It: Welcome To Derry Review

When you watch modern horror TV shows centered around kids and teens — like “Goosebumps” or “Hysteria!” — they really put it in perspective how big a miracle “Stranger Things” was back in 2016 (and still is today). The Duffer Brothers impressively nailed every aspect (humor, tone, nostalgia, atmosphere, and scares) that matters when it comes to (kid) horror on television. Don’t get me wrong, “Stranger Things” isn’t perfect or without flaws, but when you compare it to other series in the genre that try to follow its formula, it’s baffling how much better it is and how difficult it can be to replicate its quality. And every time a show miserably fails to match up to that level, it makes you appreciate more what the creators and crew of that banger show have achieved.

Unfortunately, HBO Max’s “It: Welcome to Derry” (a prequel to Andy Muschietti’s two “It” movies) is another one that winds up frustratingly disappointing. To be clear, I say that as someone who deems the 1990 miniseries the best adaptation of Stephen King’s mammoth of a novel, and who still appreciated the 2017 and 2019 remakes as Muschietti reimagined the story almost three decades later. But I can’t say the same about this latest addition to the franchise, which is a mediocre, lifeless, and extremely boring slog of a prequel that can barely call itself horror (at least based on the five episodes that were provided for review).

Given how disjointed and unengaging the first few hours of “It: Welcome to Derry” are, it takes a while until the show starts focusing on what the hell it’s truly about. Granted, I’m not as well-versed in the nooks and crannies of the “It” universe as a hardcore fan — and frankly, it’s been six years since “It: Chapter Two” came out – but that shouldn’t be an excuse for how lackluster and generic the action and the drama in the series feels.

We begin with the disappearance of a young boy who moves to Derry with his parents in 1962, after which bizarre things start happening in this sleepy little town. Then we follow a group of kids whose individual plotlines couldn’t be more dull if they tried, alongside a military subplot where decent character actors (like Jovan Adepo, James Remar, and Chris Chalk) are forced to do the kind of acting that feels like a chore with all the stereotypical and predictable beats that a story like this usually entails. They aren’t doing a bad job by any means, but their characters are awfully uninspired and tedious. All that just to finally get to the point: exploring the roots of how the eldritch evil of Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) came to be. Still, in a show that attempts to juggle multiple individual dramas with a handful of characters between spaced-out scares, there should be at least something vaguely appealing about them to keep up the viewers’ interest.

Speaking of scares (and this is where the series really bleeds out early on), “It: Welcome to Derry” mostly comes off as a lame PG-13 attempt at delivering some by-the-book spookiness that’s often more laughable than creepy. There are some slightly intriguing ideas, recurring monster designs, and an apt amount of gore, but they’re just too few and far between to define the tone and atmosphere the show aims to sustain. There isn’t enough ghoulish and startling horror for a horror series, and even half of what we do get is frequently murdered by a hackneyed CGI that resembles cheap B-movies from the early aughts. For a highly anticipated title like this, especially made by HBO, I believe the standard quality should be a lot higher.

Perhaps the biggest problem with “It: Welcome to Derry” is that it’s completely unnecessary and redundant. The series attempts to fill in the gaps that Andy Muschiett’s two films left, which aren’t a lot, and they are too minuscule and insignificant to warrant an eight-episode show that bores more than it entertains. It doesn’t help that Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise — who was the main appeal of the movies — spends the first half of the series MIA, and the creatures we get as manifestations of fear instead are ordinary at best and tacky at worst. Add to that an overwhelming amount of inept personal drama that limply addresses the themes of racism, bullying, insanity, and friendship in the ultra-conservative 1960s, which feel more like mandatory checkboxes than relatable character traits or genuine plot points.

To watch all that filler unfold in unreasonably bloated episodes often clocking in over an hour is frankly a mild torture at times — especially if you don’t care for any of the kids or adults that are driving the narrative here. Perhaps the only good thing to say about the writing is that Muschietti and company aren’t afraid to kill off characters to stir up the water sometimes, but then again, if you can’t care less about who lives or dies in Derry, that won’t make any difference to you whatsoever.

Don’t get me wrong, “It: Welcome to Derry” is far from being the worst show of the year or anything like that. It does have a decent story structure and execution, but also a sameness to other similar series in the genre that makes it impossible for it to stand out in any real way. It’s just another installment to an IP that will likely satisfy die-hard fans of Stephen King’s novel (and its numerous adaptations who are hungry for more details and backstories, but barely anybody else who isn’t as obsessed and devoted to it. At least that’s how I felt, a viewer who enjoyed the movie adaptations but couldn’t get into this TV prequel on any level.

“It: Welcome to Derry” premieres on HBO on October 26.