IT (2017) is the 229th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr and Dan Murrell. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2017 horror movie IT, which is an adaption of the Stephen King novel of the same name and remake of the 1990 TV mini-series. It was published on January 16, 2018 as part of Screen Junkies second annual Fan Appreciation Month. The video is 5 minutes 12 seconds long. It has been viewed over 4.8 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - IT (2017) on YouTube
"Ride the wave of nostalgia that's still sweeping Hollywood and get your required dose of 80s pop culture." ~ Honest Trailers - IT (2017)
Script[]
We asked you to vote for the 2017 movies you wanted us to make an Honest Trailer for. Now, your number three choice floats too!
From the twisted mind of Stephen King, master of horror ,suspense and really inconsistent movie adaptations (Sleepwalkers: People really should learn to keep their hands to themselves [vamp face]) comes the scary clown movie that was so scary it killed the actual clown industry. [whispers] Thank you, movie. Thank you so much.
IT
Life in Derry, Maine has its ups and clowns because Pennywise is lurking in the gutter and this piece of it will eat you alive. unless he just feeds on people's fear (Pennywise: Tasty, tasty beautiful fear), or maybe he eats you alive and feeds on your fear (Pennywise: Fest on your flesh as I feed on your fear), or maybe you'll just scare you real bad and leave you alone. It's kind of muddled. Rule of thumb: main characters get spooked; everyone else's clown food.
Journey to the idyllic child murder capital of America (Ben: People die or disappear at 6 times the national average) and meet a Loser's Club full of Goonies and Lost Boys, kids who'd beat One Direction fans in a screaming contest (montage of kids screaming). There's the leader, the sick one, the bookworm, the kid from Stranger Things in glasses, the girl one, and also the other two whose character development got cut for time. Mike doesn't say a word for 45 minutes of screen time! Do you really want to turn one of the book's main characters into the Winston of the movie. Really? Okay movie, you're the movie.
Thrill as each child's fear preys on them in a unique form - just try not to notice that it preys on them in the exact same way. Where the kid will go off on their own (montage of kids going off on their own), notice something out of the ordinary (montage of kids noticing weird stuff), and slowly walk towards it (montage of kids walking towards weird stuff) until a monster pops out (montage of scary terrifying monsters). Y'all know you can just say nope and walk the other way, right? Problem solved.
Ride the wave of nostalgia that's still sweeping Hollywood, and get your required dose of 80s pop culture like New Kids on the Block, mullets, that terrible Street Fighter game, that time in school where girls have started puberty but boys are still years off, not knowing how aids works, and of course the kid from Stranger Things, which makes you nostalgic for Stranger Things which makes you nostalgic for the 80s which makes you nostalgic for Stephen King's It. And the circle is complete.
Feast on this enjoyable movie adaptation of a popular TV adaptation of a creepy book that managed to out-creep Tim Curry and wisely put the boring adult stuff that no one remembers to the sequel, plus made some radical departures from the original book: ditching the 50s era; that preteen gangbang scene and the appearance of Maturin, the god turtle who teaches Billy how to perform the magic Ritual of Chüd. You guys made that one up! No? Really? [laughs] That's in there?! Wow, make sense to cut it, but at the same time, I kind of want to see that .
So enjoy a horrifying trip down memory lane that cements clowns as a scariest childhood thing since dolls and puppets, making boatloads of cash for everyone involved and guarantees that somebody somewhere just greenlit a Maximum Overdrive remake. (Clip from Maximum Overdrive: a man gets run over by a mechanical roller). I don't know if I'm ready for another Stephen King-aissance, you guys. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. (A car slams into a woman, she bounces over the hood of the car, leaving a smear of blood on the glass).
Starring: Dorky Pig (Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough); Way More Important in Chapter Two (Chosen Jacobs as Mike Hanlon); Kyle Broflovski (Wyatt Oleff as Stanley Uris); Why Write A Joke When Your Real Name is Finn Wolfhard (as Richie Tozier); OG Chunk (Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben Hanscom); Young Sheldon (Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie Kaspbrak); Justice for Bev (Sophia Lillis as Beverly Marsh); But Doctor, I Am Pagliacci (Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise/"It"); and the Insane Clown Posse (a group shot of the Losers Club).
Honest title for IT (2017) - Stephen Kings. Titles designed by Robert Holtby.
Stephen King's [In Stranger Things typeface]
Batman came out on June 23rd and Lethal Weapon 2 came out on July 7th, so Derry either gets movies really early, school gets out really late, or they wanted to give us one more hit of that sweet, sweet nostalgia.
Trivia[]
Honest Trailer Commentaries - It (2017)
- The writers said they would have made an Honest Trailer for It whether it got voted in by fans during Fan Appreciation Month or not.
- Writer Dan Murrell is a fan of Stephen King's book. Writer Joe Starr is also a fan of Stephen King's The Dark Tower.
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for several other horror films including the 1990 IT miniseries, Get Out, A Quiet Place, The Purge, The Blair Witch Project, The Conjuring, Halloween (1978), Halloween (2018), and IT Chapter Two. See list of Honest Trailers for more.
Watch the full Honest Trailer Commentary on YouTube
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - IT (2017) has a 97.0% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Syfy Wire said the Honest Trailer was "more lighthearted and insightful than expected." SlashFilm found the Honest Trailer notable for pointing out "the formulaic way all the kids are haunted by Pennywise, the endless fascination with nostalgia, and the muddled motivation for what Pennywise really wants from the kids." Comicbook.com wrote that the Honest Trailer contains "a great connection in making fun of the total inconsistency in Stephen King movie adaptations, and then pointing out the similarly inconsistent nature in Pennywise's kills." ScreenRant praised the Honest Trailer for the highlighting "the stereotypical nature of each character" and for mentioning the book-to-film changes including "the most controversial moment of the novel and the appearance of the Turtle." The Mary Sue agreed with Screen Junkies' comment that "It was capitalizing on both the enduring popularity of Stephen King and the Stranger Things appeal."
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - It
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title design by Robert Holtby
Producers - Dan Murrell, Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Max Dionne
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell
Edited by Kevin Williamsen and TJ Nordaker
External links[]
- Stephen King's 'IT' Gets An Honest Trailer - Comicbook.com article
- Here's the Hilarious Honest Trailer For Stephen King's IT! - Geek Tyrant article
- ‘It’ Honest Trailer: The Town of Derry, Maine Has Its Ups and Clowns - SlashFilm article
- IT Honest Trailer: The Movie So Scary It Killed the Clown Industry - ScreenRant article
- IT HONEST TRAILER JABS AT TREATMENT OF MIKE, NOSTALGIA - Syfy Wire article
- Honest Trailers: It—Welcome to The Losers’ Club - The Mary Sue article