IT: Chapter Two looks likely to be even more frightening than the first, with the trailer admittedly making my blood run colder than sewage water.
It turns out the sight of Pennywise doesn’t get any less eerie the second time around, especially when he’s lurking about in a hall of mirrors. Plus Georgie’s mournful, ‘you lied and I died’ gave me a genuine shudder.
More of a conclusion than a sequel, the most frightening tale from Stephen King’s oeuvre deserves a thorough retelling, with the script leaving room for suspense. And at two hours and 45 minutes, there will be plenty of room for that classic King tension building.
As reported by Digital Spy, director Andy Muschietti has revealed the film will be a mammoth two hours and 45 minutes in length.
Speaking with Digital Spy and other press, Muschietti spoke about the creative process which led to the final version of the movie:
A movie is very different when you’re writing the script and you’re building a story compared to what the final product is.
At the beginning, when you’re writing and building the beats of the story, everything that you put in there seems very essential to the story.
However, when you have the movie finally edited and it’s four hours long, you realise that some of the events and some of the beats can be easily lifted but the essence of the story remains intact.
Apparently those who have seen the movie have had no problem with its lengthy nature, with Muschietti revealing:
You cannot deliver a four hour movie because people will start to feel uncomfortable – no matter what they see – but we ended up having a movie that is 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the pacing is very good.
Nobody who’s seen the movie has had any complaint.
Even with movies with epic running times, there will always be plenty of perfectly brilliant scenes which don’t quite make the cut.
Fortunately, those who leave IT:Chapter 2 craving even more evil clown scares will get the chance to watch a directors cut.
Producer Barbara Muschietti made the following promise:
We will put out a director’s cut because this time it definitely merits it.
We have some amazing scenes that didn’t make it into the movie. You have to make choices sometimes and some things cannot be in this theatrical release but are definitely worthy of people seeing them at a later date.
For those who don’t yet know, IT:Chapter 2 catches up with the Losers Club 27 years after they first encountered Pennywise. Needless to say, the intervening decades haven’t made him any more jolly…
It: Chapter Two will creep into UK and US cinemas from September 6.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.