IT: Welcome To Derry serves as prequel to IT Chapter One, and obviously, IT Chapter Two, and opens in December 1961, with Matty (Miles Ekhardt) exiting stage left from a cinema during a showing of The Music Man, starring the late great Robert Preston, who I know best from The Last Starfighter…
But enough about remembering ’80s stuff, and running out from a movie and missing the end is the least of his problems, as he comes across a family who are a right bunch of oddbods, and give you more weird shit than you can shake a stick at!
In fact, there’s a lot of that, and obviously, I’ll give no spoilers, but then I’d have to actually understand what I saw, even if I was to begin to carry that out 😀
Given the era, everyone’s living under the perceived threat of the nuclear bomb, with the army looking to test out the new B52 bomber plane, but Lilly (Clara Stack) has other more pressing matters to concern her, as her father died a year earlier and she still hasn’t visited his grave, stating she isn’t yet ready; and bullies harrass her at school by replacing everything in her locker with pickles.
With another girl from the school having gone missing, IT: Welcome To Derry seems to be a lot of waiting for things to happen, with no follow-up and just – as mentioned – a load of weird, random, nonsensical stuff happening. What am I missing here?
It just leaves you asking: Why is it so ridculously slow? What’s with two separate timelines like the films? And I had other questions, but can’t list them here as they might be considered spoilers, but you may be asking yourself the same ones.
However, it’s interesting to note that there’s the character of a young Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), who everyone will remember best as the caretaker in The Shining, played by the late, great Scatman Crothers. Oh, and Mr Chalk was also in… Shining Girls!
Meanwhile, IT: Welcome To Derry has the same director as the 2017 and 2019 films, but it’s shot in 1.85:1 this time. I wonder why the change?
IT: Welcome To Derry begins on Sky Atlantic at 2am on Monday October 27th (thus, Sunday ‘evening’), with the episode repeated at 9pm that evening. This equates to 9pm US Easter Standard Time.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Cert: 
Running time: 45-65 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: October 26th 2025
Studio: Sky Atlantic/HBO
Format: 2.00:1
Director: Andy Muschietti
Producers: Lyn Lucibello, Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Sarah Rath
Developed by: Jason Fuchs
Writers: Jason Fuchs, Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, Brad Caleb Kane, Guadalís Del Carmen, Austin Guzman, Gabriel Hobson, Cord Jefferson, Helen Shang
Based upon the novel by: Stephen King
Music: Benjamin Wallfisch
Cast:
Lilly: Clara Stack
Matty: Miles Ekhardt
Pennywise: Bill Skarsgård
Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Grogan: Amanda Christine
Leroy Hanlon: Jovan Adepo
General Shaw: James Remar
Charlotte Hanlon: Taylour Paige
Dick Hallorann: Chris Chalk
Rose: Kimberly Guerrero
Marge: Matilda Lawler
Will Hanlon: Blake Cameron James
Hank: Stephen Rider
Captain Pauly Russo: Rudy Mancuso
Teddy: Mikkal Karim-Fidler
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.