07/09/2025
It was probably inevitable that It: Chapter Two would be made. It (2017) was financially successful and the story was already there to complete. Unfortunately, it was also probably inevitable that the same problems from the first film would appear in the sequel. But like any sequel, it would repeat and exaggerate parts from the original, and those instincts only work when built around the logic of the set piece jump scare.
So much happens in It: Chapter Two but nothing really matters. Somehow the film is both bloated and underdeveloped at the same time, with more hysteria but less heart. Bill Hader (Richie Tozier) shines, but even here that comedy often does more to destroy the horror than be a counterpoint to it. Obviously inserting the child characters was to give the audience more of what they wanted, and what sometimes worked in 2017. But here the whole thing feels more like a legacy sequel: bringing the kids back to add something to the bumbling adults running around their hometown in search of a problem and solution they arrived at decades earlier.
If the film were half its length it would be bad, but the sheer audacity to make these questionable choices (for just one example, see “Angel of the Morning”) and try to jam in the heart of the story with the kids and have it at nearly three hours seems like such a waste for all involved, especially the audience.
Listen to the full discussion of It: Chapter Two in “Send in the Clowns” at Cult Film School podcast.
