While we are not sure about the status of Andy Muschietti’s The Brave and the Bold (DCU), we damn sure got an amazing Halloween treat in the form of IT: Welcome to Derry.
The shadow of Pennywise the Dancing Clown has haunted cinema and television for decades, from the chilling 1990 miniseries to the blockbuster 2017 and 2019 films. But the new prequel series from HBO is something else. It’s gorier, scarier, and most importantly, better than the original IT movies in a lot of different ways.
The fact that IT: Welcome to Derry displaced the undisputed champion, Modern Family, from the #1 position on JioHotstar’s English shows ranking says a lot about how popular the prequel has become in the country.
Modern Family is not just a show in India. It’s a comfort-watch phenomenon, a champion that has consistently held the English streaming throne for months. For a dark, period horror prequel to abruptly end that reign is no joke. It’s proof that Welcome to Derry has surpassed all expectations and is performing extremely well among viewers.
Right from the very first episode, Muschietti reminds us that visiting a small yet wicked town like Derry is not everyone’s cup of tea. The manner in which the show amplifies the scares and gore while exploring the unresolved trauma and grief of its main characters is absolutely brilliant, something Stephen King’s fanbase wished the original IT movies had done.
Yes, we cannot put the entire blame on the movies, given their limited runtime. But we also have to admit that King’s novel is a mammoth work, a sprawling epic that intertwines the deeply personal trauma of seven children with the cyclical, cosmic evil of Derry.
By the time we reach Chapter Two, the overall experience of watching the first two movies feels like a slow-burning dread that eventually gives way to an endless parade of CGI-heavy jump scares. Pennywise’s transformations become less about psychological terror and more about cartoonish spectacle, losing the subtle, insidious creepiness of the source material.
By packing the Losers Club’s childhood and adulthood into two separate, time-constrained features, the films struggled to give breathing room to the supporting characters and the socio-political undercurrents of Derry, Maine. The 1990s miniseries suffered a similar issue due to TV time constraints.
Welcome to Derry, set in 1962, succeeds where the movies failed by leveraging the serial format. Derry is as much a character as Pennywise. The series uses the extended runtime to thoroughly explore the town’s historical, institutional racism and Cold War paranoia, showing how the evil entity feeds not just on fear, but on the town’s ingrained systemic malice.
By following a new cast (including Major Leroy Hanlon, the father of Losers’ Club member Mike Hanlon), the show illuminates the terrifying lineage and origins that the films could only hint at.
Most importantly, Welcome to Derry is not afraid to take bold risks, as we saw in the very first episode. We thought we were about to get the prequel’s version of the Losers’ Club, including Lilly, Ronnie, Teddy, Phil, and Phil’s little sister. Instead, their trip to the theatre turns into a nightmarish bloodbath, thanks to that evil and grotesque two-faced mutant baby who slaughters everyone except Lilly and Ronnie.
Even before the theatre scene, we shouldn’t forget how that mutant baby was born. YIKES! It’s an exceptionally disturbing moment for a TV series, though it’s the kind of scene you simply can’t look away from. (It’s okay to admit that it was also entertaining to watch, in a very weird way!)
An eight-episode season allows the characters’ bonds to build organically, letting their personal conflicts and growing realisation of the evil feel earned over hours, not just minutes. When Pennywise finally appears, his presence feels like the culmination of rising tension, not a scheduled event.
For a dark horror show, a genre that typically struggles to maintain the same binge-watching endurance as comedy, to knock Modern Family off its perch demonstrates that the show’s quality transcends genre preference and audience loyalty.
This scenario also proves that Indian audiences are loving IT: Welcome to Derry so far. It has undoubtedly emerged as the definitive adaptation of Stephen King’s universe. Stay tuned for more updates.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
