It, the 1990 ABC miniseries, is actually less scary that you may remember

Vulture

With the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s creepy 1986 novel hitting theaters, Jen Chaney decided to revisit the It miniseries. “This is one of those shows that’s far more disturbing when broken down in still images, which is how our brains often recall certain experiences, than it is as an actual moving picture,” she says, adding: “It reflects some of the worst elements in late-’80s television: clunky dialogue (at one point, a woman refers to an unruly child as “a young ruffian”); unconvincing special effects; flashbacks that don’t always reflect their time periods with enough authenticity (the bullies that torment the members of the Losers Club look more like mini-Squiggys and little Lennys than believably real kids); and a tendency to lean so hard into the drama of a moment that, at times, the whole mini-series threatens to fall on its face.”