I’m a lifelong Stephen King fan, so of course I was interested in checking out HBO’s new Welcome to Derry, which is ostensibly a prequel TV series to the two film adaptations of It from the late 2010s, but in practice also allows King’s iconic fictional town of Derry, Maine to become the canvas for all kinds of weird and fresh horror angles.
In the wrong hands, this exercise could have easily been terrible, but I’m delighted to say that the first episode, “The Pilot,” is at turns nostalgic, fun, and genuinely scary.
Very few adaptations of Stephen King’s material manage to hit all of those notes, and I’m already ready to place Welcome to Derry in the same class as the limited series version of 11/22/63 – which is also a Top 5 Stephen King novel, as aside.
I’m also ready to declare that Welcome to Derry is superior to the two It film adaptations, so kudos to the creative team of Jason Fuchs, Andy Muschietti, and Barbara Muscietti for stepping up their collective game on this one.
The TV setting helps a lot here, giving us time to settle in with characters from different corners of Derry. The nostalgia factor is strong from the jump, as we visit the seemingly idyllic Derry of 1962. Of course, it doesn’t take long to realize that not everything in Derry is as it seems.
Much of the episode is spent with a group of kids who get embroiled with some kind of supernatural horror show that is likely a young version of Pennywise the Clown, the big bad central to all versions of It. However, before we get there we get some genuinely great character moments (aided by terrific casting), and the sense of whimsy, discovery, and fun of being a child in the early 1960s gets established in a way that most King adaptations miss.*
* And this is a factor in why Stand By Me stands the test of time as an all-time great movie.
Meanwhile, we also get a second plotline involving the arrival of two pilots at a military base near town. This could have easily become a distraction or overcomplicated element, but instead it adds an intriguing element to the story. And it also starts to plant the seed of: why is supernatural terror stalking Derry, how did it start, and is it possible to combat it?
“The Pilot” is not at all satisfied though with introducing characters, doing a little worldbuilding, and calling it a day. It gets rather violent at times, and does so in a way that I found to be legitimately effective and flat-out scary.
Without spoiling too much, a scene in which a missing boy shows up within a screening of The Music Man movie – like he’s somehow inside the movie itself – is particularly fun and creepy.
By the end of the first episode, it’s abundantly clear that no one is safe.
You might even say that Welcome to Derry is not a show that plans to clown around.
Welcome to Derry airs on Sundays on HBO and streams on Max, though note that the second episode will be released early on Max on Friday, October 31st (in a nice marketing touch).