Horror films and TV series for fans of "It" by Stephen King

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

In his voluminous novel, Stephen King has collected many standard scenes and moves from typical horror films. The life hacker recalls the main ones and advises what else to see.

Stephen King's novel It was released in 1986 and almost instantly became a bestseller. The work of almost one and a half thousand pages in two volumes was sold in millions of copies in a year. Since then, the book has received many literary awards and is still constantly featured in the lists of both the best works of the author and the best novels in the genre of horror in general.

The first film adaptation of the work achieved almost the same success. Released in 1990, the two-part TV movie became the favorite horror movie for millions of viewers for many years.

The story of a group of friends who confronted the clown Pennywise, first in childhood, and then 27 years later, when they had already grown up and almost forgot about the tragedy, is familiar to almost everyone. But Stephen King, having invested a lot of work and talent in this book, showed in it a few more standard, but very frightening techniques and moves. Each of them by itself can make you afraid, and when they are all put together, they are remembered for years.

Children against evil

The main characters in the first part of the book are children who create the "Losers' Club". These are ordinary quiet schoolchildren who are offended by their elders and not very accepted by society. But they are the ones who, as a result, fight back evil. Primarily because most adults simply cannot believe in the threat from creatures from another world.

The theme of children versus the supernatural is often used in horror films. Unlike adults, who perceive life exclusively rationally, children sincerely believe in monsters in the closet and monsters under the bed. Perhaps they are sometimes right?

What to see

Very strange things

• Science fiction, drama, horror, thriller.
• USA, 2016.
• Duration: 1 season.
• IMDb: 8, 9.

The undoubted hit of the last season of the series. A story about children looking for their friend who has fallen into the otherworldly dimension. Also in the plot, a girl appears, over whom the government organization conducted experiments, since she has supernatural powers.

The series contains many references to classic films from "Alien" to "Alien", which will delight connoisseurs of fantasy and horror.

Killer clown

One of the most memorable and frightening characters in the book is the monster taking on the image of the clown Pennywise. With his appearance and balloons, he lures children and abducts them, feeding on their fear and suffering.

It was Stephen King's novel "It" that largely influenced the development of coulrophobia - the fear of clowns. However, there were also real examples of killer clowns. The most famous is John Wayne Gacy - a maniac who appeared in front of children in the form of the clown Pogo and killed more than 30 people.

Coulrophobia is quite common, although it is not included in the official lists of mental disorders. This phobia has a perfectly logical explanation. The appearance of a clown is most often grotesque - huge eyes, mouth, shoes, white face. The behavior is unpredictable, it is often unknown who is hiding under the makeup. In addition, clowns often embarrass people during pranks. All this provokes a reaction that is the opposite of what was intended: people, and especially children, get scared and remember this for the rest of their lives.

What to see

American Horror Story: Freak Show

• Horror, thriller, drama.
• USA, 2011.
• Duration: 6 seasons.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

With all the popularity of clowns as villains or monsters, most films about them are complete trash, and most often they are quite low-budget. In such pictures, they are not frightening, but only disgusting.

But in the fourth season of American Horror Story, which tells about the life of a freak circus, a clown with a mutilated face, kidnapping and killing people, really causes shivers all over his body. And the moment when he takes off the mask will make you remember the already forgotten childhood fears.

The series comes out in an anthology format: the seasons are in no way related to each other, so you can start watching right from the fourth.

Evil as a habitat

Although the monster from "It" most often takes the form of an ominous clown, this is not his only guise. This is a kind of disembodied entity that can embody the fears of people, feeding on their suffering. The book even mentions that the main evil is the city itself, in which this creature can freely dwell.

The idea of an antagonist not as a specific monster, but as a kind of habitat has repeatedly appeared in the work of Stephen King himself and in many works of other famous masters of the horror genre, such as Howard Lovecraft.

This theme goes back to ancient legends and beliefs. Almost every nation had forbidden places where houses cannot be built. For example, in the Slavic tradition, housing was not built in those places where the road used to pass or there was a bathhouse, because they believed that evil spirits lived there. Also, almost all peoples did not build houses where there was once a cemetery.

What to see

In the jaws of madness

• Fantasy, horror.
• USA, 1995.
• Duration: 95 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

Insurance agent John Trent sets out in search of popular writer Sutter Kane. The books of this author make people lose their memory, become cruel and aggressive. The search leads him to a city that is absent on all maps. This town is inhabited only by Sutter Kane himself, but also by all the creepy characters in his books.

The painting by John Carpenter became a kind of tribute to the work of Stephen King and Howard Lovecraft. The very image of the extremely prolific author of books, as well as the similar sound of the name, clearly refers to King, and many of the monsters and storylines are borrowed from Lovecraft's books.

Shine

• Thriller, horror.
• USA, 1980.
• Duration: 143 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 4.

The legendary film adaptation of the cult novel by Stephen King. Writer Jack Torrance takes a job as a hotel caretaker during off-season. He moves there for the whole winter with his wife and son, who possesses the supernatural gift of radiance - a mixture of telepathy and telekinesis. But it turns out that the hotel is the concentration of an ancient evil that can show a person all his fears and drive him crazy.

Stephen King himself disliked this adaptation, believing that the director was too loose with the plot. At the suggestion of the author, a television movie of the same name was released in 1990, much closer to the events of the book. However, the audience did not like it.

Monster in the sewer

The main habitat of the clown Pennywise, or rather the entity that takes this form, is the sewer under the city. The clown kidnapped the brother of the protagonist when the child's paper boat fell into the drain. And it is in the sewers that the heroes meet the monster and fight him back.

For all sorts of villains in horror films, the sewer is almost a favorite habitat, like a five-star hotel. The logic of the authors is quite understandable. For most people, this is a completely unknown and very unpleasant place. In addition, the sewer runs under the entire city and the villain can safely move around without showing up on the streets. And also all sorts of creatures like rats and worms constantly live there, so why not populate it with monsters.

Fear of sewers and pipes in general occurs in people quite often, although it is not an officially recognized phobia. People are frightened by the unknown, since even a small hole in the drain of water in their sink goes to no one knows where.

What to see

Alligator

• Horror.
• USA, 1980.
• Duration: 89 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 9.

A cult film based on urban legends about baby alligators who are flushed down the toilet, and they grow to incredible sizes. This is exactly what happens in the plot of this picture.

A small alligator ends up in the sewers, where for a long time it feeds on the bodies of animals, over which hormonal experiments were carried out. When he grows into a giant specimen, food begins to run short and the monster breaks out into the streets of Chicago, wanting to feast on the inhabitants of the city.

Crazy house

In the first part of the book, the main characters are pursued by a trinity of hooligans, but then two of them die, and the third ends up in an insane asylum, confessing to all the murders that have taken place in the city.

A rare horror movie can do without a madhouse. The place where people should be cured and relieved of phobias has long been a concentration of horror, evil and mysticism in popular culture.

People with mental illness have always frightened ordinary people, because they often perceive the world a little differently. Hence the mass of legends about otherworldly and mystical events taking place within the walls of psychiatric hospitals.

What to see

Gothic

• Thriller, horror, detective.
• USA, 2003.
• Duration: 98 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 8

A woman psychiatrist who worked in an insane asylum suddenly turns from a doctor into a patient. She is locked in a ward, and even accused of murdering her husband, whom she does not remember. The heroine tries to understand the events that led to her imprisonment in a hospital, but is faced with inexplicable mystical forces.

Forgotten childhood fears

After the events of the first part of the book, children grow up, disperse to different cities and live a completely normal life. Over time, they forget about the terrible events that happened to them. And only years later, when events are repeated and they come together again in the city, the memory of what happened returns.

Suppressing frightening childhood memories, suppressing them, or correcting them is a common technique to help cope with psychological trauma. The conscious forgetting of fears is called flying technique. Although, according to many experts, this method is ineffective, since it does not eliminate the very cause of phobias, but only hides it.

What to see

Oculus

• Mystery, thriller, horror.
• USA, 2013.
• Duration: 103 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 5.

10-year-old Tim had to kill his own father when he went insane under the influence of a mysterious mirror. After spending many years in an insane asylum, he convinces himself that there was nothing supernatural in this incident, only self-defense. However, his sister is convinced otherwise. She gets that very mirror, installs cameras in the house and brings her brother there, wanting to document what is happening. But will they be able to resist illusions?

"It" 2017

On September 7, 27 years after the premiere of the first film, a new adaptation of the novel "It" is released. So far, only the first part about the childhood of the heroes is being released. Already from the trailers, it is obvious that the new film will turn out to be no less scary than the classic one.