris. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 1990 horror mini-series IT. The video is 5 minutes 15 seconds long. It was published on September 3, 2019 to coincide with the theatrical release of the film It Chapter 2 (2019). It has been viewed over 1.1 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - IT (1990) on YouTube
"A serial killing demon clown ... who, due to network censorship guidelines, expresses his evil through bad teeth and mild YouTube pranks. He’s basically Logan Paul in clown face!" ~ Honest Trailers - IT (1990)
Script []
On November 18th, 1990, tune in to ABC at 8 p.m. Eastern for America's Funniest Videos with Bob Saget. Then at 8:30 p.m., it's America's Funniest People with Dave Coulier. Then at 9, gather the kids for part one of the mini-series ABOUT THE CLOWN THAT WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN. Then Tuesday at 8, settle in for a night of Who's The Boss?, followed by Head of the Class. And at 9, it's part two OF THE MINI-SERIES ABOUT THE CLOWN THAT WILL EAT. YOUR. CHILDREN.
IT
Move over, Jared Leto, because it’s time to bow down to the real king of murder clowns, Tim Curry.
Pennywise: I am the Eater of Worlds, and of Children!
A serial killing demon clown from... the Bronx?
Pennywise [in a Bronx sounding voice]: I gotta balloon for you! Hahahaha.
...who, due to network censorship guidelines, expresses his evil through bad teeth and mild Youtube pranks [shows a balloon pop in front of Richie, covering him in blood]. He’s basically Logan Paul in clown face.
Beverly: Why is it SO MEAN?
But even more horrifying is this vampire clown's true form: a floodlamp. [shows one of Henry Bowers' henchmen getting eaten by It's deadlights while trying to run away]. A SPOOOOOOKY Floodlamp. Who says Stephen King doesn't know how to write an ending?
Return to the 90's version of what the movie's 80's were: the 50's, a time when cops were Irish...
Irish Cop: Look at this mess, the Saints preserve us!
...the Bullies were murderers...
Henry Bowers: You're gonna die! I'm gonna bury you!
...and the fat kids were skinny [shows young Ben], and meet the Loser's Club. No really. If you're under 30, meet these people for the first time in your life: John Ritter, the guy from Night Court, the original Lana Lang, the Dad from Sister Sister and... these guys. But don't forget their childhood counterparts: guy from Seaquest; Whoa! Seth Green?! and... everyone else! Oh, come on! Ted Danson wasn't available? Couldn't book a young NPH? Pinchot? Bakula? Alf?!?!
After all the clown-on-kid stuff you actually remember, strap in for a second half that's so forgettable even the main characters forgot about it! ["How much do you remember?" "I don't remember much of it at all." "I can't remember much of anything and when I try it kind of clouds over."] where the less-interesting adult version of the Losers Club spends most of the time wishing they weren't there, eating Chinese food, staring off into space, dicking around on a bike and finally facing off against a dumb spider who lives in a hobbit hole. So get psyched for It Chapter 2. (!) In theaters now (!). Ugh. Good luck Bill Hader.
So revisit a noble effort that was doomed from the start. With the super low-budget, the constraints of TV censors -- and aspect ratios! And three hours to tell a thousand-page story. Just stop before you get started next time, okay? If you can't afford the cosmic turtle or even a decent cave spider, don't adapt IT or The Dark Tower or The Stand or Langoliers or really anything Stephen King.
Starring: Tim Scurry (Tim Curry as Pennywise/"It"); Fright Court (Harry Anderson as Richie Tozier); Derry Queen (Annette O'Toole as Beverly Marsh); Moley Moley Moley Moley Moley Moley (Richard Thomas as Bill Denbrough); Seven's Company (John Ritter as Ben Hanscom); Flashback Face (characters staring off into the middle distance as they have a flashback); Face Touchin' (montage of times characters had their faces touched); Group Huggin' (the Losers Club hugging); No Joke Here, Just A Moment to Appreciate How Good of An Actor Jonathan Brandis Was (Jonathan Brandis as Young Bill Denbrough) [Bill: "I wanna kill it"]; Scott. (Seth Green as Young Richie Tozier); I Present to You This Year's Winner of the Very Prestigious Architect Award for Architecting (Ben accidentally drops his architecture award, shattering it) [Arlene Hanscom: "Oh no Ben! Your architect award!"]; When I Drink Champagne, I Always Drink Champagne (characters consuming glasses of champagne); Mac Tonight (Pennywise appears on the moon); and COMING SOON: The Honest Trailer at for whatever this movie is! (heavy snow falls on two cowboys fighting with tennis racquets on a beach at sunset) ["As of this writing, Richie's still knocking 'em dead! He's got a part in a movie!"]
The honest title for IT (1990) was 'Derry Stories To Tell In The Dark.' Titles designed by Robert Holtby.
Derry Stories To Tell In The Dark
[Losers Club cracks open fortune cookies to find gore and bugs] I don't see what the big deal is. This happens almost every time I get my Panda Express on!
Trivia[]
Honest Trailers Commentary - IT (1990)
- The Honest Trailers writers received a considerable amount of backlash because they neglected to identify actor Richard Thomas as John Boy from 1970's TV series The Waltons. The writers were legitimately shocked than so many of their viewers were old enough to remember the show!
- Following the fan outcry over the John Boy gaffe, writer/producer Joe Starr promised to personally make an Honest Trailer for The Waltons... provided someone gives him $5000!
- The 1990 TV show schedule described in this video is 100% accurate.
- The script for this Honest Trailer was originally written in 2017 and was going to be released to coincide with the theatrical release of the 2017 movie. However, the writers instead chose to make a video about Kong: Skull Island with director Jordan Vogt-Roberts.
- The Alan raptor appears at 3:06 flying through space behind Maturin the turtle.
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for several other horror films including IT (2017), The Conjuring, Happy Death Day, Halloween and many more. See list of Honest Trailers for more.
Watch the full Honest Trailers Commentary on YouTube
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - IT (1990) has a 97.3% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Joey Paur of Geek Tyrant called the video "funny."
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - IT (1990).
Epic Voice Guy: Jon Bailey
Title Design by Robert Holtby
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell, Danielle Radford & Lon Harris
Produced by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr & Max Dionne
Edited by Kevin Williamsen
External links []
- Catch Honest Trailer for 1990's IT Before Watching IT: Chapter 2 - Epic Stream article
- Stephen King’s ‘IT’ Miniseries Honest Trailer: After ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos, A Clown Eats a Child - Slash Film article
- IT (1990) Gets the "Honest Trailers" Treatment - Dread Central article
- The Original 1990 IT TV Miniseries Gets The Honest Trailers Treatment - Geek Tyrant article
- An Honest Trailer for It (1990) - Neatorama article
- 1990 IT Miniseries Honest Trailer 104.7 WIOT article
- Getting honest about It, the miniseries - Stack article
- OMG, WATCH: Stephen King’s original ‘IT’ gets the ‘HONEST TRAILERS’ treatment - OMG Blog article