It Chapter Two

Andy Muschietti’s 2019 film opens twenty seven years after the first, and its length is a direct result of the structure. Each of the seven adults is sent off separately to chase a memory around the town, and that episode by episode search stretches the running time considerably. Some exhibitors said a length approaching three hours held down the opening weekend, which came in more than thirty million dollars behind the first film. The second concrete point concerns the childhood material. The young cast had visibly grown since the first film, so their faces were digitally de-aged for the flashbacks. What you are watching in those passages was not lifted from the earlier shoot but filmed again and processed, and the intervention is noticeable in some shots. The picture adapts the second half of Stephen King’s novel, and King turns up briefly as a pawn shop owner. The opening is a hate crime sequence that also appears in the book. Bill Hader was put forward for adult Richie by Finn Wolfhard from the child cast. A fit if you have patience for seven separate personal reckonings taken one after another. Not a fit if you want a tightly paced horror film that finishes in a single sitting.